WICN Artist of the Month May 2025: Shirley Horn

Many exceptional jazz musicians who remain outside of wide commercial success, in some cases, have chosen an independent path to be away from the constant physical, emotional, and commercial demands of a touring lifestyle. One such musician, Shirley Horn, would define herself based on her own brilliant piano accompaniment and a remarkably expressive voice, as she stayed away from the mainstream. Her musical career has drawn accolades from fellow musicians, past and present, as well as jazz critics, regarding her emotional interpretation of jazz through her songs and compositions. Horn incorporated both exquisite slow tempos paced on piano and a uniquely understated and often whispered vocal delivery.

 

As a sign of early discipline and gifted talent, Horn, who was born May 1, 1934, began piano lessons at 4, and then studied piano and composition at Howard University at 12. Though she could have attended Juilliard School in New York City, her parents could not afford the living expenses. Instead, at Howard University, in Washington, D.C., Horn would continue to pursue a degree in classical music, later graduating there. She launched her own professional start in jazz, independently, forming a jazz trio at 20.

 

By her own recollection, steering her away from a career in classical music, and instead choosing jazz, Horn liked to say, “I loved Rachmaninoff, but then Oscar Peterson became my Rachmaninoff. And Ahmad Jamal became my Debussy.’” Her career would include collaborations and performances with the leaders in jazz directions and genre: Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Toots Thielemans, Ron Carter, Carmen McRae, Wynton Marsalis, and other notable musicians.(https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/22/arts/music/shirley-horn-jazz-singer-and-pianist-is-dead-at-71.html)

 

Horn’s distinctive slow tempos “captivated” audiences. It was a seduction she was aware of, with the desire to bring the listener into her mood of expression. Her integration of an intimate and reflective voice coupled with a seamless “Bill Evans-like” piano was often marveled at by musicians. An accompanying jazz musician once observed that her performance was like “two brains working as one.”  In a 1993 Verve Record interview documentary, jazz saxophonist Gary Bartz, (who was a sessions player for Horn as well), remarked, “I don’t even think of her singing and piano as separate parts – It’s all just one mix, all flow—because she’s got it down so well.”

 

 

Renowned for her interpretive phrasing of a composition and the understatement in her vocal delivery, she defied category. Horn reflected, “When I sing a song I’m trying to paint a picture, I want you to see what I’m seeing in my music.”

 

From 1954, she led her own jazz trio in Washington, D.C., mostly playing local nightclubs. In 1960, she recorded her first album, Embers and Ashes, for a small label called Stere-o-Craft. Famously and coincidentally, as the release was not widely distributed, Miles Davis not only heard it but a year later tracked down her telephone number in Washington and invited her to open for him at the Village Vanguard in New York. As recalled in a conversation, before the Vanguard booking, “Beguiled by her less-is-more sense of space and patience on her 1960 debut album, Embers and Ashes, the trumpeter [Davis] insisted that she open for him at the Village Vanguard, telling the management: ‘If she don’t play, I ain’t gonna play.’” That exposure, plus the help of the jazz agent and manager John Levy, helped get her a contract with Mercury Records.

(https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/22/arts/music/shirley-horn-jazz-singer-and-pianist-is-dead-at-71.html)

 

 

Without significant commercial success during the 60s, Horn was moving to and from singular recording contracts, which included Mercury Records, recording accompaniment work with Quincy Jones and later some exposure to airplay with a Beatles cover on her 1965 recording Travelin’ Light. Her singular independence and requirement for integrity in her musical career kept her largely from 60s-70s jazz-pop recordings and potential radio popularity. Horn once stated, “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.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirley_Horn)

 

Horn’s association with Verve Records, starting in 1987, was to be her most productive recording period, releasing a total of 11 studio and live albums 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.

 

Her intersection with top-drawer jazz talent began as an assimilation with this recording period that included Joe Henderson, Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, and Toots Thielemans playing on her sessions. Again, her remarkable skill as a pianist was recognized at Verve, as commented by critic Marc Myers, who pointed out “her uncanny ability to accompany herself on piano as if two different people were in the studio… Horn was a jazz pianist, first and foremost. It’s hard to think of another female jazz vocalist who could play piano this well and powerfully.”

(https://www.steinway.com/artists/shirley-horn)

 

 

Here’s to Life (Verve, 1992) would be released late in Horn’s career but the title composition would forever be associated with her and become Horn’s signature song. The music was written by composer Artie Butler (in memory of his late father), and he expressed the emotional impact, “Hearing Johnny’s [arranger Johnny Mandel] incredible arrangement and Shirley’s breathtaking vocal happening together for the first time—I sat in the corner of the control room with tears of joy running down my face. I remember when the song was finished, the entire orchestra listened to a playback and wept.” https://artiebutler.com/heres-to-life/).

 

In 1993, Horn would pay tribute to one of her greatest influences, Ray Charles, in her recording Light Out of Darkness. According to the AllMusic review by Scott Yanow: “Horn sounds nothing like Charles, but she sometimes captures his spirit… While emphasizing ballads, as one always expects, this is a fun set that includes more medium tempo tunes than usual for a Shirley Horn set.” More specifically, Horn credits Charles with affecting her style of voice phrasing and “cluster” chordal use.

 

Light out of Darkness was well received as selections of Charles’ songbook were clearly heartfelt, particularly on Being Green and rocking on Bye Bye Love and Hard-Hearted Hannah. This recording also allowed her a departure from her own style, stepping into R&B and Swing, and displayed her talent on the Hammond organ, Charles’ signature instrument.

 

 

Later Horn won her only Grammy for 1998’s I Remember Miles, dedicated to Davis.

 

The AllMusic review by Richard S. Ginell stated, “Horn’s understated, laconic, deceptively casual ballad manner is a natural fit for the brooding Miles persona, and she doesn’t have to change a thing in this relaxed, wistfully sung, solidly played collection.” The two artists had remained connected musically and as friends throughout her career. Even as Davis’ musical reputation fluctuated during later years with personal issues affecting performance, and causing confrontational behavior, Horn was always personally supportive.”

 

 

Remembered as a singularly stylistically original jazz pianist and standard-setting vocalist in her phrasing and delivery, Horn continues to influence many contemporaries, including jazz pianist and vocalist Diana Krall. In many ways, she charted her own path, during a period when gender and race were significant obstacles to an independent musical career.

 

Horn would also never give in to commerciality either, and it is part of her epitaph in jazz. As summed up by legendary jazz vocalist Tony Bennett, “I guarantee you that 50 years from now, you could listen to Shirley Horn, and it will not sound dated—it’s timeless because it’s real artistry. Shirley’s just got it.”