Shirley Horn

Released March 13, 2001

Grammy Nominee for Best Jazz Vocal Album 2002

YouTube: https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=FGvkKk_Fh8c&list=OLAK5uy_mvVkbdP61sImRvdrE8vT6AbvAGeAF4GRQ

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/7v8LzXvS6YbidYzAsaTdb0?si=-vDfvs8fRHumZ6E3cOqXnw

About:

Shirley Horn is one of the ‘Giants’ of the jazz vocal, which she combines with being a superb pianist, so good in fact that the Late Miles Davies, numbered amongst her many admirers. She does not distort or change the melody as some jazz singers do, but instead she introduces subtle harmonic changes, which complement the original. Her pitching and diction are second to no one and her ability to deliver very slow tunes, without any need or requirement to fill the gaps, is unique.

Some fine scoring by producer, Johnny Mandel, an arranger and composer of the highest quality enhances the Album. Writing arrangements to complement the work of Shirley Horn, is a difficult task, for the most part her normal trio setting is complete, and nothing else is required. Johnny Mandel has been entirely successful with a set of backings so subtle, that they really succeed in enhancing the listening pleasure. On one of the tracks, a Mandel composition ‘Solitary Moon’, the use of Carl Saunders ‘Miles’ inspired Trumpet, brings another new dimension. The tracks with Shirley’s regular trio with Charles Alder and Steve Williams, give a real feel for what it is to be at one of her ‘live’ performances. The trio is featured on five of the tracks; the bluesy guitar of Russell Malone is added to three of them and the other six have the benefit of the Mandel settings.

Track Listing:

1. You’re My Thrill (Sidney Clare / Jay Gorney) 4:45

2. The Best Is Yet to Come (Cy Coleman / Carolyn Leigh) 2:37

3. Solitary Moon (Alan Bergman / Marilyn Bergman / Johnny Mandel) 5:06

4. Sharing the Night With the Blues (Emmanuel Logan) 3:00

5. I Got Lost in His Arms (Irving Berlin) 4:52

6. The Rules of the Road (Cy Coleman / Carolyn Leigh) 3:37

7. My Heart Stood Still (Lorenz Hart / Richard Rodgers) 4:39

8. You’d Better Love Me (While You May) (Timothy Gray / Hugh Martin) 1:58

9. The Very Thought of You (Ray Noble) 5:14

10. Why Don’t You Do Right? (Kansas Joe McCoy) 2:45

11. All Night Long (Shirley Horn / Curtis Lewis) 7:44

Personnel:

Shirley Horn: piano and vocals

Charles Ables: bass

Steve Williams: drums

Guests
Alan Broadbent: piano (3)

Brian Bromberg: bass (2,4,6,8,10)

Dori Caymmi: guitar (4.6,10)

Chuck Domanico: bass (3)

Russell Malone: guitar (4,6,10)

Carl Saunders: trumpet (3)

Trio Arrangements: Shirley Horn

Orchestra arranged and conducted by Johnny Mandel

Recorded in 2000, at Schnee Studio, Capitol Studios, CA

Produced by Johnny Mandel

Executive Producer: Tommy LiPuma

Recorded and Mixed by Al Schmitt

Art Direction: Hollis King

Photography by Larry Busacca

Review:

With the swanky midnight mood of their previous collaboration Here’s to Life in mind, Shirley Horn and arranger Johnny Mandel go at it again — a move that is sure to send her legions of latter-day fans into blissful orbit. This time, though, the six sophisticated string-laden ballads are interspersed with five relatively short, swinging numbers with just Horn, her trio, and various instrumental guests. As a result, you get a better balanced album, not weighted too much in one direction or another. Mandel’s orchestrations are paragons of subtlety, sometimes creeping almost imperceptibly like a slow moving fog upon Horn’s trio. Like his singer, Mandel respects the value of silence and space; they’re a well matched pair, their different ideas of timing dovetail together neatly. Though some of us would have wanted Horn and her jazzmen to stretch out more on the small group tracks, they do serve effectively as breathers, or intermezzos, in between the languorous collaborations with Mandel. In lieu of the participation of Wynton Marsalis (who contributed to Here’s to Life), Carl Saunders offers some soulful trumpet obbligato work on “Solitary Moon.” Guitarist Russell Malone and bassist Brian Bromberg also appear on the small group tracks — Malone even does a soft focused rockabilly thing on “Why Don’t You Do Right?” — while bassist Charles Ables and drummer Steve Williams stoke the rhythm in Horn’s trio. Another worthy stylish outing for Horn.

Richard S. Ginell (Allmusic)