Shirley Horn R.I.P.

[DukeCity]

Very sad she's gone.

Very grateful her talents were so well documented these last years.

This one might be my favorite, and the title says it all:

Taste, grace and class. And a hell of a pianist too.

RIP

←

This was the first album I thought of when I heard the sad news. Fabulous singing and playing, plus gorgeous string arrangements by Johnny Mandel (based on Shirley's piano voicings and reharms). I'm going to give this one a spin...

[catesta]

R.I.P., Shirley.

[agriffith]

This is very sad.

I remember going to see her at The Caravan Of Dreams in Ft. Worth around 1992. I didn't even know who she was at the time. I went with a pianist and bassist, friends of mine.

We sat astonished and in awe throughout the whole evening listening to her. She was with her trio (Ables & Steve Williams) and they played together as if they had been born from the same womb!

We got to meet her later backstage and she was so gracious and beautiful to us. She put us on the guest list for the next three nights! And, she even offered to let us open for her with a couple of tunes. All three of us were between 19 and 21 years of age and nervous as I don't know what, but we played anyway.

Seeing her perform those four nights was the greatest musical thrill (as a listener) I've experienced so far in life. The ballads brought me to tears, especially when she sang "A Song For You". It was inspiring on a spiritual and musical level. The honesty, beauty, sound, and swing of those sets will stay with me for the rest of my life.

Thank you and God Bless you Ms. Horn!

[DrJ]

The Horn title that immediately popped into my head was YOU WON'T FORGET ME.

And we won't. One of the true giants is gone, but not forgotten.

[Michael Fitzgerald]

And her last record -

May The Music Never End

Mike

[sidewinder]

Finally the BBC wake up to this very sad news. Here's a link to the tribute:

Shirley Horn R.I.P.

Will be spinning the superb performance with Miles a little later today.

[Guest]

Shirley got a lyric across like NOBODY else. I think and hope her records will be around for a long, long time. She was also, in my opinion, a very underrated and swingin' piano player. And one of considerable influence. Diana Krall, though undoubtedly talented, owes much to Shirley (again in my opinion!) in both her style and choice of song. Shirley had real class and style. Amazing how so few- outside the world of jazz- know of her. I will continue to do my best to change this!

[Lazaro Vega]

Mike mentioned the Au Bar performances included in the "best of" collection which was recently issued and there's a real "Ella In Berlin" kind of moment during "I Didn't Know What Time It Was" where Shirley, bless her heart, just gets lost, forgets. The audience gives it up despite her lapse and you can tell she's moved, saying something like, "Oh, you're sweet."

Here's a quote from a Washington Post article: But she also seemed frustrated, reduced to performing only a concert or two a month, backed by pianist George Mesterhazy. "I can't get into the music," she said. "I just get lost."

That might be one reason why Verve chose only to issue a handful of cuts.

Here are links to a couple of items that appear in the 10/22/05 Washington

Post:

_________________________

The Innate Tempo Of Shirley Horn

By Richard Harrington

Washington Post Staff Writer

Saturday, October 22, 2005; Page C01

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...5102102057.html

___________________________

Shirley Horn, 1934-2005

Mesmerizing Jazz Singer and Pianist

By Adam Bernstein

Washington Post Staff Writer

Saturday, October 22, 2005; Page A01

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...5102101624.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...02101624_2.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...02101624_3.html

[Michael Fitzgerald]

Shirley's producer Joel Siegel once told this story (I have lightly paraphrased):

-----

At the Cine Grill in Hollywood, two blond women approached Horn between sets. One dropped to her knees, identified herself as Diana Krall, and worshipfully expressed her debt to Shirley's inspiration.

Shirley replied, "If you respect me so much, how come you sing all of my songs?"

The other blonde stood by silently until Shirley got up to do her next set, then hugged her. "I didn't recognize her, but she felt like a real person," Horn told Siegel.

When he asked if she recalled her name, Shirley paused and then said, "I think she said Joni something."

"Joni Mitchell?" Siegel asked.

"Yeah. That was it."

Mike

[king ubu]

oh no!

What sad news. I've seen her once, and she was magisterial. What a great artist she was!

[medjuck]

Thee were some quotes from Johnny Mandel in the LA Times obit that I didn't see anywhere else:

Mandel said he was blown away when he first heard her on the radio in his car.

"I stopped the car and I said, 'Who … is that? When I found out that was Shirley, I said, 'Oh, boy, look what I've been missing.' I went out and bought every one of her records."

He said Friday that working with her was a joy.

"She was also a better pianist than most people knew," Mandel said. "She would play her piano, and I knew just what to do with an orchestra behind her. I knew exactly what she wanted, and we had few conversations about music. We were soul mates…."

Mandel paired Horn with a string section and orchestra for the first time on 1991's "Here's to Life," which stayed on the Billboard jazz chart for 15 weeks.

"You have to be very careful with someone like her," Mandel said after the album's release. "She works a small emotional gamut. But she's the best living interpreter of songs I know. She's got the best taste and a delicious voice, full of wonder."