Helen Carr - Why Do I Love You?: Her Complete Bethlehem Sessions

Helen Carr (1922-1960) was one of those singers with an innate jazz feeling, sensitive phrasing, and a warm, unaffected sound, which she skillfully used to stamp her personality at any beat and fill each performance with an inescapable atmosphere.

She spent the late Forties working with the Chuck Foster and Buddy Morrow orchestras, and finally made her first major mark on the business in 1950, as the blonde singer in Charlie Barnet’s orchestra. Subsequently, she sang with the aggregations of Georgie Auld and Stan Kenton, and in between she sat in with Charlie Parker and Chet Baker at the Tiffany Club.

In 1954 Helen, gave up the band business to try her luck as a single. She appeared at the Crescendo club and elsewhere in Los Angeles, where she gained some traction, and Red Clyde, the West Coast producer for Bethlehem Records, signed Helen to the label. Her contract resulted in two excellent albums under her own name, as well as two songs she recorded as a guest singer in a Max Bennett date, with all sessions taking place in 1955.

Even though she died at a young age and remained largely unknown outside of the West Coast, Helen Carr left an undeniable mark as a jazz vocalist. Her recordings are few but sufficient to provide an eloquent example of how she understood a song and was able to communicate its essence to the listener.

—Jordi Pujol