Artist: Carmen McRae
Album: I Am Music
Genre: Jazz
Release Date: 1975/2014
Audio Format:: FLAC (tracks) 24 bit, 192 kHz
Duration: 43:40
Total Tracks: 10
Total Size: 1,57 GB

Tracklist:

01. Carmen McRae – A Letter For Anna-Lee (05:01)
02. Carmen McRae – The Trouble With Hello Is Goodbye (03:45)
03. Carmen McRae – Faraway Forever (03:20)
04. Carmen McRae – I Ain’t Here (03:28)
05. Carmen McRae – You Know Who You Are (05:19)
06. Carmen McRae – I Have The Feeling I’ve Been Here Before (05:56)
07. Carmen McRae – Who Gave You Permission (03:14)
08. Carmen McRae – Like A Lover (05:56)
09. Carmen McRae – I Never Lied To You (03:19)
10. Carmen McRae – I Am Music (04:19)

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Digitally remastered edition of this 1975 album from the Jazz legend. Carmen McRae was born in Harlem in 1920 and is considered to be one of the most influential Jazz vocalists of the 20th century. Throughout her career she recorded over 60 albums and was nominated for seven Grammy’s. I Am Music was Carmen’s first release for the legendary jazz label Blue Note in 1975 and shows off her extraordinary vocal talents in a Funky Jazz setting. The album was responsible for a significant career revival for Carmen and the beginning of a fruitful relationship with Blue Note. The album teamed Carmen with contemporary Jazz songwriters such as Bernard Ighner and Alan & Marilyn BergmanCarmen McRae always had a nice voice (if not on the impossible level of an Ella Fitzgerald or Sarah Vaughan) but it was her behind-the-beat phrasing and ironic interpretations of lyrics that made her most memorable. She studied piano early on and had her first important job singing with Benny Carter’s big band (1944), but it would be another decade before her career had really gained much momentum. McRae married and divorced Kenny Clarke in the ’40s, worked with Count Basie (briefly) and Mercer Ellington (1946-1947), and became the intermission singer and pianist at several New York clubs. In 1954 she began to record as a leader’ and by then she had absorbed the influences of Billie Holiday and bebop into her own style. McRae would record pretty steadily up to 1989 and, although her voice was higher in the ’50s and her phrasing would be even more laid-back in later years, her general style and approach did not change much through the decades. Championed in the ’50s by Ralph Gleason, McRae was fairly popular throughout her career. Among her most interesting recording projects were participating in Dave Brubeck’s the Real Ambassadors with Louis Armstrong, cutting an album of live duets with Betty Carter, being accompanied by Dave Brubeck and George Shearing, and closing her career with brilliant tributes to Thelonious Monk and Sarah Vaughan. Carmen McRae, who refused to quit smoking, was forced to retire in 1991 due to emphysema. She recorded for many labels including Bethlehem, Decca (1954-1958), Kapp, Columbia, Mainstream, Focus, Atlantic (1967-1970), Black Lion, Groove Merchant, Catalyst, Blue Note, Buddah, Concord, and Novus. –Artist Biography by Scott Yanow