Betty Schimmel

Avid Jazz presents four classic Betty Carter albums , including original LP liner notes on a finely re-mastered and low priced double CD.
“Meet Betty Carter and Ray Bryant”; “Out There”; “The Modern Sound Of Betty Carter” and “Ray Charles and Betty Carter”
Introducing two new artists-two debut recording sessions….”Meet Betty Carter and Ray Bryant”. Ray Bryant, a new talent with an inventive piano style both as stylist and accompanist. Betty Carter, also a new talent with “a new approach to interpreting lyrics and a supple voice making old melodies sound fresh all over again”. As the original liner notes testify…” with this collection Betty Carter and Ray Bryant make their recording debuts with forceful and individual performances that mark them as important new names in jazz”…

Rhino's Very Best of Betty Wright collects some of the soul diva's definitive tracks, including her first Top 40 hit "Girls Can't Do What the Guys Do," her 1971 Top 10 hit "Clean Up Woman," "Let Me Your Lovemaker," her 1974 Grammy winner "Where Is the Love," and "I'm Gettin' Tired Baby." Though it's not as extensive as the label's earlier compilation The Best of Betty Wright, this album does present most of her major singles as well as a few representative album tracks.

Betty Carter recorded only two albums during the 1961-1968 period. Her chance-taking style and unusual voice were mostly ignored and it would not be until the late '70s that she was finally "discovered." This Atlantic CD finds Carter backed by orchestras arranged by Claus Ogerman and Oliver Nelson. Her style was a lot freer than it had been in her earlier records but was still more accessible than it would be. Her repertoire, which includes the title cut, "Theme from Dr. Kildare," "Two Cigarettes in the Dark" and her own "Who What Why Where When" was already becoming eclectic. This is an interesting historic release.

This LP contains singer Betty Carter's earliest recordings. On one date she is heard performing six standards with a quartet also featuring pianist Ray Bryant ("I Could Write a Book" and "The Way You Look Tonight" are highpoints). The other session, which was only released for the first time in 1980, has five songs on which Carter is joined by a 14-piece band arranged by Gigi Gryce; this version of "Social Call" is a classic. Naturally Carter sounds much more conventional on these performances than she would 30 to 40 years later, but already her voice was immediately recognizable.

This pairing of two totally idiosyncratic vocalists acquired legendary status over the decades in which it had been out of print. But the proof is in the listening, and frankly it doesn't represent either artist's best work. There is certainly a powerful, often sexy rapport between the two – Charles in his sweet balladeering mode, Carter with her uniquely keening, drifting high register – and they definitely create sparks in the justly famous rendition of "Baby, It's Cold Outside." The main problem is in Marty Paich's string/choir arrangements, which too often cross the line into treacle, whereas his charts for big band are far more listenable.

"I'm Yours, You're Mine" is a 1996 studio album by the American jazz singer Betty Carter. Recorded in January 1996, this was the last album that Carter recorded before her death in September 1998.
"I'm Yours, You're Mine" peaked at 25 on the Billboard Top Jazz Albums chart.
No doubt Betty Carter's singing is an acquired taste, but to those who have acquired it, she's a uniquely appealing artist. The elongated lines, exotic colors and unusual ornaments she brings to every cut on this recording attest to the singular nature of Carter's singing.