May the Music Never End
Label: Verve
Media: CD
Format: Album
WorkNameSort: May the Music Never End
Smoother than barrel-aged red wine, yet sharpened by the age-old wisdom of bebop tradition, Shirley Horn’s voice remains in truly brilliant form on this, her umpteenth offering of renditions to drain the heart. Where contemporary artists in the Diana Krall/Norah Jones vain pander to the formica-layered leisure-listening of the suburban dinner party, Horn’s heart climbs substantially further up the sleeve, soothing restless souls, but winking in some deeper acknowledgement. A laundry list of contemporaries, from Miles Davis to Charlie Haden, inform an improvisational style that would drive even Cole Porter, whose songbook she has previously explored, into unexpected surprise. On “May the Music Never End,” Horn tackles her lovelorn piano and drum-brush refrains with a style not necessarily befitting a woman approaching 70 years in age. May we all age this gracefully.
This article appears in Jun 18-24, 2003.