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”…

From a label with no shortage of first-rate jazz material come this very attractive vocal sampler. Staying true to the Compact Jazz ethos, Best of the Jazz Vocalists favors quality over hits and comes with a budget price tag. The majority of songs are from the label's prime '50s and '60s run, including a cloud-bound "Summertime" by Helen Merrill and one of the all-time great versions of "If You Could See Me Now," compliments of Billy Eckstine. Continuing with this balancing act between the sexes, the collection also includes fine work by Bill Henderson, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Abbey Lincoln, Jon Hendricks, Shirley Horn, and Anita O'Day; latter-day entries include Lincoln's "I've Got Thunder and It Rings" from her 1990 Verve debut and Horn's "I Got Lost in His Arms" from 1988's Close Enough for Love. Nicely wrapped up with Nina Simone's Afro-percussion clarion call "Come Ye," this Verve roundup works as the perfect primer for more adventurous trips through the label's fertile stores of essential jazz.

Born Lillie Mae Jones on May 19, 1929, the woman who became Betty Carter was an American jazz singer known best for her improvisational technique, scatting and other complex musical abilities that demonstrated her vocal talent and imaginative interpretation of lyrics and melodies. Vocalist Carmen McRae once remarked: "There's really only one jazz singer―only one: Betty Carter." Carter was born in Flint, Michigan, and grew up in Detroit, where her father, James Jones, was the musical director of a Detroit church and her mother, Bessie, was a housewife. As a child, Carter was raised to be extremely independent and not to expect nurturing from her family. Even 30 years after leaving home, Carter was still very aware of and affected by the home life she was raised in, and was quoted saying: “I have been far removed from my immediate family. There's been no real contact or phone calls home every week to find out how everybody is…As far as family is concerned, it's been a lonesome trek…It's probably just as much my fault as it is theirs, and I can't blame anybody for it. But there was…no real closeness, where the family urged me on, or said…'We're proud'…and all that. No, no…none of that happened.”

Taken from a live 1993 performance in London, Feed the Fire is an album filled with surprises. Betty Carter is known for her practice of featuring hot new up-and-coming musicians in her bands, but on this recording she is accompanied by established, world-class talent: Geri Allen, Dave Holland, and Jack DeJohnette. Dave Holland demonstrates why he is one of the greatest living bassists with his unerring sense of melody and pitch. Jack DeJohnette, an acknowledged master of the drums for 30 years, is nothing less than explosive, punctuating the solo statements of his bandmates with powerful flurries. Allen's touch is reminiscent of Keith Jarrett's at times, such as on her excellent solo on "Love Notes"…

Betty Carter's second Verve album solidified her credentials as one of jazz's top singers. Her trio of the period (pianist Marc Cary, bassist Tarus Mateen and drummer Gregory Hutchinson) are joined by trumpeter Freddie Hubbard (shortly before his decline) and tenor saxophonist Craig Handy on four of the seven selections while a medley of "Stardust" and "Memories of You" finds Carter accompanied by pianist Geri Allen.Other highlights include "I Love Music," "What's the Use of Wond'rin'" and "Droppin' Things." With the exception of the Geri Allen medley, this consistently stimulating music was recorded live at the Bottom Line in New York.

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.

A song's melody is simply a reference point and a beginning for Carter; she takes words and inverts, probes and extends them, embellishes themes, changes moods and alters rhythms. She's a vocal improviser in a manner few have equaled, and if her voice lacks the clarity and timbre of the all-time greats, she's more than compensated with incredible timing, flexibility and power. Throughout this 11-track effort, Carter's vocals direct and steer the responses of pianist Cyrus Chestnut, bassist Ariel J. Roland and drummer Lewis Nash. It was yet another memorable outing for Betty Carter, an all-time great.

Terrific versions of classic Cole Porter songs recorded by jazz's greatest vocalists… Louis Armstrong, Anita O'Day, Ella Fitzgerald, Helen Merrill, Dinah Washington, Mel Torme, Sarah Vaughan, Shirley Horn, Billie Holiday, Fred Astaire, Blossom Dearie, Morgana King, and Betty Carter.

"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.

Unforgettable: Jazz Love Songs is a 2001 Russian-made compilation CD of powerful jazz music of the romantic variety. This was released by GMG Records, listed as ООО «ГМГ-Компакт» elsewhere.

This collection of Betty Carter's Verve material may not literally be her finest hour of recorded music, but it is easily her finest hour of recordings for the labels associated with Verve, which include not only her later Verve recordings, but also those on ABC from the early 1960s. There are 14 cuts on the set, including such well-known Carter performances as "In the Still of the Night," her theme, "Open the Door" "What a Little Moonlight Can Do," "Dropping Things," "Tight," "You're Driving Me Crazy," and others. This is a solid selection of Carter's artistry. It's true that she recorded for so many labels that a complete introduction is almost impossible, but this will serve both fans and beginners well.

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.