Lena Horne Albums (18)
'Give the Lady What She Wants'
Release Date 8/30/2004
Tracks 12
Label BMG
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'Lena and Michel'
Release Date 5/14/2002
Tracks 12
Label Japanese Import
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What The Critics Say
Released weeks before her 81st birthday, Lena Horne's third album for Blue Note Records (following 1994's We'll Be Together Again and 1995's An Evening With Lena Horne) was a typically classy effort that found the remarkably well-preserved singer fronting jazz-pop arrangements of standards performed by the likes of George Benson, Donald Harrison, and Milt Jackson, though the basic backing group consisted of pianist Mike Renzi, guitarist Rodney Jones, bassist Benjamin Brown, and drummer Akira Tana. Always a stylist, Horne used her age to advantage, for example, lending Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler's "As Long As I Live," a song she first sang at the Cotton Club in 1934, a new, deeper meaning. Taking her time and singing the kind of material she had excelled at throughout her career, she savored songs like the Gershwins' "How Long Has This Been Going On?" and Arlen and Truman Capote's "Sleepin' Bee." It was fitting that a singer whose limited range early on had forced her to emphasize phrasing and enunciation suffered less than some of her contemporaries from advancing age. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
'An Evening with Lena Horne'
Release Date 1/1/1995
Tracks 17
Label Blue Note
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What The Critics Say
It is difficult not to love Lena Horne. Recorded when she was 77, this live CD finds the ageless singer sounding as if she were 57 at the most (and the photo of her on the cover makes her look 47). Horne talks the lyrics a little more than in the past but she cuts loose in spots with power, performs superior standards, takes part of a Duke Ellington/Billy Strayhorn medley as a duet with bassist Ben Brown and is not shy to hold long notes. on six of the songs 11 horns from the Count Basie Orchestra riff and play harmonies behind her; otherwise Horne is joined by her usual quartet with pianist Mike Renzi and guitarist Rodney Jones. The well-rounded set is Lena Horne's most rewarding recording in years. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide
'We'll Be Together Again'
Release Date 5/17/1994
Tracks 15
Label Blue Note
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What The Critics Say
It took Lena Horne until her late forties to get around to recording a Christmas album, and when she did, in 1966, it was typical of her style at the time. More than anything else, she was a nightclub singer, and, for better or worse, Merry from Lena had the sound of a collection that had been put together as a holiday nightclub act. That started with a new Ray Ellis arrangement of "Jingle Bells" with some new lyrics by longtime Tin Pan Alley wordsmith Al Stillman and now called "Jingle All the Way." In addition to allowing Ellis and Stillman to claim songwriting royalties on a traditional song, the track heralded the style of the album, which was snappy and a bit adult-oriented. This was also true, for example, of Horne's treatment of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," which she began by speculating about the possibility that Rudolph's nose was red because he was an alcoholic. "I think he had a problem," Horne declared. "I think he probably liked a little nip once in a while." That might be the sort of comment that would go over well in a club with a drink minimum, but it's not what you'd expect to hear on most Christmas albums. Thankfully, Horne played it straight on ballads like "White Christmas" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," and her talent as a singer was never in doubt. But Merry from Lena was still the kind of Christmas album grown-ups might want to put on only after the kids had gone to bed. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
'Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music'
Release Date 9/9/1981
Tracks 34
Label Qwest
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What The Critics Say
The success of Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music, which opened at the Nederlander Theater on Broadway on May 12, 1981, and ran 333 performances, until June 30, 1982 (Horne's 65th birthday) was a cumulative one. Horne had been performing in nightclubs, theaters, and casinos for 40 years, singing many of the same songs she sang at the Nederlander, but somehow the Broadway context and her perseverance combined to make this more than a glorified club act. Horne had the benefit of being an artist who had faced adversity (particularly, the vicissitudes of being an African-American star in Hollywood in the 1940s) and, if not triumphed, at least persisted, so that, as she reached her golden age, her struggles within the entertainment business could be seen as heroic. And, she was still at it, which made her, in the nomenclature of the time, a "survivor." That earned her gales of applause from theatergoers who had made the journey with her and from new fans who were too young to remember her and were discovering her anew. The show made some attempt to at least trace the outlines of Horne's career from being a Cotton Club chorus girl in the 1930s to a movie star in the '40s. After a clutch of initial songs, an announcer made a Cotton Club announcement, and there was a short dramatic scene featuring several other performers who gave Horne a breather by doing a few numbers. Otherwise, she periodically interrupted the run of songs for personal reminiscences about her career as introductions to songs with which she was associated from her movie and previous Broadway musical appearances. The bulk of the show, however, was given over to her typically moving interpretations of classic songs by Cole Porter, Rodgers & Hart, Harold Arlen, and others. Among the new material, there was an emphasis on songs about endurance and self-reliance, in keeping with the overall theme, notably the Jim Croce hit "I Got a Name" and Paul Williams' "Life Goes On," both of which were turned into showstoppers. But then, the show was one showstopper after another, and a fitting capper to a great career. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
'The Exciting ... Lena'
Release Date 1/1/1977
Tracks 9
Label Springboard
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What The Critics Say
In 1963, an increasingly politicized Lena Horne left RCA Victor Records and signed to 20th Century-Fox Records, for which she recorded the civil rights anthem "Now!," an odd song based on the tune of "Hava Nagila" and written for her by Broadway songwriters Jule Styne, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green. The B-side was "Silent Spring," which took off from Rachel Carson's environmentalist bestseller. The single scraped the bottom of the pop charts, and Horne's follow-up was a cover of Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind." She then cut an album, Here's Lena Now [20th Century-Fox 4115], which featured more traditional theater music fare, before departing for United Artists Records. Budget label Springboard's The Exciting ... Lena is a low-priced reissue of the 20th Century-Fox material, essentially an abridged version of Here's Lena Now. Horne is typically expert at the show material, and she performs the topical songs with gusto, although those accustomed to hearing folkie versions of "Blowin' in the Wind" may find this supper-club version disconcerting. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The use of the title Soul, which, the liner notes pointed out, had "recently become one of the most frequently-used nouns and adjectives in the world of popular music," suggested that Lena Horne might be belting out emotionally in the Motown style of the Supremes and Martha and the Vandellas on her third United Artists Records LP. That wasn't the case, of course, but the title did mean to alert potential customers that Horne would be tackling contemporary material in contemporary arrangements. With Ray Ellis at the podium and a 48-year-old singer steeped in Hollywood and nightclub traditions at the microphone, however, things could only get so trendy. Nevertheless, Horne dutifully tried on newly written material such as "Wonder What I'm Gonna Do," which put her in Dionne Warwick/Dusty Springfield territory, and "Love Bug," a peppy Don Covay-written attempt at the pop and R&B charts (both songs were issued on a single that had no commercial impact). And she cut such 1965 hits as "What the World Needs Now Is Love," "Unchained Melody," and "A Taste of Honey" in her own style. Perhaps most curiously to future ears, she led things off with Ellis and Al Stillman's "I Got a Worried Man," an adaptation of the folk song "A Worried Man" with a riff that sounded a lot like the theme from the TV series Hawaii Five-O -- except that Mort Stevens' theme music wouldn't have its first broadcast for another two years! Though Horne handled all this material with her usual fervor, much of it was not suited to her and none of it really had much hope of making a commercial impact. After a Christmas collection closed out her United Artists contract later in 1966, she didn't record again for three years. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
