Carmen Sings Monk

Carmen Sings Monk is a 1990 studio album by the American jazz singer Carmen McRae, focusing exclusively on the songs composed by Thelonious Monk. It was one of the last recordings released in her lifetime. McRae was accompanied by Clifford Jordan on soprano and tenor saxophone, and a rhythm section with pianist Eric Gunnison, bassist George Mraz and Al Foster on drums. Two songs, namely "Get It Straight" and "Suddenly" (i.e. "In Walked Bud"), were recorded earlier that year live at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco with tenor saxophonist Charlie Rouse, who played the longest time with Monk. The rhythm section was almost the same, then with Larry Willis on piano.

Carmen Sings Monk
Studio album by
Carmen McRae
Released1990
RecordedJanuary 30 & February 1, 1988*
April 12 & 13, 1988**[1]
VenueGreat American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA*
StudioClinton Recording Studio, New York**
GenreVocal jazz
Length65:02
LabelNovus
ProducerLarry Clothier
Carmen McRae chronology
Fine and Mellow: Live at Birdland West
(1988)		 Carmen Sings Monk
(1990)		 Sarah: Dedicated to You
(1991)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic [2]
Robert ChristgauA− [3]

McRae was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Female at the 33rd Annual Grammy Awards for her performance on this album.[4]

Release history

The album was originally released in 1990 on Novus Records (on CD, LP and MC), the first of four subsequent recordings by McRae released on the BMG sublabel, before Novus got defunct in the mid-1990s. McRae herself only saw the release of the following Sarah: Dedicated to You, she died in 1994.[5] The recording was reissued three years later on Jazz Heritage, and re-released in 2001 on Bluebird in their First Editions series, another BMG subsidiary, with three additional alternate takes of the studion session (the recording dates could also finally be specified). After BMG and Sony America merged (as Sony BMG) and split again, Carmen Sings Monk was reissued in 2017, this time by Sony/Legacy.[6]

Track listing

All music composed by Thelonious Monk, lyricists indicated.
Due to copyright restrictions the song titles of these standards were modified (with the exception of "'Round Midnight"). Monk's original titles are indicated after the track titles.

  1. "Get It Straight" ("Straight, No Chaser") (Sally Swisher) – 3:58
  2. "Dear Ruby" ("Ruby, My Dear") (Swisher) – 6:01
  3. "It's Over Now" ("Well, You Needn't") (Mike Ferro) – 5:28
  4. "Monkery's the Blues" ("Blue Monk") (Abbey Lincoln) – 4:56
  5. "You Know Who" ("I Mean You") (Coleman Hawkins, Jon Hendricks) – 3:31
  6. "Little Butterfly" ("Pannonica") (Hendricks) – 5:15
  7. "Listen to Monk" ("Rhythm-a-Ning") (Hendricks) – 3:05
  8. "How I Wish" ("Ask Me Now") (Hendricks) – 4:56
  9. "Man, That Was a Dream" ("Monk's Dream") (Hendricks) – 2:55
  10. "'Round Midnight" (Monk, Cootie Williams, Bernie Hanighen) – 6:32
  11. "Still We Dream" ("Ugly Beauty") (Ferro) – 3:27
  12. "Suddenly" ("In Walked Bud") (Hendricks) – 3:41
  13. "Looking Back" ("Reflections") (Hendricks) – 5:35

Tracks on original CD release, but omitted on LP and MC

  1. "Suddenly" – 3:13
  2. "Get It Straight" – 3:26

Previously unreleased, alternate takes added since 2001 reissue

  1. "'Round Midnight" (Alternate Version) – 7:11
  2. "Listen to Monk" (Alternate Take) – 2:59
  3. "Man, That Was a Dream" (Alternate Take) – 3:23

Personnel
Live at Great American Music Hall on January 30 & February 1, 1988 (tracks 1 & 12)

References
  1. Cf. production credits on album booklet image, page 3, of the 2001 re-release on Bluebird on Discogs.
  2. Yanow, Scott. Carmen Sings Monk at AllMusic
  3. Robert Christgau review Archived April 5, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  4. Grammy Award Database
  5. There is also a live recording from a 1989 concert in Yokohama, that Novus' Japanese sister label Victor released in 1992. Cf. New York State of Mind: Live at Bird at Discogs.
  6. At least outside the US, in France and Canada.
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