But Beautiful: The Best of Shirley Horn

Shirley Horn

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But Beautiful: The Best of Shirley Horn Review

by Tim Sendra

When vocalist/pianist Shirley Horn resurfaced after a long spell away from the recording studio and signed with Verve Records in 1987, the jazz world at large discovered what many of Horn's devoted followers already knew: that she is a huge talent and one of the great jazz singers to follow in the footsteps of legends like Sarah Vaughan and Billie Holiday. On her records for Verve, Horn never dazzles with flawless technique or stunning vocal tricks. Instead, she enthralls the listener with her intimate delivery and her understated yet almost visceral emotional power. Since that first record in 1987, she has released a string of good-to-excellent records, and But Beautiful: The Best of Shirley Horn on Verve compiles some of the finest moments from them, including the lovely "You Won't Forget About Me," which features Miles Davis on trumpet, maybe the best take on "Fever" since Peggy Lee's, the achingly slow and torchy "But Beautiful," and the lightly swinging "Come and Dance with Me," a track that shows that while Horn's main strength is ballads she also can swing like nobody's biz. The disc also gives a tiny taste of Horn's '60s sound with the inclusion of "The Great City" from 1963's Shirley Horn with Horns and has three bonus tracks recorded live in 2005 with a tight combo that show Horn has a surplus of style and class.

Track Listing

	Title/Composer	Performer	Time	Stream
1	I Just Found Out About Love Harold Adamson / Jimmy McHugh	Shirley Horn	02:27	Amazon
2	You Won't Forget Me Kermit Goell / Fred Spielman	Shirley Horn	07:10	Amazon
3	You Don't Know Me Eddy Arnold / Cindy Walker	Shirley Horn	02:58	Amazon
4	The Great City Curtis Lewis	Shirley Horn	02:05
5	Fever Eddie Cooley / John Davenport	Shirley Horn	04:45	Amazon
6	If You Love Me Marguerite Monnot / Geoffrey Parsons	Shirley Horn	06:04
7	A Time for Love Johnny Mandel / Paul Francis Webster	Shirley Horn	06:45
8	Come Dance with Me Sammy Cahn / James Van Heusen	Shirley Horn	02:51	Amazon
9	Nice 'N' Easy Alan Bergman / Michael Keith / Lew Spence	Shirley Horn	04:53
10	But Beautiful Johnny Burke / James Van Heusen	Shirley Horn	04:42	Amazon
11	Here's to Life Artie Butler / Phyllis Molinary	Shirley Horn	05:37	Amazon
12	Jelly, Jelly Billy Eckstine / Duke Henderson / Earl Hines	Shirley Horn	04:54
13	Loads of Love Richard Rodgers	Shirley Horn	03:07	Amazon
14	I Didn't Know What Time It Was Lorenz Hart / Richard Rodgers	Shirley Horn	04:43	Amazon