Album Reviews

Will there ever be another jazz singer with the elegance, clarity, and emotional depth of the late Shirley Horn? I don’t think so. Horn put more into, and got more out of her pauses than many singers get of the notes they actually sing. Her piano playing was equally sophisticated yet economical. Everyone from Joni Mitchell to Diana Krall has been influenced by Shirley Horn.

This “best of” compilation includes eleven tracks from six of her Verve albums, one from the Mercury album Shirley Horn With Horns (Mercury SR 60835, also reissued by Speakers Corner on vinyl and available as part of a 2 LPS on one CD set paired with Loads of Love), and three bonus tracks recorded live at Au Bar in NYC, January, 2005 featuring her regular drummer Steve Williams and a backup band that included trumpeter Roy Hargove.

Horn’s specialty was ballads and slow swingers, which compiler Ken Druker does an excellent job of showcasing. Try the moody second track, “You Won’t Forget Me,” just Horn’s trio plus Miles Davis bathed in satin reverb, and you’ll be hooked.

Eddie Arnold’s “You Don’t Know Me,” covered so famously by Ray Charles becomes less of a regret and more of a come-on in Horn’s hands. She trades the piano for Hammond B-3 organ and keeps it juicy but not bubbling over. Her trio recording of “Fever” slowly smolders.

Horn was equally effective backed by a string drenched orchestra as the tracks culled from the Johnny Mandel arranged Here’s To Life demonstrate.

The live tracks (well) recorded just last year, show her in fine, playful form (listen to her piano intro to Richard Rodgers’s “Loads of Love”) before a sparse, probably near-closing time few, based on the smattering of applause at the end.

Fortuitously, Horn was almost always well recorded (much of it AAA, I think) so here you get a great music compilation and great sound. A better introduction to Horn’s magic I cannot imagine. This disc, a glass of Cognac, and you’re all set (except when the disc ends you'll wish you had the others)! We won't forget you, Shirley.