Artist Biography
By no means a favorite of spelling teachers, vocalist Rae Harrison recorded "Git Wid It" and not only "Love Me" but "Me Too" in the early '70s. The obscure tracks are interesting not only as throwbacks to an earlier style of recording predating rock & roll but as publications of an artist-owned enterprise, right in the swing of things in terms of such developments on the jazz scene. Harrison's sides came out on the Gemini label, owned by veteran bandleader Sam Wooding. Wooding takes credit as the writer of all of the material the singer recorded for Gemini; these sides were originally credited to Rae Harrison & the 3 Gems. A fine session man was also singled out for providing accompaniment with his Larry Lucie Orchestra.
Part of the retro element is also the involvement of Joe Davis, who had already put in half of a century in the music business by the time he wrote out checks to Lucie for writing the arrangements used on Harrison's recording sessions. The singer's relationship with Wooding in itself represented a quarter of a century of gigs: she had performed with him since the '50s. Prior to that she sang with jazz artists such as the fine pianist Tadd Dameron, with whom in the late '40s she came up with a brilliant variant on scat singing entitled "Casbah." She performed under the name of Rae Pearl in the early part of her career. In her later years Harrison has worked on completing and publishing Wooding's memoirs. ~ Eugene Chadbourne
Hometown
Genre
Jazz