“In a world of pretenders, Carmen Lundy is a genuine Jazz Singer”
- The … Read Full Bio ↴“In a world of pretenders, Carmen Lundy is a genuine Jazz Singer”
- The Evening Standard

Carmen Lundy began her professional career in Miami, FL as a jazz vocalist and composer when there were very few young, gifted and aspiring jazz vocalists on the horizon. Over four decades later, Ms. Lundy is celebrated throughout the world for her vocal artistry and is highly regarded for her jazz innovation.

Currently on the Afrasia Productions label, Carmen is releasing her 14th album in the Fall of 2014. Almost two years in the making, “Soul To Soul” consists of new original songs by Lundy, and a few very special collaborations. The album features legendary artists - specialists on their respective instruments - including Patrice Rushen, Geri Allen, Randy Brecker, Ada Rovatti, Warren Wolf, Bennie Maupin, harpist Carol Robbins, and Simphiwe Dana, a stunning South African vocalist and composer, among others.

The highly regarded 2012 release “Changes” (Afrasia Productions) is on several ‘Top 10 Albums of 2012’ lists, and continues to garner both critical and popular acclaim. Said James Nadal of All About Jazz, “With her release of Changes, veteran singer Carmen Lundy rises to that proverbial summit to enjoy the rarefied air of the chosen few.”

Terri Lyne Carrington’s Mosaic Project - Grammy Winner for Best Jazz Vocal Album of 2011- features the Carmen Lundy composition “Show Me A Sign”, with Ms. Lundy’s original performance from the album “Solamente” reinvented on the arrangement.

Carmen has had several Top Ten albums on JazzWeek (“Jazz and the New Songbook-Live at The Madrid”, “Come Home”, and “Changes”) and a #3 spot on Billboard’s Jazz Chart for 23 weeks with her debut album “Good Morning Kiss”. Among her other awards and recognitions, especially rewarding was Miami-Dade's County Office of the Mayor and Board of County Commissioners proclaiming January 25th "Carmen Lundy Day”, along with handing Ms. Lundy the keys to the City of Miami.

Having recorded more than thirteen albums as a leader, Carmen’s far-reaching discography also includes performances and recordings with such musicians as brother and bassist Curtis Lundy, Ray Barretto, Kenny Barron, Bruce Hornsby, Mulgrew Miller, Terri Lyne Carrington, Kip Hanrahan, Courtney Pine, Roy Hargrove, Jimmy Cobb, Ron Carter, Marian McPartland, Regina Carter, Steve Turre, Geri Allen, Robert Glasper, Patrice Rushen and the late Kenny Kirkland. Ms. Lundy’s 2005 release, the hugely successful “Jazz and The New Songbook-Live at The Madrid”, features some of the jazz world’s best known musicians paying tribute to Ms. Lundy.

Carmen Lundy’s work as a vocalist and composer has been critically acclaimed by The New York Times, The Village Voice, The Los Angeles Times, Variety, The Washington Post, Jazz Times, Jazziz, Downbeat and Vanity Fair among many others, as well as numerous foreign publications.

Christopher Loudon of Jazz Times writes “Carmen Lundy, as beautiful inside as out, has accomplished the near impossible for a jazz singer by maintaining a solid, successful, three-decade career while focusing largely on original, self-penned material.” And Don Heckman of The Los Angeles Times – “Lundy’s performance was the product of talent that has ripened fully. Her far-ranging, fluidly mobile voice roved through and around the melodies, and her innate sense of theatricality illuminated every layer of drama in her story-driven songs.”

As a composer, Ms. Lundy’s catalogue numbers over 100 published songs, one of the few jazz vocalists in history to accomplish such a distinction, and has led to the first publication of the Carmen Lundy Songbook (2007). Her songs have been recorded by such artists as Kenny Barron ("Quiet Times"), Ernie Watts ("At The End Of My Rope"), and Straight Ahead ("Never Gonna Let You Go"). Officially endorsed by Neumann microphones, Carmen Lundy continues to compose and expand her vast catalogue.

Her own recordings consist of 1985’s “Good Morning Kiss” (CLR/Afrasia Productions), “Moment To Moment” (Arabesque/Afrasia Productions), “Night And Day” (CBS/SONY and re-issued by Afrasia in 2011), “Old Devil Moon” (JVC), “Self Portrait” (JVC), “Something To Believe In” and “This Is Carmen Lundy” (both for Justin Time), “Jazz and The New Songbook – Live at The Madrid” (2-disc set and DVD, Afrasia Productions), “Come Home” (Afrasia), “Solamente” and the 2012 release “Changes” (Afrasia Productions). Her newest recording “Soul To Soul” is almost 2 years in the making, and will be released in the Fall of 2014 on Afrasia Productions.

www.carmenlundy.com

In A Sentimental Mood
Carmen Lundy Lyrics

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In A Sentimental Mood
I can see the stars come thru my room
While your loving attitude
Is like a flame that lights the gloom
On the wings of ev'ry kiss
Drift a melody so strange and sweet
In this sentimental bliss you make my
Paradise complete

Rose pearls seem to fall
It's all like a dream to call you mine
My heart's lighter thing
Since you made me this night a thing divine
In A Sentimental Mood
I'm within a world so heavenly
For I never dreamt
That you'd be loving sentimental me
In A Sentimental Mood
I can see the stars come thru my room
While your loving attitude
Is like a flame that lights the gloom
On the wings of ev'ry kiss
Drift a melody so strange and sweet
In this sentimental bliss you make my
Paradise complete
Rose pearls seem to fall
It's all like a dream to call you mine
My heart's lighter thing
Since you made me this night a thing divine
In A Sentimental Mood
I'm within a world so heavenly

For I never dreamt
That you'd be loving sentimental me

Overall Meaning

"In A Sentimental Mood" by Carmen Lundy is a love song that expressed how deeply the singer felt about her lover. The lyrics describe a scene where the singer is in a room and can see the stars shining through her window while she's basking in the loving and affectionate company of her partner. She seems enamoured by her lover's attitude, which is like a flame that dispels all her troubles and brightens a once-gloomy world.

The song's melody is so rich and enchanting that it makes the singer feel both strange and sweet. She's living in a dream, the moment that seemed impossible, where she can claim her love for her partner, whom she considers like a paradise. The song is filled with metaphors such as rose pearls falling, which gives a pleasant impression that she's living a fairy tale since she met the person who completed her life.

"In A Sentimental Mood" was composed by Duke Ellington, a famous big band musician, and was first recorded by Ellington's orchestra in 1935. The song is now considered a jazz standard and has been covered by multiple artists over the years, including John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sarah Vaughan.

Line by Line Meaning

In A Sentimental Mood
Feeling a sentimental, romantic emotion

I can see the stars come thru my room
The window in my room lets me see the stars in the sky

While your loving attitude
Your affectionate behavior

Is like a flame that lights the gloom
Your love brings light to darkness and sadness

On the wings of ev'ry kiss
With every kiss comes a melody

Drift a melody so strange and sweet
The music that our love creates is unusual and delightful

In this sentimental bliss you make my Paradise complete
Your love is completing my perfect world of happiness

Rose pearls seem to fall
Beautiful, graceful moments are happening

It's all like a dream to call you mine
It feels like a dream to have you as mine

My heart's lighter thing
My heart feels light and free

Since you made me this night a thing divine
This night became special and perfect because of you

For I never dreamt
I never imagined

That you'd be loving sentimental me
That you would love and cherish me in such a sentimental way

I'm within a world so heavenly
I feel like I'm in a perfect, dreamlike world

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group, Peermusic Publishing, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., T.R.O. INC.
Written by: DUKE ELLINGTON, MANNY KURTZ, IRVING MILLS

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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