Betty Carter II: Live and Loud

Betty Carter Quartet - Surrey With the Fringe on Top
From Betty Carter at the Village Vanguard: Verve 519 851-2 [Buy]

Betty Carter and Carmen McRae - Sometimes I'm Happy
From The Carmen McRae - Betty Carter Duets: Verve 314 529 579-2 [Buy]

Most music is best experienced live, and by the sounds of these recordings, a Betty Carter gig would have been something not to miss ! A pity that I was either not yet born or still running around in short pants when Ms Carter was performing....

Betty Carter with Dave Holland

Two contrasting performances from nearly twenty years apart, and two coasts - Surrey with the Fringe on Top recorded at the Village Vanguard in 1970 when Betty Carter was launching her own indepdendent record label, and Sometimes I'm Happy from a superlative album of live duets with Carmen McRae recorded at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco in January 1987.