At Northsea

After taking most of the 1960s and '70s off to raise her daughter, Shirley Horn returned to her jazz career, recording a series of CDs for SteepleChase before being signed by Verve. At Northsea features the complete contents of two individual CDs, All Night Long and Violets for Your Furs, both of which were compiled from sets recorded over several days during the 1981 Northsea Jazz Festival. Accompanied by the capable electric bassist Charles Ables (who would remain with her until his death in 2001) and the tasty drummer Billy Hart, Horn focuses on ballads featuring her intimate, warm vocals and understated piano playing. In addition to the usual standards, Horn gets into less frequently heard songs like "Someone Like That in Your Life" and "Good for Nothing Joe," and bluesy, amusing "Git Rid of Monday" in the first disc. The second disc sticks pretty much to well known songs, though each of them are well done by Horn in her usual sensitive manner. ~ Ken Dryden|