Here's To Life: Shirley Horn With Strings CD

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.
Personnel: Shirley Horn (vocals, piano); Wynton Marsalis (trumpet); Charles Ables (bass instrument); Steve Williams (drums).
Arranger: Johnny Mandel.
Shirley Horn's meeting with a string section and an orchestra arranged by Johnny Mandel has some exquisite moments although sometimes it is just overly sweet. Horn recorded with her trio (which includes bassist Charles Ables and drummer Steve Williams) first, emphasizing slow ballads. Mandel used the pianist-vocalist's improvisations and chord voicings as the basis for his charts and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis took guest solos on "A Time for Love" and "Quietly There." Shirley Horn fans will love this CD (which includes such numbers as "Here's To Life," "How Am I To Know" and "If You Love Me") but no real surprises or contrast occurs. ~ Scott Yanow
Sometimes the most effective backdrop for a spare, "minimalist" singer is a lush orchestral arrangement with strings. The problem is that there aren't too many arrangers left who can write in the old romantic, melodic style. One exception to the rule is composer Johnny Mandel, the man who scored Jimmy Scott's major comeback ALL THE WAY and, most recently, Diana Krall's WHEN I LOOK INTO YOUR EYES. Mandel's greatest triumph, however, is also Shirlrey Horn's best album, HERE'S TO LIFE, the only one of her many sessions that really captures the flaming romanticism lurking beneath that deceptively economical vocal technique.
Horn has a wealth of material to work with, gems like Billie Holiday's "How am I to Know?," with lyrics by Dorothy Parker, all dressed up in bossa nova style, and Edith Piaf's anthemic "If You Love Me." There is Mandel's own lovely "A Time for Love," as well as two by the great film composer Diimtri Tiomkin, "Wild is the Wind" and "Return to Paradise." The titles alone conjure up a heady, get-away-from-it-all atmosphere, one that enables Horn to justify her reputation as a major artist.

Live Recording

Entertainment Weekly (6/19/92, p.73) - "..a dreamy, late-night affair...As both a vocalist of subtle graces and a pianist who knows the beauty of economy, Horn wows with understatement.." - Rating: A
Down Beat (7/92, p.38) - 5 Stars - Excellent - "..It gushes softly, elegantly...everything here is fresh, as if sung and played for the first time...affirms Shirley Horn as today's premier ballad stylist.."
Jazziz (Dec.-Jan./92, p.94) - Picked by critic Leonard Feather as one of the 10 best jazz albums of 1992.