Farewell, Shirley Horn

It takes a genius to know a genius, so when Miles Davis picked up a small label release called "Embers and Ashes" in 1961 he knew he was onto something. In fact he loved and played it so much that his children could sing along to it. The album was by a young Washington DC pianist called Shirley Horn and Miles managed to convince her to open for him at the Village Vanguard. The rest would have been history, except it was a life lived musically yet privately. At the Vanguard Shirley Horn was spotted by Quincy Jones who produced her next two albums, although, for once he miscalculated. Despite the quality of the albums, by casting Horn as a pure vocalist he didn’t get the best out of her. It was good but not genius.

Horn withdrew to the familiarity of DC where she raised her young daughter, stayed married, and played her piano. Of course she kept in touch with her musical idols and mentors and eventually re-emerged in the 1980s signed to Verve, where she produced a string of classic albums including the seminal “You Won't Forget Me” for which Miles Davis came out of retirement (just before his death) to accompany her in the smooth, lyrical Miles style that he hadn’t used in years. In fact he hadn’t recorded with a vocalist for 40 years; that’s how much he respected her. It was only fitting then that after Miles’ death, Shirley Horn’s tribute, I Remember Miles, won her her only Grammy in at the 41^st Annual Grammy Awards in 1998.

Shirley continued to record for Verve after the Grammy, immortalising her dark alto voice and subtle piano playing with her trusted accompanists, bassist Charles Ables and drummer Steve Williams. In fact she never stopped playing piano since the days when as a 4-year-old she felt the pull of her grandmother’s piano. She played through her diabetes and cancer treatments and only death has stilled her fingers. But we will always remember her... singing, crooning unhurriedly through treasured standards and mining every chord for the right emotion.

Shirley Horn, we won’t forget you!

Albums to check out:
You Won’t Forget Me
I Remember Miles