Curtis Lewis is one of those names you only ever see in parentheses. Today I Sing the Blues is his, and Helen Humes had already cut it with Buck Clayton's band back in '48, twelve years before Aretha's Columbia single. Nice that a whole record got built around him for once.
I’ve had Shirley Horn’s CD "The Garden Of The Blues" for many years, but I hadn’t listened to it in just as long. I finally got around to doing that earlier this evening. It’s absolutely magnificent and it strongly reminds me of her two performances at the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague in 1991 and 2003. I just dug out the old program guides.
On July 14th, 1991 she was accompanied by Charles Ables,b and Steve Willams,d.
On July 11th, 2003 she was accompanied by George Mesterhazy,p Ed Howard,b and Steve Willams,d. She was in a wheelchair, so that's why she had George Mesterhazy in her group. It was a great performance but she had some problems with her voice. Her voice faltered a few times during the song "Yesterday". The hall was completely silent. We were all afraid she would cut her performance short, but she made it through. Great memories. 🎹 🎼
I saw (and heard) Shirley Horn every chance I had 80’s - 90’s at Yoshi’s in Oakland. She held the room in the palm of her hand. This is wonderful news as I only have one other on vinyl ‘Violets For Your Furs’ and I can’t seem to locate that one at the moment
My favorite Horn bassist and drummer were Marshall Hawkins and Bernard Sweetney, who were with her for a decade in the Sixties and Seventies. (No offense intended to Ed Howard and Steve Williams, who were/are excellent players.) Charles Ables was a guitarist who switched to electric bass. He was capable enough, but his thong-y sound never fit Shirley's music like an upright bass did.
Oh my, what a find this album is. The only Curtis Lewis tune I was familiar with before was "Old Country", from her later recording of it. I saw Shirley a couple of times, once at the Atlanta Jazz Festival in the 90s and again at the same festival about 2003. By then, George Mesterhazy (RIP) was her accompanist, and she did a great concert in spite of her limitations. I had met George previously in DC because he was a favorite accompanist for a friend, Rebecca Parris (also RIP), a very underappreciated talent. All are gone. So sad. Thank you for this article. I'm a Wikipedia editor and used it to update Lewis's article.
Curtis Lewis is one of those names you only ever see in parentheses. Today I Sing the Blues is his, and Helen Humes had already cut it with Buck Clayton's band back in '48, twelve years before Aretha's Columbia single. Nice that a whole record got built around him for once.
I’ve had Shirley Horn’s CD "The Garden Of The Blues" for many years, but I hadn’t listened to it in just as long. I finally got around to doing that earlier this evening. It’s absolutely magnificent and it strongly reminds me of her two performances at the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague in 1991 and 2003. I just dug out the old program guides.
On July 14th, 1991 she was accompanied by Charles Ables,b and Steve Willams,d.
On July 11th, 2003 she was accompanied by George Mesterhazy,p Ed Howard,b and Steve Willams,d. She was in a wheelchair, so that's why she had George Mesterhazy in her group. It was a great performance but she had some problems with her voice. Her voice faltered a few times during the song "Yesterday". The hall was completely silent. We were all afraid she would cut her performance short, but she made it through. Great memories. 🎹 🎼
I saw (and heard) Shirley Horn every chance I had 80’s - 90’s at Yoshi’s in Oakland. She held the room in the palm of her hand. This is wonderful news as I only have one other on vinyl ‘Violets For Your Furs’ and I can’t seem to locate that one at the moment
My favorite Horn bassist and drummer were Marshall Hawkins and Bernard Sweetney, who were with her for a decade in the Sixties and Seventies. (No offense intended to Ed Howard and Steve Williams, who were/are excellent players.) Charles Ables was a guitarist who switched to electric bass. He was capable enough, but his thong-y sound never fit Shirley's music like an upright bass did.
Oh my, what a find this album is. The only Curtis Lewis tune I was familiar with before was "Old Country", from her later recording of it. I saw Shirley a couple of times, once at the Atlanta Jazz Festival in the 90s and again at the same festival about 2003. By then, George Mesterhazy (RIP) was her accompanist, and she did a great concert in spite of her limitations. I had met George previously in DC because he was a favorite accompanist for a friend, Rebecca Parris (also RIP), a very underappreciated talent. All are gone. So sad. Thank you for this article. I'm a Wikipedia editor and used it to update Lewis's article.
I had no idea that Curtis Lewis was so prolific.
Here's Nancy Wilson singing Lewis's "The Old Country":
https://youtu.be/aWElAxatI4Y?si=RWtymkb6b_UrUxTG