In the Evening (When the Sun Goes Down)

Recorded in New York City in early 1935, this session was draped in tragic finality. Leroy Carr's health was rapidly failing due to severe alcoholism, and he would die from nephritis just two months after cutting this track. Backed one last time by the stinging guitar of Scrapper Blackwell, Carr delivered "In the Evening" with a heavy, melancholy twilight mood that felt eerily prophetic. It became one of the most enduring, universally covered piano blues standards in history, profoundly influencing the vocal phrasing of future legends like Ray Charles.