Shirley Horn (3)

MARIAN MCPARTLAND WITH SHIRLEY HORN - PIANO JAZZ (1984)

 

1.Conversation
2.Love Is Here To Stay
3.Conversation
4.I Could Have Told You
5.Conversation
6.Billie's Bounce
7.Conversation
8.Blood Count
9.Conversation
10.Love You Madly
11.Conversation
12.Violets For Your Furs
13.Conversation
14.Cherry
15.Conversation
16.There's No You
17.Conversation
18.Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out To Dry
19.Conversation
20.Shirley's Blues

This volume of jazz pianist Marian McPartland's illuminating PIANO JAZZ interview series features the sublime vocalist and pianist Shirley Horn, who performs favorites like "Billie's Bounce," "Our Love Is Here to Stay," and "I Guess I Will Hang My Tears Out to Dry," as well as recounting tales from her long and illustrious career.

SHIRLEY HORN - I REMEMBER MILES (1998)

1. My Funny Valentine
2. I Fall In Love Too Easily
3. Summertime
4. Baby, Won't You Please Come Home
5. This Hotel
6. I Got Plenty O' Nuttin'
7. Basin St. Blues
8. My Man's Gone Now
9. Blue In Green

This stunning album is Shirley Horn's loving tribute to her friend and colleague, the legendary late Miles Davis. Davis was so taken by Horn's first album EMBERS AND ASHES that he forced The Village Vanguard to let her virtually-unknown trio open for him during his 1961 run there. Their friendship and admiration for each other's music lasted through the years, and Shirley Horn's 1991 recording YOU WON'T FORGET ME, was one of the last recordings Miles Davis made.

Personnel: Shirley Horn (vocals, piano); Toots Thielemans (harmonica); Buck Hill (tenor saxophone); Roy Hargrove (trumpet, flugelhorn); Steve Williams , Steve Williams , Al Foster (drums).

SHIRLEY HORN - CLOSE ENOUGH FOR LOVE (1989)

1. Beautiful Friendship
2. I Got Lost In His Arms
3. Baby, Baby All The Time
4. Close Enough For Love
5. This Can't Be Love
6. I Wanna Be Loved
7. Come Fly With Me
8. Once I Loved
9. But Beautiful
10. Get Out Of Town
11. Memories Of You
12. It Could Happen To You
13. So I Love You

CLOSE ENOUGH FOR LOVE was the second album that Shirley Horn released on Verve Records in 1989. Her first Verve release, I THOUGHT ABOUT YOU, had proved to be a commercial breakthrough for the singer/pianist, who, after releasing several albums in the early '60s, had limited her appearances to her native Washington DC. In addition to her remarkable rhythm section, Horn also showcases here the considerable talents of tenor saxophonist Buck Hill.

Horn's choice of material is always compelling, and chosen with exquisite taste. Her sultry and smoky vocals are intimate and conversational, relying on oddly metered time and silence rather than volume to make an emotional point. Her masterly chord cluster style of piano playing punctuates her every vocal phrase. When Horn swings, she swings hard, as on "Come Fly With Me" or "Get Out of Town," but her specialty is the ballad; she almost appears to stop time while the music continues to groove in a way that is completely unique and breathtaking. The Jobim tune "Once I Loved," and Eubie Blake's "Memories of You" with Buck Hill's extended solo are fine examples of this technique. This is remarkable work from a remarkable talent. CD Universe review.