Shirley Horn – Vocal
George Mesterhazy – Piano (except 8 & 10)
Rd Howard - Bass
Steve Williams – Drums
Ahmad Jamal – Piano (8 & 10)
Roy Hargrove – Flugelhorn (4 & 7)
This quotation is from Stanley Crouch’s sleeve
note.
Shirley horn is one of those about whom neither
enough or too much can be said. This is particularly true in a
time such as ours, when the art of popular singing has diminished
substantially, primarily because popular music has become narrowly
youth-orientated, focussed on the naïve, the sentimental,
the crude and the vulgar. Jazz of course, was always an old soul
in a new world; its roots in blues and Spirituals took it out
of the adolescent arena from the very beginning. It’s emotions
were always the emotions of adults, even if those adults were
describing their own childhoods.
I wish I had written that.
Shirley horn is one of the greatest singers jazz
has ever known she is also an excellent pianist, although she
doesn’t play on this album. Strangely George Mesterhazy’s piano
playing is very similar to Shirley’s own and he makes a masterful
job of accompanying her.
Roy Hargrove plays Flugel to very good effect
on tracks 4 & 7 and catches Shirley’s mood perfectly. Whether
she is delivering a slow out of tempo ballad or swinging on Take
Love Easy or Watch What Happens, Shirley always gets the most
out of each song. I noticed with this album that even on a first
listening, I enjoyed the unfamiliar tracks just as much as the
ones that are well known to me. This may be due to the fact that
Shirley makes each song her own, a rare skill.
Ahmad Jamal guests on tracks 8 and 10 and as
with Roy Hargrove, he contributes considerably, but as Shirley’s
trio is so good anyway, it is harder for him to make an impact.
Many singers find it hard to swing on slow numbers, but Shirley
delivers better than anyone I have ever known at slow tempos.
This is an excellent album, I have always been
a Shirley Horn fan and the more I listen to her singing the more
I like it.
Don Mather
CD Reviews
VERVE
0760282
