Shirley Valerie Horn (May 1, 1934 – October 20, 2005) was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major f ...

singer and pianist. She collaborated with many jazz musicians including

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...

Dizzy Gillespie John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy Eldridge but addin ...

Toots Thielemans Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron Thielemans (29 April 1922 – 22 August 2016), known professionally as Toots Thielemans, was a Belgian jazz musician. He was mostly known for his chromatic harmonica playing, as well as his guitar and whistl ...

Ron Carter Ronald Levin Carter (born May 4, 1937) is an American jazz double bassist. His appearances on 2,221 recording sessions make him the most-recorded jazz bassist in history. He has won three Grammy awards, and is also a cellist who has recorded ...

Carmen McRae Carmen Mercedes McRae (April 8, 1920 – November 10, 1994) was an American jazz singer. She is considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century and is remembered for her behind-the-beat phrasing and ironic interpre ...

Wynton Marsalis Wynton Learson Marsalis (born October 18, 1961) is an American trumpeter, composer, teacher, and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has promoted classical and jazz music, often to young audiences. Marsalis has won nine Grammy Award ...

and others. She was most noted for her ability to accompany herself with nearly incomparable independence and ability on the piano while singing, something described by arranger

Johnny Mandel John Alfred Mandel (November 23, 1925June 29, 2020) was an American composer and arranger of popular songs, film music and jazz. The musicians he worked with include Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Anita O'Day, Barbra Streisand, Tony Be ...

as "like having two heads", and for her rich, lush voice, a smoky

contralto A contralto () is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range is the lowest female voice type. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare; similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to that of a countertenor, typically ...

, which was described by noted producer and arranger

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...

as "like clothing, as she seduces you with her voice".

Biography

Shirley Horn was born and raised in

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Encouraged by her grandmother, an amateur organist, Horn began piano lessons at the age of four. Aged 12, she studied piano and composition at

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...

, later graduating from there in classical music. Horn was offered a place at the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...

, but her family could not afford to send her there. Horn formed her first jazz piano trio when she was 20. Horn's early piano influences were

Erroll Garner Erroll Louis Garner (June 15, 1921 – January 2, 1977) was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his swing playing and ballads. His instrumental ballad "Misty", his best-known composition, has become a jazz standard. It was first rec ...

Oscar Peterson Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian virtuoso jazz pianist and composer. Considered one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, ...

and

Ahmad Jamal Ahmad Jamal (born Frederick Russell Jones, July 2, 1930) is an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader and educator. For six decades, he has been one of the most successful small-group leaders in jazz. Biography Early life Jamal was born Fr ...

, and moving away from her classical background, Horn later said that "Oscar Peterson became my Rachmaninov, and Ahmad Jamal became my

Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...

." She then became enamored with the U Street jazz area of Washington (largely destroyed in the 1968 riots), sneaking into jazz clubs before she was of legal age. According to jazz journalist James Gavin, the small New York City record label Stere-O-Craft discovered Horn in Washington, D.C. and brought her to New York, to record her first album, 1960's '' Embers and Ashes''. Horn had recorded with violinist

Stuff Smith Hezekiah Leroy Gordon Smith (August 14, 1909 – September 25, 1967), better known as Stuff Smith, was an American jazz violinist. He is well known for the song " If You're a Viper" (the original title was "You'se a Viper"). Smith was, al ...

in Washington, D.C. in 1959, as a pianist in one of the rhythm sections featured on '' Cat on a Hot Fiddle''. Unfortunately for Horn,

Verve Records Verve Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). Founded in 1956 by Norman Granz, the label is home to the world's largest jazz catalogue, which includes recordings by artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, ...

did not include her name on the album's list of backing musicians, and the experience did not raise her professional profile. (A later reissue of Stuff Smith's Verve recordings on

Mosaic Records Mosaic Records is an American jazz record company and label established in 1982 by Michael Cuscuna and Charlie Lourie. It produces limited-edition box sets. The sets recordings are leased from the major record companies, usually for a three- or f ...

documented Horn's participation, and included three Horn vocal performances of

George Gershwin George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions ' ...

songs that were left off the album.) Horn's ''Embers and Ashes'' record attracted the attention of jazz trumpeter

, who praised Horn publicly and invited her to play intermission sets during his performances at the

Village Vanguard The Village Vanguard is a jazz club at Seventh Avenue South in Greenwich Village, New York City. The club was opened on February 22, 1935, by Max Gordon. Originally, the club presented folk music and beat poetry, but it became primarily a jazz ...

. Davis's praise had particular resonance in two respects: because he was highly respected as a musician, and because he rarely offered public praise for fellow musicians at that time. A 1961 live performance recorded in St. Louis' Gaslight Square district was eventually released on LP under the title ''"Live" at the Village Vanguard''. (A later CD reissue of this material was released under the title ''At the Gaslight Square 1961''). By 1962, Horn had attracted the attention of

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...

vice-president (and jazz arranger)

, who signed Horn to Mercury. On her two Mercury LPs, Horn was placed in a

traditional pop Traditional pop (also known as classic pop and pre-rock and roll pop) is Western pop music that generally pre-dates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The most popular and enduring songs from this era of music are known as pop standards ...

setting with medium-sized jazz orchestra, and on neither album did she play piano. According to jazz journalist James Gavin, a third Mercury LP was recorded but never issued, and as of 1993, the tapes for that album were presumed to be lost. Horn's final LP of the 1960s was 1965's '' Travelin' Light'', recorded for

ABC-Paramount ABC Records was an American record label founded in New York City in 1955. It originated as the main popular music label operated by the Am-Par Record Corporation. Am-Par also created the Impulse! jazz label in 1960. It acquired many labels befo ...

. She was popular with jazz critics, but did not achieve significant popular success. Though she had recorded a song by

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

on ''Travelin' Light'', Horn for the most part resisted efforts to remake her into a popular singer in the mid-1960s, later saying of such attempts "I will not stoop to conquer." From the late-1960s to the late 1970s, she was semi-retired from music, staying in Washington, D.C. to raise her daughter Rainy with her husband, Sheppard Deering (whom she had married in 1955), and largely limiting her music to local performances. She made one album in 1972 for Perception Records, but the record received little notice, and Horn did not tour to promote it. In 1978, Horn's career got a boost when

SteepleChase Records SteepleChase Records is a jazz record company and label based in Copenhagen, Denmark. SteepleChase was founded in 1972 by Nils Winther, who was a student at Copenhagen University at the time. He began recording concerts at Jazzhus Montmartre Ja ...

of Denmark tracked her down in Washington, D.C. and offered to record her with drummer

Billy Hart Billy Hart (born November 29, 1940) is an American jazz drummer and educator. He is known internationally for his work with Herbie Hancock's "Mwandishi" band in the early 1970s, as well with Shirley Horn, Stan Getz, and Quest, among others. Bio ...

, (whom Horn had known for many years) and bassist

Buster Williams Charles Anthony "Buster" Williams (born April 17, 1942) is an American jazz bassist. Williams is known for his membership in pianist Herbie Hancock's early 1970s group, working with guitarist Larry Coryell from the 1980s to present, working in the ...

. The resulting album, '' A Lazy Afternoon'' was the first of a total of four Horn albums released by SteepleChase between 1978 and 1984. Horn also began to play engagements in North America and Europe, including the

North Sea Jazz Festival The North Sea Jazz Festival is an annual festival held each second weekend of July in the Netherlands at the Ahoy venue. It used to be in The Hague but since 2006 it has been held in Rotterdam. This is because the Statenhal where the festival w ...

, where two of her albums were recorded. In 1986, Horn signed a one-record deal with CBS-Sony for the Japanese market and released ''All of Me'', a studio session recorded in New York City with her regular rhythm section, plus guest

Frank Wess Frank Wellington Wess (January 4, 1922 – October 30, 2013) was an American jazz saxophonist and flutist. In addition to his extensive solo work, Wess is remembered for his time in Count Basie's band from the early 1950s into the 1960s. Critic S ...

on three tracks. By early 1987,

was pursuing a recording contract with her, and in May of that year, the live album '' I Thought About You'', her first for Verve, was recorded in Hollywood. Horn recorded one further session for an indepdendent jazz label (1987's ''Softly'', for

Audiophile Records Audiophile Records is a record company and label founded in 1947 by Ewing Dunbar Nunn to produce recordings of Dixieland jazz. A very few of the early pressings were classical music, Robert Noehren on pipe organ, AP-2 and AP-9 for example. Histor ...

), then returned to Verve. She released a total of 11 studio and live albums for Verve during her lifetime (additional compilation albums added to this total). Horn's most commercially successful years were spent with Verve, and the label helped her find a large international audience. Miles Davis made a rare appearance as a backing musician on Horn's 1991 album, '' You Won't Forget Me''. Although she preferred to perform in small settings, such as her trio, she also recorded with orchestras, as on the 1992 album '' Here's to Life'', the title song of which became her signature song. A video documentary of Horn's life and music was released at the same time as "Here's To Life" and shared its title. At the time, arranger

commented that Horn's piano skill was comparable to that of

Bill Evans William John Evans (August 16, 1929 – September 15, 1980) was an American jazz pianist and composer who worked primarily as the leader of his trio. His use of impressionist harmony, interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, block c ...

. A follow-up was made in 2001, named ''You're My Thrill''. Horn worked with the same rhythm section for 25 years: Charles Ables (

electric bass The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

) and Steve Williams (drums). Don Heckman wrote in the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' (February 2, 1995) about "the importance of bassist Charles Ables and drummer Steve Williams to Horn's sound. Working with boundless subtlety, following her every spontaneous twist and turn, they were the ideal accompanists for a performer who clearly will tolerate nothing less than perfection". Her albums '' Here's to Life'', '' Light Out of Darkness (A Tribute to Ray Charles)'' and '' I Love You, Paris'' all reached number one on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' jazz chart."Jazz star Shirley Horn dies at 71"
BBC News, October 22, 2005. A

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a r ...

survivor, she had been battling diabetes when she died of complications from the condition, aged 71.Adam Bernstein
"Mesmerizing Jazz Singer and Pianist" (obituary)
''Washington Post'', October 22, 2005. She is interred at Ft. Lincoln Cemetery in Washington, D.C.''Washington Post'' obituary
/ref> Since her death, concert recordings of Horn have been released on CD and DVD by

Resonance Records Resonance Records is an independent jazz record label established in 2008 as the centerpiece of the Rising Jazz Stars Foundation, a non–profit organization dedicated to preserving the art and legacy of jazz. The label is based in Los Angeles, Ca ...

and Image Entertainment.

Awards and honors

Horn was nominated for nine

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

s during her career, winning the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance at the

41st Grammy Awards The 41st Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 24, 1999, at Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1998. Lauryn Hill received the most nominations with 10, setting a record for the most no ...

for '' I Remember Miles'', a tribute to her friend and mentor (the album's cover featuring a Miles Davis drawing of them both). She was officially recognized by the 109th US Congress for "her many achievements and contributions to the world of jazz and American culture", and performed at

The White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800 ...

for several U.S. presidents. Horn was awarded an honorary Doctor of Music degree from the

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level course ...

in 2002. She was awarded the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

Jazz Masters Award in 2005 (the highest honors that the United States bestows upon jazz musicians).

Discography

As leader

* '' Embers and Ashes'' (Stere-o-Craft, 1961) – recorded in 1960 * '' Loads of Love'' ( Mercury, 1963) – recorded in 1962 * '' Shirley Horn with Horns'' (Mercury, 1963) * '' Travelin' Light'' (ABC-Paramount, 1965) * ''

Where Are You Going "Where Are You Going" is the first single from Dave Matthews Band's album ''Busted Stuff''. The single reached number 39 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, number 20 on the Modern Rock Tracks, and topped the Triple A chart. The song was featured in ...

'' (

Perception Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous system ...

, 1973) * '' A Lazy Afternoon'' ( SteepleChase, 1979) – recorded in 1978 * '' All Night Long'' (SteepleChase, 1981) – live * ''

Violets for Your Furs "Violets for Your Furs" is a 1941 song written by Matt Dennis with words by Tom Adair, and first recorded in that year by Tommy Dorsey's orchestra with vocals by Frank Sinatra. The song describes the wearing of violets with furs on an evening in ...

'' (SteepleChase, 1982) – live * '' The Garden of the Blues'' (SteepleChase, 1985) – live recorded in 1984 * '' I Thought About You'' ( Verve, 1987) – live * ''All of Me'' (CBS/Sony, 1987) * ''Softly'' (

Audiophile An audiophile is a person who is enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction. An audiophile seeks to reproduce the sound of a piece of recorded music or a live musical performance, typically inside closed headphones, In-ear monitors, open ...

, 1988) * '' Close Enough for Love'' (Verve, 1989) * '' You Won't Forget Me'' (Verve, 1991) * '' Here's to Life'' (Verve, 1992) * '' Light Out of Darkness (A Tribute to Ray Charles)'' (Verve, 1993) * '' I Love You, Paris'' (Verve, 1994) – live recorded in 1992 * '' The Main Ingredient'' (Verve, 1996) – recorded in 1995 * '' Loving You'' (Verve, 1997) * '' I Remember Miles'' (Verve, 1998) – recorded in 1997 * '' You're My Thrill'' (Verve, 2001) * '' May the Music Never End'' (Verve, 2003) * ''Live at the 1994 Monterey Jazz Festival'' (Concord, 2008) – live * ''Live at the Four Queens'' (

Resonance Resonance describes the phenomenon of increased amplitude that occurs when the frequency of an applied periodic force (or a Fourier component of it) is equal or close to a natural frequency of the system on which it acts. When an oscillati ...

, 2016) – live

As guest

Benny Carter Bennett Lester Carter (August 8, 1907 – July 12, 2003) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. With Johnny Hodges, he was a pioneer on the alto saxophone. From the beginning of his career ...

, '' Benny Carter Songbook'' (MusicMasters, 1996) – recorded in 1995 *

Bill Charlap William Morrison Charlap (born October 15, 1966, pronounced "Shar-Lap") is an American jazz pianist. In 2016, '' The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern'', an album produced by Charlap and Tony Bennett, won the award for Best Traditional Pop ...

, ''Stardust'' (Blue Note, 2003) – recorded in 2001 *

Benny Golson Benny Golson (born January 25, 1929) is an American bebop/hard bop jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, and arranger. He came to prominence with the big bands of Lionel Hampton and Dizzy Gillespie, more as a writer than a performer, before launchin ...

, '' One Day, Forever'' (Arkadia Jazz, 2001) – recorded in 1996-2000 *

Charlie Haden Charles Edward Haden (August 6, 1937 – July 11, 2014) was an American jazz double bass player, bandleader, composer and educator whose career spanned more than 50 years. In the late 1950s, he was an original member of the ground-breaking ...

, '' The Art of the Song'' (Verve, 1999) *

, ''

For Love of Ivy ''For Love of Ivy'' is a 1968 romantic comedy film directed by Daniel Mann. The film stars Sidney Poitier, Abbey Lincoln, Beau Bridges, Nan Martin, Lauri Peters, and Carroll O'Connor. The story was written by Poitier with screenwriter Robert Al ...

'' (ABC, 1968) – Soundtrack *

, '' Sarah: Dedicated to You'' (BMG/Novus, 1991) *

, '' A Tribute to Oscar Peterson – Live at the Town Hall'' (Telarc, 1997) – live recorded in 1996 * Jeffery Smith, ''Ramona'' (Gitanes/Verve, 1995) *

, '' Cat on a Hot Fiddle'' (Verve, 1960) – recorded in 1959 *

Clark Terry Clark Virgil Terry Jr. (December 14, 1920 – February 21, 2015) was an American swing and bebop trumpeter, a pioneer of the flugelhorn in jazz, and a composer and educator. He played with Charlie Barnet (1947), Count Basie (1948–51), Duke ...

Quintet, ''Live on QE2'' (Chiaroscuro, 2001) – live *

, ''For My Lady'' (EmArcy, 1991) * Joe Williams, ''In Good Company'' (Verve, 1989) * ''Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz with Guest Shirley Horn'' (Jazz Alliance, 2006) – recorded in 1984

DVD-Video

* ''Live at the Village Vanguard'' (Lucy II, 2006)

References

External links

Artist Page at Verve Music

Shirley Horn Discography at JazzDiscography.com

Congress tribute

at

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...

Shirley Horn in 2002
on

WBUR-FM WBUR-FM (90.9 FM) is a public radio station located in Boston, Massachusetts, owned by Boston University. It is the largest of three NPR member stations in Boston, along with WGBH and WUMB-FM and produces several nationally distributed program ...

''The Connection'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Horn, Shirley 1934 births 2005 deaths 20th-century American pianists 20th-century American women pianists 20th-century American women singers ABC Records artists 20th-century African-American women singers African-American pianists American women jazz singers American jazz pianists American jazz singers Bell Records artists Deaths from breast cancer Deaths from diabetes Grammy Award winners Mercury Records artists Singers from Washington, D.C. SteepleChase Records artists Verve Records artists Mapleshade Records artists 20th-century American singers 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women