Something to Live For
Context
Ballad by Billy Strayhorn, who himself accompanies Carmen McRae on piano on this track from By Special Request, her first record for Decca. Gary Giddins hears another Carmen in it, with a lighter voice, coming from her cabaret years.
In the genealogy of jazz
This track belongs to Vocal jazz, scat, vocalese. Among the origins and influences of Vocal jazz, scat, vocalese: Classic blues (women singers), Swing, big bands, Bebop (Minton's, Monroe's).