Customer Reviews

Lena Horne: The Lady And Her Music (Original Cast)

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Grammy-winning album from the legendary singer/actress/beauty is, by far, one of the best live performances ever. Miss Horne is in fine form, presenting a history lesson of her groundbreaking career. She sings her trademark songs, as well as those that illustrate highlights of the life led in entertainment. The musicians backing her never overshadow her voice; they complement each other superbly.

Y'wanna know a real DIVA! HORNE IS IT!

Lena Horne a beautiful class act lady who can sing! and she shows it on this compilation.

With her signature songs "Stormy Weather", and "The Lady & the Tramp" and my favorite "Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered".

Lena as always never gives a dull performance and this CD with its 5 star production and 10 star (if I could give it I would) lady....Lena performs like a dynamo.

A great 2 CD compilation that doesn't miss a beat from beginning to end. A perfect buy for the collection, family or friend.

an absolute gem from begining to end, miss horne sings her life out on this journey through her career hollywood, racism, sex , and her age are poored out from the heart and soul of this sexy and glamorous star at the height of her career each song is ended like an atomic explosion and superbly accompanied by quincy jones production

This CD is stellar, not only because it shows Miss Horne at her mature, full best, but because the music selections tell a complete story. She sings every type of song but excels on the ballads. Listen, especially, for "Where or When" or "Betiwched, Bothered and Bewildered." These are definitive versions. There's humor and a bit of history, too, in the banter between songs. I've been dazzled by this CD over and over. It remains one of my all-time favorites. You can't go wrong with Miss Horne.

There is a distinct difference between popularity and quality. This recording is Lena's passport to that rare place in entertainment history that only a few can be placed. Her body of work which is covered in this live recording is one of the most over looked treasures in music. She can swing, funk, and soar vocally like few others can. Backed by an all-star band that is fronted by Harold Wheeler, the Lady shows why she can lay claim to the crown that has ben bestowed on other worthy singers such as Streisand/Sinatra. Listen to track 20 and you will hear a story teller that over the decades has turned into a musican (with the help of her late husband Lennie Hayton). Unlike Minelli/Streisand/Dianh Carroll, Lena Horne can swing and she has always had attitude, the kind that Miles/Sinatra had; i'm doing it my way. In her performances you hear currents such as Mable Mercer, Bobby Short, Lady Day, Strayhorn,& D.Washington she is a singer that does not need to have ever cue or prop laid out with military percision in order to get her point across. The band; Grady Tate, John Faddis, Cecil Bridgewater, & Micheal Brecker, just to name a few weave magic while they having fun. The audience is in the palm of her hand and recorded with the correct balance so they don't get in the way. Recorded on Broadway some 17 years ago (it still sounds fresh)she jams! Trust me buy the CD, dim the lights, turn off the phone, kick back and enjoy it! I can't wait until "Natures Baby" (Buddah) & "Lena A New Album w/ Phil Woods" (RCA) are released on CD

There are no other words to describe this recording. Absolutely stunning. I saw the show when it was on Broadway and it remains one of the most thrilling experiences I have ever had in the theatre. This recording captures the experience perfectly. Let's all hope that the powers that be will eventually release a DVD of this show (it was captured live and distributed for a short while in the early 80's on video).

Don't ask why, just buy it. It's one of her best, 5 stars is not enough!

This magnificent one woman Broadway Show (over a year on B'way, 44 city tour - US & Canada & UK) is perfectly captured in this 2 CD set. Lena's voice had most all of it's luster at age 65 and her performance shows she was enjoying herself as much as the audience. Her best singing on records has always been Live and this CD is one of her very very best. She has commented many times that "Yesterday When I Was Young" is the most autobiographical song she ever sang. Another reviewer here missed the point when he wrote "Listen to track 20 and you will hear a story teller that over the decades has turned into a musican (with the help of her late husband Lennie Hayton)" Lena had several very important mentors, the most important was composer Billy Strayhorn. She was required to boost the importance of her husband in her musical development in the 1950s. Listen to the LYRICS of that song, look at the circumstances, do the math.

This is Lena at her mature best. She is emotive, angry, volatile and passionate. She arrives on this work. That says alot.

Yesterday, 05/09/2010 was the day we lost this great lady and
yet another star from the Golden Age of both Hollywood and Harlem's
Jazz Days. Lena Horne was born on June 30th, 1917 in Brooklyn, NY and
entered show business at the age of 16 in 1933, as a chorine for the famed
COTTON CLUB, a club which was located in Harlem and featured the
creme de la creme of black talent of the day, yet no blacks were allowed
to enter in as patrons to appreciate their talent...it was WHITES ONLY!!

This was a very oppressive and demeaning time for blacks in America,
but they pressed on as best they could, surviving, and creating some of
the greatest art, music and culture that the world has ever known with
the hopes that one day, they too would be treated with respect & dignity
and could take an equal place at the table which was dividing up the American Dream
to everybody else except them!
Lena Horne was blessed with amazing otherworldly beauty, intelligence,
a firey spirit, and a talent for dancing & singing which would open doors
for her into show business of the 30's & 40's.
She later developed her singing voice into an amazing instrument which
could interpret jazz, blues, pop standards, as well as broadway tunes with
so much passion & emotion that the listener couldn't helped but be moved by it!
She also began to act in music shorts around 1938, which quickly evolved into
her starring in feature films. First she was a star in her own community,
which she treasured above all else, then she was summoned to Hollywood
in the early 40's to work for MGM. In this stellar one woman show, which made
her the toast of Broadway in 1981 and '82, when she was in her 60's, she shares
many interesting anecdotes with both candor & humor of her life and the
highs & lows of her amazing lengthy career!
She worked with some the greatest songwriters, arrangers, musicians of all time,
was friends with the likes of Ava Gardner, Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorne
(who she describes as the other half of her heartbeat) and many others!
She sings and (too bad we can't see it) dances her way through a melange
of great material on this 2-CD set, which was a double album in it's time.
There are many moving performances during this set of personal rememberances
set to song which will have you listening intently and wishing, as I was,
that I had been able to be there in that theatre back in the early 80's,
to witness this piece of living history in person!
The album was produced by maestro Quincy Jones, who as you know is a true genius,
so you know the musical production is top notch!
Lena Horne was a real character and strong personality who didn't take gump
from anyone, and she spoke out on racism at a time when few of her stature would dare to!
When she sang, she put her whole body & soul into it, and believe me, it comes
through the speakers and gets you all these years later!
So if you can find this Grammy & Tony award winning CD anywhere,
I'd advise you to get it, listen to it often, and treasure it, because it's golden! (-:

( REST IN PEACE LENA HORNE June 30, 1917 - May 9, 2010 )