{"id":10102,"date":"2014-01-29T11:20:20","date_gmt":"2014-01-29T10:20:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tomajazz.com\/web\/?p=10102"},"modified":"2016-11-13T23:37:13","modified_gmt":"2016-11-13T22:37:13","slug":"carmen-mcrae-first-sessions-fresh-sound-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tomajazz.com\/web\/carmen-mcrae-first-sessions-fresh-sound-records\/","title":{"rendered":"Carmen McRae: <i>First Sessions<\/i> (Fresh Sound Records)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-10104\" alt=\"Carmen McRae_First Sessions\" src=\"http:\/\/www.tomajazz.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Carmen-McRae_First-Sessions-200x200.jpg\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tomajazz.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Carmen-McRae_First-Sessions-200x200.jpg 200w, https:\/\/tomajazz.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Carmen-McRae_First-Sessions-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/tomajazz.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Carmen-McRae_First-Sessions-54x55.jpg 54w, https:\/\/tomajazz.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Carmen-McRae_First-Sessions.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/>Carmen McRae es una cantante (y pianista) que suele aparecer en segunda fila en el bestiario jazz\u00edstico, detr\u00e1s de Ella, Billie y Sassy (y si el bestiario abarcase m\u00e1s all\u00e1 de 1945, Mildred Bailey, supongo). En todo caso es una cantante con sustancia, discos interesantes \u2013como el que hizo con temas de Monk\u2013, y la capacidad de no defraudar nunca, al menos a estos o\u00eddos. Incluso metida en pastelones setenteros como el disco <em>I&#8217;m Coming Home Again<\/em>\u00a0sale m\u00e1s que airosa. En cuanto a su relevancia actual, cuando se habla de Amy Winehouse \u2013como cantante, no como laboratorio humano\u2013 se cita mucho a la Holiday como influencia lejana. Esto huele mucho a la t\u00edpica simplificaci\u00f3n publicitaria, sistem\u00e1ticamente engullida por la prensa generalista. Si la Winehouse recordaba a alguna vieja gloria, yo me inclinar\u00eda por la McRae en su etapa madura.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Las grabaciones que aqu\u00ed se nos presentan, salvo por unas en estudio con la orquesta de Mercer Ellington (1946) y otras en directo con Charlie Parker en el Onyx, son las primeras de la cantante (para los interesados en minucias discogr\u00e1ficas, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.carmenmcraediscography.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">aqu\u00ed<\/a>\u00a0encontrar\u00e1n todo lo que quieran saber). Como an\u00e9cdota, el primer tercio del disco viene a ser el motivo de que la McRae ganase el premio de <em>Down Beat<\/em> a la mejor cantante nueva del a\u00f1o, algo que, como aclaran las ilustrativas anotaciones, ten\u00eda su importancia.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Lo \u00fanico que se puede achacar a estas grabaciones es su puntito conservador. Probablemente sea injusto, porque al fin y al cabo se trataba el debut de una joven cantante y l\u00f3gicamente, ni estaba formada del todo, ni habr\u00eda sido sensato asumir grandes riesgos. Aparte, los dos sellos que publicaron originalmente estos discos, Bethlehem y Decca, no se distinguieron por asumir grandes riesgos. En la pr\u00e1ctica esto se traduce en que la McRae canta con un vibrato m\u00e1s pronunciado que en el futuro, haciendo lecturas muy pegadas al original (como en \u00abEasy to Love\u00bb), con par\u00e1frasis muy leves, como ella misma admite en las anotaciones (aunque hace algo de <em>scat<\/em> en \u00abYardbird Suite\u00bb), argumentando que las ideas del compositor tambi\u00e9n deben o\u00edrse. Su dicci\u00f3n es perfecta y, en general, es tan impecable y preciosista que no acaba de hacer saltar las chispas que a\u00f1os despu\u00e9s ser\u00edan habituales.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Por otra parte, los m\u00fasicos acompa\u00f1antes, un plantel destacable por m\u00e9ritos propios, arropan perfectamente a la cantante, especialmente Dick Katz, que est\u00e1 exquisito, y Herbie Mann, que inici\u00f3 su larga carrera discogr\u00e1fica en estas grabaciones.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mucha clase y elegancia, promesa de lo que estaba por venir.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">\u00a9\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/jazzofftherecord.blogspot.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fernando Ortiz de Urbina<\/a>, 2014<\/p>\n<p>Disco disponible en Spotify: <a href=\"http:\/\/open.spotify.com\/album\/6nTmbg4M2F4r9hSsraifSP\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">http:\/\/open.spotify.com\/album\/6nTmbg4M2F4r9hSsraifSP<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5em;\">Carmen McRae:\u00a0<\/span><em style=\"font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5em;\">First Sessions<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Fresh Sound Records<\/p>\n<p>Carmen McRae (voz, piano); Herbie Mann (flauta, saxo tenor); Mat Mathews (acorde\u00f3n); Mundell Lowe (guitarra); Tony Scott (clarinete, piano); Dick Katz, Billy strayhorn (piano); Wendell Marshall (contrabajo); Kenny Clarke, Osie Johnson (bater\u00eda).<\/p>\n<p>Composiciones: \u00abEasy To Love\u00bb (Porter), \u00abIf I\u2019m Lucky\u00bb (Darwin-Girard), \u00abOld Devil Moon\u00bb (Harburg-Lane), \u00abTip Toe Gently\u00bb (Girard-Mathews), \u00abYou Made Me Care\u00bb (Darwin-Girard), \u00abLast Time For Love\u00bb (McRae), \u00abToo Much In Love To Care\u00bb (Caoates-Kriegsmann), \u00abMisery\u00bb (Scott), \u00abJust One Of Those Things\u00bb (Porter), \u00abSometimes I\u2019m Happy\u00bb (Youmans\/Caesar), \u00abSomething To Live For\u00bb (Ellington\/Strayhorn), \u00abLove Is Here To Stay\u00bb (Gerhswin\/Gershwin), \u00abI Can\u2019t Get Started\u00bb (Duke\/Gershwin), \u00abThis Will Make You Laugh\u00bb (Higginbotham), \u00abSupper Time\u00bb (Berlin), \u00abMy One And Only Love\u00bb (Wood\/Mellin), \u00abYardbird Suite\u00bb (Parker), \u00abGive Me The Simple Life\u00bb (Bloom\/Ruby), \u00abI\u2019ll Remember April\u00bb (Raye\/dePaul\/Johnson), \u00abYou Took Advantage Of Me\u00bb (Rodgers\/Hart).<\/p>\n<p>Temas grabados entre diciembre de 1953 y junio de 1955.<\/p>\n<p>Fresh Sound Records. FSR-CD 477<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Carmen McRae es una cantante (y pianista) que suele aparecer en segunda fila en el bestiario jazz\u00edstico, detr\u00e1s de Ella, Billie y Sassy (y si el bestiario abarcase m\u00e1s all\u00e1 de 1945, Mildred Bailey, supongo). En todo caso es una cantante con sustancia, discos interesantes \u2013como el que hizo con<span class=\"more-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tomajazz.com\/web\/carmen-mcrae-first-sessions-fresh-sound-records\/\">Contin\u00faa leyendo<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10104,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17863,5,1038],"tags":[8233,7903,12651,8229,6637,465,1716,12696,7036,13,12415,15295,8234,8230,8231,8235,16099,77,16100,8232,8236],"class_list":["entry","author-pachi","post-10102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fernando-ortiz-de-urbina","category-grabaciones","category-contenidos","tag-billy-stryhorn","tag-carmen-mcrae","tag-cd","tag-dick-katz","tag-duke-ellington","tag-fernando-ortiz-de-urbina","tag-fresh-sound-records","tag-grabaciones","tag-herbie-mann","tag-jazz","tag-jazz-en-espana","tag-jazz-en-espanol","tag-kenny-clarke","tag-mat-mathews","tag-mundell-lowe","tag-osie-johnson","tag-toma-jazz","tag-tomajazz","tag-tomajazz-toma-jazz","tag-tony-scott","tag-wendell-marshall"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tomajazz.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Carmen-McRae_First-Sessions.jpg","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":102179,"url":"https:\/\/tomajazz.com\/web\/lena-bloch-marina-2025\/","url_meta":{"origin":10102,"position":0},"title":"Lena Bloch: Marina (Fresh Sound Records; 2025) Por Pachi Tapiz [Grabaci\u00f3n de jazz]","author":"Tomajazz","date":"25 noviembre, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Marina (Fresh Sound Records; 2025) es la nueva grabaci\u00f3n de la saxofonista Lena Bloch. 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Pachi Tapiz repasa la grabaci\u00f3n. Con Luis Pardellans, Jordi Gaspar, Enrique Heredia","rel":"","context":"En \u00ab*_Pachi Tapiz\u00bb","block_context":{"text":"*_Pachi Tapiz","link":"https:\/\/tomajazz.com\/web\/category\/pachi-tapiz\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Luis Pardellans Trio: Back Again (Fresh Sound Records; 2025) Por Pachi Tapiz [Grabaci\u00f3n de jazz] - Tomajazz - Back Again (Fresh Sound Records; 2025) es lo nuevo de Luis Pardellans Trio. Pachi Tapiz repasa la grabaci\u00f3n. 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Carlos Lara repasa la grabaci\u00f3n","rel":"","context":"En \u00ab*_Carlos Lara\u00bb","block_context":{"text":"*_Carlos Lara","link":"https:\/\/tomajazz.com\/web\/category\/carlos-lara\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Lluis Vidal & Barcelona Art Orchestra: Osmosi (Poema sonor i visual per a big band i dibuix en transformaci\u00f3) (Fresh Sound Records; 2025) Por Carlos Lara [Grabaci\u00f3n de jazz] - Tomajazz - Osmosi (Fresh Sound Records; 2025) es la nueva grabaci\u00f3n de Lluis Vidal & Barcelona Art Orchestra. 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En 1988, tres a\u00f1os antes de retirarse, la cantante Carmen McRae se daba en su pen\u00faltima grabaci\u00f3n un fest\u00edn monkiano.\u2026","rel":"","context":"En \u00ab*_Adolphus van Tenzing\u00bb","block_context":{"text":"*_Adolphus van Tenzing","link":"https:\/\/tomajazz.com\/web\/category\/adolphus-van-tenzing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Carmen_Sings_Monk","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tomajazz.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Carmen_Sings_Monk.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10081,"url":"https:\/\/tomajazz.com\/web\/herb-geller-birdland-stomp-fresh-sound-records\/","url_meta":{"origin":10102,"position":5},"title":"Herb Geller: Birdland Stomp (Fresh Sound Records)","author":"Tomajazz","date":"28 enero, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Para los que nos ha tocado vivir esta \u00e9poca y enterarnos del grueso de la historia del jazz a base de lecturas y de escuchar reediciones, Herb Geller es uno de esos m\u00fasicos con los que se corre el riesgo de encasillarlo en el pasado. Craso error. Como muchos coet\u00e1neos\u2026","rel":"","context":"En \u00ab*_Fernando Ortiz de Urbina\u00bb","block_context":{"text":"*_Fernando Ortiz de Urbina","link":"https:\/\/tomajazz.com\/web\/category\/fernando-ortiz-de-urbina\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tomajazz.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/The-Herb-Geller-Quartet-Birdland-Stomp.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomajazz.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomajazz.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomajazz.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomajazz.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomajazz.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10102"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/tomajazz.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10109,"href":"https:\/\/tomajazz.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10102\/revisions\/10109"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomajazz.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomajazz.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomajazz.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomajazz.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}