The second volume of Carmen McRae's heartfelt tribute to Billie Holiday, like the first, comes from a broadcast taped by WBGO-FM at the Blue Note in New York City on New Year's Eve, 1983.
McRae takes a few minutes to explain the evolution of her tribute and she hardly attempts to sing Holiday's material in the same way, but utilizing her own powerful, emotional approach, often lagging behind the beat.
McRae also delves into songs that Holiday performed but are not as readily associated with her, such as "Laughing at Life" and "You Ain't Gonna Bother Me No More." Her rhythm section, including pianist Marshall Otwell, bassist John Leftwich, and drummer Donald Bailey, provides strong support, with the occasional appearance of tenor saxophonist Zoot Sims (especially on "My Old Flame" and "Mean to Me") providing an added bonus.
Like the first volume, this Novus CD was not released until after McRae's death, while this outstanding set makes jazz fans wonder why record labels don't mine public radio live broadcasts for similar performances more often.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Intro | Carmen McRae | Play | 03:29 | 7 MB | 16 MB |
| 2 | Laughing at Life | Carmen McRae | Play | 02:06 | 4 MB | 15 MB |
| 3 | You Ain't Gonna Bother Me No More | Carmen McRae | Play | 03:48 | 8 MB | 20 MB |
| 4 | Easy Livin'Ralph Rainger, Leo Robin | Carmen McRae | Play | 02:53 | 6 MB | 18 MB |
| 5 | YesterdaysOtto Harbach, Jerome Kern | Carmen McRae | Play | 04:41 | 10 MB | 30 MB |
| 6 | My Old FlameSam Coslow, Arthur Johnston | Carmen McRae | Play | 06:18 | 14 MB | 34 MB |
| 7 | Nice Work If You Can Get ItGeorge Gershwin, Ira Gershwin | Carmen McRae | Play | 02:50 | 6 MB | 20 MB |
| 8 | Billie's BluesBillie Holiday | Carmen McRae | Play | 04:48 | 10 MB | 32 MB |
| 9 | Travelin' LightJimmy Mundy, James Young | Carmen McRae | Play | 03:26 | 7 MB | 22 MB |
| 10 | If You Were Mine | Carmen McRae | Play | 05:46 | 13 MB | 28 MB |
| 11 | I'm Painting the Town RedCharles Newman, Charles Tobias | Carmen McRae | Play | 01:36 | 3 MB | 9 MB |
| 12 | You've Changed | Carmen McRae | Play | 05:31 | 12 MB | 30 MB |
| 13 | Mean to Me | Carmen McRae | Play | 03:12 | 7 MB | 19 MB |
| 50 mins | 115 MB | |||||
| 50 mins | 299 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Donald Bailey | Drums |
| 2 | Larry Clothier | Producer |
| 3 | Sam Coslow | Composer |
| 4 | George Gershwin | Composer |
| 5 | Ira Gershwin | Composer |
| 6 | Leslie Gourse | Liner Notes |
| 7 | Otto Harbach | Composer |
| 8 | Billie Holiday | Composer |
| 9 | Arthur Johnston | Composer |
| 10 | Jerome Kern | Composer |
| 11 | John Leftwich | Bass |
| 12 | Carmen McRae | Piano, Primary Artist, Vocals |
| 13 | Sean Mosher-Smith | Photography |
| 14 | Jimmy Mundy | Composer |
| 15 | Charles Newman | Composer |
| 16 | Marshall Otwell | Piano |
| 17 | Ralph Rainger | Composer |
| 18 | Leo Robin | Composer |
| 19 | Mitchell Seidel | Photography |
| 20 | Al Sherman | Composer |
| 21 | Zoot Sims | Guest Artist |
| 22 | Zoot Sims & His Five Brothers | Sax (Tenor) |
| 23 | Charles Tobias | Composer |
| 24 | James Young | Composer |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |