Shirley Horn: Influential jazz artist with a distinctive voice

Born in Washington, D.C., in 1934, Shirley Horn’s contra-alto voice and piano abilities have influenced generations of artists.

“She’s lovely,” Quincy Jones informed The Washington Publish about Horn in 1982. Jones produced two of Horn’s albums within the early Sixties. 

“To me she was the prototype for what Roberta Flack ended up doing,” Jones continued, referencing one other celebrated artist whose profession took off within the D.C. space. “Typically you may find yourself being a bit of forward of your time.

As a youth, Horn studied classical piano at Howard College’s Junior College of Music. 

She was recognized for her distinctive singing voice, and the slower tempo of her music. She enunciated each phrase within the lyrics in order that listeners felt emotion from all the things she sang. 

Shut buddies, Horn and Miles Davis have been each Nationwide Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Jazz Masters. In keeping with an interview from NEA, in 1963, Horn and Davis have been to file the track “You Gained’t Overlook Me” however couldn’t do it due to a dying in Horn’s household. They lastly recorded the track in 1990.

“We each felt the identical about using silence. We bought that from one another,” mentioned Horn in a NEA interview.

In 1998, Horn recorded the album “I Bear in mind Miles” in tribute to Davis, the legendary trumpeter, composer, and bandleader. She obtained a Grammy award for the album. 

Touring throughout the nation and Europe, Horn collaborated with many jazz musicians, together with Dizzy Gillespie, Toots Thielemans, Ron Carter, Carmen McRae, Roy Hargrove, and Wynton Marsalis.

Horn, who lived within the Brookland neighborhood in Northeast D.C., died on Oct. 20, 2005.