Shirley Horn - You're My Thrill
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Free Music Notes for You're My Thrill
Free Music Review: The best Shirley Horn album in years
Hit: 5 Stars
Ten years since the release of the monumental "You Won't Forget Me," Shirely Horn has done it again, releasing a landmark album. Although she has released some very quality material throughout the past decade, "You're My Thrill" is exceptional. The 11-song CD features her usual repetoire of ballads interspersed with bouncy be-bop numbers, but what makes the album noteworthy from her other recent albums is the wall of sound producer Johnny Mandel provides. This quality makes both Horn's vocals and piano resonate. The new CD also echoes "Here's to Life," with Mandel's orchestra backing her vocals on six of the tracks. Horn reaches deep into her early days by injecting some blues guitar into the mix, courtesy of Russell Malone, featured on the songs Sharing the Night With the Blues and Why Don't You Do Right? Her remake of I Got Lost in His Arms is magical, with Larry Bunker's vibes punctuating the end of each verse. Solitary Moon, My Heart Stood Still and the title track are gems, with the orchestra deliciously complementing Horn's masterful interpretation of the songs. The Best Is Yet to Come is a treat, with Horn and company's deft handling of swift chord changes. Finally, Horn's strong performance on All Night Long proves that her voice can still rise to the occasion and provides an appropriate climax to the CD.
Along with her trio -- drummer Steve Williams and Charles Ables, who shares bass duties with Brian Bromberg -- Shirley Horn provides us with her most powerful and enchanting album in years.
Free Music Review: Exquisite, but..............................................
Hit: 4 Stars
Why does she include 4-5 songs done on other CD's? Don't get me wrong, I am a "dyed in the wool" Shirley Horn fan. She could sing the "yellow pages" and I'd buy it. Shirley and Johnny Mandel are a match "made in heaven" but surely they could have covered other beautiful standards not previously recorded by her. I have all her recordings and would like her first album "Embers and Ashes" transfered to CD. That's the album that got me "hooked" and an avid fan ever since. Shirley, are you listening?..............Your #1 fanFree Music Review: Hardly HERE'S TO LIFE II...
Hit: 3 Stars
...but STILL so much better than what passes for "jazz" singing these days, I can't give it a complete pan! However, the tempi are even slower than you'd expect from Ms. Horn, her pitch is starting to become questionable (not to mention her vibrato!?) and the choice of songs is NOT as choice as the last Mandel-Horn pairing. Plus, Johnny's charts are nothing spectacular - and I'm sorry: from him, I expect spectacular! I'm not recycling it, but it sure doesn't touch HERE'S TO LIFE!Free Music Review: Horn and Strings Redux
Hit: 5 Stars
I resisted buying this disc because I felt that the previous effort with Mandel veered into a saccharine territory unlike Horn's other work since the 80's. When I saw her live she signed discs after the show and I bought a copy there. I must say that this project took what was good about the previous effort, cast aside the sentiment, and improved the concept. The disc is moody without being cloying, the strings are subtle, and the selection of songs is more varied. A beautiful late-night valentine.Free Music Review: Drowning...
Hit: 3 Stars
...slowly. Sinking...surely. Shirley? The Amazon.com review above has this disc floating, like silk cloth on a summer breeze -- 'er something like that...
But, I gotta tell you, as a S.H. fan and Mandel junkie, this CD is a narrow road to nowhere...a stone sinking quickly into muddy waters. Where once it seemed like urbane sophistication - elegant melancholy mixed with joyous uplift - it now reminds me of too many Rob Roys, a second helping of Prozac, Viagra misfired and -- well, before I get into too much trouble with the diehards here, a resounding vote for twin beds in your parents' room.
I don't like these confessions. I wanted to be moved, and so I was - in the wrong direction. I've never heard such beautiful songs slowed down to such a level of suffocation...why?
Somebody throw me a lifeline...I'm drowning....