Vocalist Shirley Horn's 1992 album Here's to Life (Verve) is a jazz masterpiece. The album has long been considered Horn's most emotionally penetrating album and Johnny Mandel's greatest triumph as a string arranger and orchestra conductor. In '93, he won the Grammy for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocal for the album. Unfortunately, Horn lost in the Best Jazz Vocal Performance category that year to Bobby McFerrin for his vocal of 'Round Midnight on his Play album with Chick Corea.
Many fans of Here's to Life may be unaware that Horn and Johnny were filmed for a documentary during the Here's to Life recording session. The documentary, Shirley Horn Sings and Plays Here's to Life, was directed and produced by Gene A. Davis and released on LaserDisc in 1992, when that 12-inch, high-resolution format was popular in the early days of the digital home-video revolution. You need a LaserDisc player to watch LaserDiscs. Many who do know about the film have never seen it, largely because it was never released on DVD.
A month ago, Mark Cathcart of the CT Produced site, uploaded the LaserDisc to YouTube. I urge you to see the film if you love beauty, Shirley Horn and Johnny Mandel.
Here's the hour-long documentary...
JazzWax notes: Bill Kirchner sent along a note pointing out the following:
Marc, Many people don’t realize that most of the album was recorded by capturing Shirley and the trio first, followed by Johnny's orchestration. Once Shirley and the trio recorded, the orchestra overdubbed its parts using a click track. In other words, Shirley and the trio dictated the form and harmonies of the arrangements, and Johnny added additional color and richness in his arrangements. Exceptions, of course, are "Here’s To Life" and "Where Do You Start?," where Shirley sang alone to the orchestra, without the trio. Shirley's harmonies were so distinctive that this was a way for Johnny to avoid harmonic clashes.
And Devra Levy, who is developing a play based on the life of singer Joe Williams, sent along the following:
Marc, most people may not be aware that composer Artie Butler first gave "Here's to Life" to singer Joe Williams. As a result, Joe had the first right to record it. The song meant the world to him. Joe and John [Levy], his manager and my husband, spent a long time lobbying Verve to budget for an orchestra, but they were unsuccessful. When Shirley was able to secure additional funding from Gitanes for her orchestral recording (ironically, on Verve), Shirley asked Joe for permission to record it in 1991. Joe graciously gave his blessing. Finally after a year or so, Joe secured a budget for his own orchestral album, "Here's to Life," on Telarc, accompanied by the Robert Farnon Orchestra and recorded in London in August 1993.
