Léna Sayaphoum

Lena Horne was an international jazz superstar and a dynamic performer of striking appearance and elegant style. Singer/actress Lena Horne's primary occupation was nightclub entertaining, a profession she pursued successfully around the world for more than 60 years, from the 1930s to the 1990s. In conjunction with her club work, she also maintained a recording career that stretched from 1936 to 2000 and brought her three Grammys, including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1989; she appeared in 16 feature films and several shorts between 1938 and 1978; she performed occasionally on Broadway, including in her own Tony-winning one-woman show, Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music, in 1981-1982; and she sang and acted on radio and television.

Although the very attractive Lena Horne has never really been a jazz singer, her vocals are generally of interest to jazz listeners and she has occasionally recorded in jazz settings. This Bluebird CD is pretty definitive of the first half of her career. Horne sings a pair of ballads with Charlie Barnet's 1941 orchestra and two songs (including "Don't Take Your Love From Me") with a unique Artie Shaw-led all-star band that includes Benny Carter, Red Allen, and a string section. The remainder of the disc features Horne backed by studio orchestras, and the results are superior (if sometimes overly dramatic) renditions of standards as rendered by a top-notch cabaret singer. Highlights include "Stormy Weather," "Ill Wind," "Moanin' Low," "As Long As I Live," and "It's All Right With Me."

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…