The Songs Carmen Sang

Carol Sloane began her career recording at Columbia Records in 1962 and had some moderate success in the jazz field. However, as musical tastes changed, Sloane's career stalled until it was relaunched in the 1980s by Contemporary Records (and later Concord Jazz) with a series of albums, including The Songs Carmen Sang.^[2] Carmen McRae was a jazz idol of Sloane's and the pair later became good friends in the 1980s. To pay tribute to her friend, Sloane decided to make a tribute album dedicated to McRae following her death^[3] from emphysema in 1994. In an interview with the Sun Journal newspaper, Sloane believed the album to be "very special" to her and also made her emotional if she chose to listen to it.^[4]

The Songs Carmen Sang was recorded in March 1995 at the Sound On Recording Studio, Inc. in New York City. The album was co-produced by John Burk, Allen Farnham and Sloane herself. It consisted of 13 tracks, all given dual credit to instrumentalist Phil Woods.^[5] All of the tunes are American standards with the exception of the lesser-known "Cloudy Morning". The songs chosen for the project were considered favorites of McRae's but were not "identified with her", according to AllMusic.^[1] At the end of the recording, McRae's voice can be heard on a message she originally left on Sloane's answering machine praising one of her recent albums.^[3][4]

The Songs Carmen Sang was released by Concord Jazz in August 1995 and was her fourth album with the label. It was distributed as a compact disc (CD).^[5] The project received mostly a positive critical response. Biographer, Will Friedwald, of the book A Biographical Guide to the Great Jazz and Pop Singers found McRae's tribute a "first rate" album and praised Sloane for making the songs uniquely hers.^[2] AllMusic's Scott Yanow rated it four stars and called it an "excellent set". He also found that Sloane at times sounded closer in style to that of Ella Fitzgerald while also standing out as her own artist.^[1] CD Review also gave the album a positive response, highlighting Sloane's voice as both "elegantly swinging and tasteful".^[6] The album received promotion when Sloane opened at the 1995 Newport Jazz Festival singing songs from the album.^[4]