Presented here is the complete original LP Carmen McRae Sings Lover Man and other Billie Holiday Classics (Columbia CS8530), which as its title indicates, was McRae’s tribute to the great Lady Day. All other existing songs from the sessions, as well as the complete original LP Carmen McRae (Bethlehem BCP1023) and two additional tunes, have been added as a bonus.

“I met Billie Holiday when I was very young, and she was one of the most impressive women I have ever met in my life. She really scared me as far as singing was concerned. She seemed so utterly perfect to me that I felt anything after her would be anticlimactic. Consequently, I was afraid of becoming what I had hoped to become at an earlier stage in my life.” - Carmen McRae

CARMEN McRAE, vocalsNAT ADDERLEY, cornetEDDIE “LOCKJAW” DAVIS, tenor saxMUNDELL LOWE, guitarNORMAN SIMMONS, pianoBOB CRANSHAW, bassWALTER PERKINS, drumsNew York, June 29 & July 26, 1961.

*BONUS Album (15-22): Carmen McRae (Bethlehem BCP1023) Carmen McRae (vcl) plus Herbie Mann (fl, ts), Tony Scott (cl), Mat Mathews (accord), Dick Katz (p), Mundell Lowe (g), Percy Heath, Wendell Marshall (b), Osie Johnson, Kenny Clarke (d), among others.New York, October-December 1954.

** Bonus tracks (23-24): Carmen McRae (vcl; also piano on 24), Billy Strayhorn (p on 23), Mundell Lowe (g), Wendell Marshall (b), Kenny Clarke (d).New York, June 14, 1955.

• 1. Them There Eyes
• 2. Yesterdays
• 3. I'm Gonna Lock My Heart (and Throw Away the Key)
• 4. Strange Fruit
• 5. Miss Brown To You
• 6. My Man
• 7. If the Moon Turns Green (Bonus Track)
• 8. I Cried For You
• 9. Lover Man
• 10. Trav'lin' Light
• 11. Some Other Spring
• 12. What a Little Moonlight Can Do
• 13. God Bless the Child
• 14. The Christmas Song (Bonus Track)