There was nothing quite like hearing Carmen McRae sing in-person.
To my ears, she was the epitome of a song stylist, but actually watching her shape a song in real time was a captivating and beguiling experience. I told her once that she was my “witchy woman,” to which she laughingly replied: “Be careful, or I’ll put a spell on you.”
Of course, she knew. She already had.
The reason was simple. She loved singing Jazz and she was good at it. She knew it, the musicians who backed her knew it and we the audience knew it. And if you were in her presence while she was doing her thing, you knew that you were in for the thrill of your life.
What Carmen served up during her performances was akin to a musical feast: phrasing lyrics with meaning and understanding; picking tempos that were always just right; scatting – just enough – while employing the cleverest of harmonies; and just when you thought that you didn’t have room for dessert, she’d offered up a stomping version of “I Cried for You” or “Three Little Words” and leave you screaming for more.
I always sensed a great sadness in Carmen, too. The weightiness and gravity with which she handled certain ballads spoke of a life with its share of disappointments.
She was nobody’s fool, but few of us go through life without some emotional bumps and bruises and it appeared to me that Carmen had had her share of these, including some personal relationships that didn’t work out.
It was easy to catch the sense of this if you listened closely to her banter between tunes or observed her knowing facial or lyrical expressions when she sang romantic ballads.
Carmen brought the Jazz musician’s life to her music, a life which was never an easy one, even during the best of times.
I loved seeing her work at a club whether it was at Sugar Hill in San Francisco, or P.J.’s on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood or at Donte’s Jazz Club in North Hollywood, CA.
Can you imagine a rhythm section made up of Joe Pass on guitar, Jimmy Rowles on piano, Chuck Domanico on bass and Chuck Flores on drums backing Carmen at an intimate Jazz club located only a 10-minute drive from my home?