Epitaph

I realize that I mostly keep to the rock arena, but I'm compelled to write a brief note on Lena Horne, who passed away on May 9th. No one can pretend to enjoy so-called Easy Listening music without having heard her voice. And since I hadn't, in respect to her, I popped in Stormy Weather.

Quite simply, if you haven't yet heard that CD, go do so. Lena had a voice of liquid crystal, one which didn't just sing the right notes, but would catch thoses notes and make them earn their keep. Like Tony Bennett, she clearly had a great respect for her source material, and a verve for the telling; a spin for each individual song that made even the novelty numbers as powerful and dynamic as the torch ballads.

She was also in quite a few Hollywood musicals, and while I'm sure we can argue about the merits of those, one can't but admire her elegance and glamourous air. By the time she got to the Stormy Weather album in 1956, the squeaky-clean delivery from the fourties (such as in the orginal cut of Stormy Weather) was being supplanted by a brimstone flair, but the glamour never went away.

She was a class act, a dear and wonderful singer who had her Moment, had her success, and has left us a marvelous recorded legacy. Wherever she is now, God bless.

As to the album Stormy Weather, I don't actually have any clue how to review an album not of rock lineage. I'm inclined to say just go track it down and let it speak for itself. As with most records of that age, it's short. Only a half hour. And the lady never put a foot wrong. She saved the rather quaint lyrics of Tomorrow Mountain, gave all the fast songs jive (it's honestly just a fun CD to listen to) and the timbre of her voice made all the torchy moments hit home.

There was only one Lena Horne. Now I just wonder why it took me so long to get around to listening to her...