Apr 29, 2025 11:53 AM
Vocalist Andy Bey Dies at 85
Singer Andy Bey, who illuminated the jazz scene for five decades with a four-octave range that encompassed a bellowing…
Shirley Horn
(Photo: ©Brian McMillen, courtesy of Resonance Records)Singer and pianist Shirley Horn (1934–2005) was a jazz trailblazer, a female artist whose immense talent put her securely in the company of such jazz legends as Miles Davis, who once said of Horn, “If she don’t play, I ain’t gonna play” during a performance at the Village Vanguard.
This fall, fans of Horn will have an opportunity to hear a live album of previously unreleased tracks. On Sept. 16, Resonance Records will issue Live At The 4 Queens, featuring Horn and her veteran bandmates, bassist Charles Ables and drummer Steve Williams.
Originally recorded by Las Vegas NPR affiliate KNPR on May 2, 1988, at the 4 Queens Hotel, the album will be available as a deluxe CD package and a digital download.
Live At The 4 Queens was recorded about a year after Horn’s milestone 1987 album I Thought About You (Verve), which was viewed as the “comeback” record that reignited her international touring career after a nearly 20-year hiatus—during which she focused primarily on raising her daughter in her hometown of Washington, D.C.
The album includes a 56-page book documenting Horn’s life and career, featuring interviews conducted by Resonance Records producer Zev Feldman, who topped the Rising Star—Producer category of the 2016 DownBeat Critics Poll. Additional essays were contributed by journalist James Gavin, producers Jean-Philippe Allard and Richard Seidel, longtime Horn drummer Steve Williams, singer Sheila Jordan, jazz radio veteran Rusty Hassan, KNPR engineer Brian Sanders, manager Sheila Mathis and Horn’s daughter, Rainy Smith.
With nine tracks and more than 50 minutes of music, Live At The 4 Queens features Horn’s interpretations of popular songs, including “You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To,” “The Boy From Ipanema” (Horn’s spin on the Antonio Carlos Jobim classic), “Isn’t It Romantic?,” “Lover Man” and others.
Championed in her early career by Davis and bandleader Quincy Jones, Horn was known for her supple touch at the keyboard and her ability to sustain momentum even at slow tempos, skills that made her a favorite of jazz critics.
A nine-time Grammy Award nominee, she eventually won for Best Jazz Vocal Performance in 1999 for her album I Remember Miles, produced by Seidel.
Horn was named a 2005 National Endowment of the Arts Jazz Master, the highest honor bestowed on U.S. jazz musicians. She died on Oct. 20 of that year.
Producer Feldman said the new release will help preserve Horn’s influential legacy. “We want this CD and album book to remind us why she was great, why she mattered,” he said.
Live At The 4 Queens will be released with the participation of KNPR Las Vegas. Sound restoration was overseen by George Klabin and Fran Gala, and the album’s packaging was the creation of Resonance designer Burton Yount. The album is available for pre-order on iTunes.
For more information, visit the Resonance Records website.
“It kind of slows down, but it’s still kind of productive in a way, because you have something that you can be inspired by,” Andy Bey said on a 2019 episode of NPR Jazz Night in America, when he was 80. “The music is always inspiring.”
Apr 29, 2025 11:53 AM
Singer Andy Bey, who illuminated the jazz scene for five decades with a four-octave range that encompassed a bellowing…
Foster was truly a drummer to the stars, including Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins and Joe Henderson.
Jun 3, 2025 11:25 AM
Al Foster, a drummer regarded for his fluency across the bebop, post-bop and funk/fusion lineages of jazz, died May 28…
Davis was a two-time Grammy winner for liner notes.
Apr 22, 2025 11:50 AM
Francis Davis, an august jazz and cultural critic who won both awards and esteem in print, film and radio, died April…
“Branford’s playing has steadily improved,” says younger brother Wynton Marsalis. “He’s just gotten more and more serious.”
May 20, 2025 11:58 AM
Branford Marsalis was on the road again. Coffee cup in hand, the saxophonist — sporting a gray hoodie and a look of…
“What did I want more of when I was this age?” Sasha Berliner asks when she’s in her teaching mode.
May 13, 2025 12:39 PM
Part of the jazz vibraphone conversation since her late teens, Sasha Berliner has long come across as a fully formed…
