Shirley Horn
Shirley Valerie Horn ( born May 1, 1934 in Washington DC, † October 20, 2005 in Cheverly, Maryland) was an American jazz pianist and singer.
Life
Shirley Horn grew up in Washington. She was interested in as a child more for piano than for age-typical games. With persistence they prevailed, finally obtain lessons. At the Junior School of Music at Howard University, where she studied classical piano, she founded the mid-1950s, a jazz trio. In 1960 she released her first album, " Embers and Ashes " (stereo - Craft). Originally she pursued a career as a jazz pianist ( with models such as Ahmad Jamal and Oscar Peterson ). Her debut album gave her but great attention as a singer. Miles Davis brought her after listening to New York and let them occur in his opening act at the Village Vanguard. She took in the 1960s, inter alia, several produced by Quincy Jones plates ( including the Oscar -nominated song For Love of Ivy ), toured Europe and released a few records in order to devote himself more then 10 years, mainly her family in Washington. Occasionally, she was the on in the area of Washington. In the 1980s, she launched a comeback among others with a performance at the North Sea Jazz Festival 1981. She took on new plates ( " Violets for your Furs " in 1981, Steeplechase ) and toured with his own trio. 1987 began her collaboration with " Verve Records ." Horn was nominated during her career for nine Grammy Awards. In 1992, she was Here's to Life, the best-selling jazz record ( Johnny Mandel received as an arranger for a Grammy ).
In 1998, she won with " I Remember Miles " ( Verve ), the Grammy Award for "Best Jazz Vocal Performance ". The album is reminiscent of Miles Davis, who in 1960 first discovered. Davis said of her: " Shirley Horn is the only one who manages to bring me with her piano playing and singing cry. " Her musical trademark was the skillful slowness, the timing of their breaks and their smoky voice. She worked among others in addition to those mentioned, with Kenny Burrell, Hank Jones, Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Roy Hargrove and Toots Thielemans together.
Shirley Horn came for the last time at the San Sebastian Jazz Festival in 2004. Suffered for years from diabetes and died at a hospital in Cheverly, close to Washington DC, the effects of a stroke.
In 2005 she received the NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship.
Discography
- 2009 The Swingin ' Shirley Horn ( Verve )