The Legendary Miss Lena Horne Carole Boston Weatherford

Two days after her two triumphant sold-out Carnegie Hall concerts, Lena Horne took the same show into New York City's Supper Club to be videotaped for a special on the A&E Network.
Her quintet with Donald Harrison, Mike Renzi, and Rodney Jones was augmented by the Count Basie Orchestra for four songs. Ms. Horne was in great spirits and brilliant form, and this show turned out to be her last public perfromance. After one more studio album a year later, Lena Horne made good on her pledge to retire.

We'll Be Together Again is a 1994 album by Lena Horne. At the 1995 Grammy Awards, Horne was nominated for a Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Performance for this album. Lena Horne is nine years older than the 70-something Tony Bennett, and like him has lost a good bit of power and tone from her voice. Unlike Bennett, though, she doesn't try to bull her way through her vocal limits on We'll Be Together Again; she stays within those limits and fashions a striking testament to the subtleties of romance and friendship in one's autumnal years. Billy Strayhorn was one of Horne's very best off-stage friends, and seven of the 16 tracks here were written by Strayhorn and/or his partner Duke Ellington. Three more songs–"My Buddy," "Old Friend" and the title tune–are heartfelt remembrances of those once dearest to Horne and now gone–Strayhorn, her ex-husband, her son, her hairdresser and her wardrobe mistress.

After a lengthy and successful run on RCA from 1955-1962, Lena Horne cut a few albums for the small Charter label. Picking up on the period craze for all things Latin - mambo, bossa nova, or otherwise - Horne recorded this 1963 collection of swinging, Latinized standards for the company. With husband and bandleader Lennie Hayton directing a crack group through some fine Shorty Rogers arrangements, Horne shows off her powerful and supple voice on both obscure fare ("Cuckoo in the Clock") and perennial classics from Tin Pan Alley ("My Blue Heaven"). And while some might balk at the Mancini-like lounge touches informing highlights like the fiercely delivered "From This Moment On" and a bravura reading of "Night and Day," one must ask what would be better to temper the driving rhythms, frenetic horn charts, and Horne's theatrical phrasing…

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.