Birds of a Feather (album)

Birds of a Feather
Studio album by Carmen McRae
Released	1958
Recorded	August 1958
Genre	Jazz
Length	36:11
Label	Decca 8815
Carmen McRae chronology
Porgy and Bess (1958) Birds of a Feather (1958) Book of Ballads (1958)

Birds of a Feather is a 1958 album by Carmen McRae. The album was arranged by Ralph Burns, and features the saxophonist Ben Webster. All the songs on the album reference birds in some way.^[1]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

John Bush reviewed the album for Allmusic and wrote that "Fortunately, there are plenty of good songs on the subject, and it's not so narrow that all the focus hinges on birds themselves." Bush praised Ben Webster's solo on "Bob White (Watcha Gonna Swing Tonight?)".^[1] Webster's biographer, Frank Buchmann-Moller, wrote that his performances on the album alternate between "routine and inspired", and likened his work on "Flamingo" to the "beating wings of a landing bird".^[2]

Track listing

1. "Skylark" (Johnny Mercer, Hoagy Carmichael)
2. "Bob White (Watcha Gonna Swing Tonight?)"
3. "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" (Eric Maschwitz, Manning Sherwin)
4. "Mister Meadowlark"
5. "Bye Bye Blackbird" (Ray Henderson, Mort Dixon, Gene Austin)
6. "Flamingo" (Ted Grouya, Edmund Anderson)
7. "Eagle and Me"
8. "Baltimore Oriole"
9. "When the Red, Red Robin Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along"
10. "Chicken Today and Feathers Tomorrow"
11. "When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano" (Leon René)
12. "His Eye Is on the Sparrow" (Civilla D. Martin, Charles H. Gabriel)

Personnel

• Carmen McRae - vocals
• Ralph Burns - arranger, conductor
• Ray Charles - choral arrangements
• Ben Webster, Al Cohn - tenor saxophone
• Marky Markowitz - trumpet
• Mundell Lowe - guitar
• Dick Berg, Donald Corrado, Fred Klein, Tony Miranda - French horn
• Don Abney - piano
• Barry Galbraith, Mundell Lowe - guitar
• Aaron Bell - double bass
• Ted Sommer, Don Lamond, Nick Stabulas - drums

References

1. Birds of a Feather at AllMusic
2. Frank Buchmann-Moller (5 February 2010). Someone to Watch Over Me: The Life and Music of Ben Webster. University of Michigan Press. pp. 174–. ISBN 0-472-02598-8.