The Styrous® Viewfinder: 20,000 Vinyl LPs 296: Lena Horne: The Lady And Her Music (Live On Broadway)

vinyl LP front cover detail

detail photo of album cover by Styrous®

Today is the birthday of Lena Horne who was born on June 30, 1917, in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. She was an American dancer, actress, Grammy-winning singer, and civil rights activist. Her career spanned over 70 years, appearing in film, television, and theater. Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of 16 and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood.

Lena Horne ~ The Lady And Her Music

vinyl LP front cover

album cover photo by Christian Steiner

photo of album cover by Styrous®

Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music was a 1981 Broadway musical revue written for and starred her. The musical was produced by Michael Frazier and Fred Walker, and the cast album was produced by Quincy Jones. The show opened on May 12, 1981, and after 333 performances, closed on June 30, 1982, Horne's 65th birthday.

Lena Horne ~ The Lady And Her Music poster - 1981

This is a great documentation of the show once you've gotten past the overture. It is a musical after all, so, just live with it and get on. The best parts of this album are the monologues by Horne in which she talks about the challenges she faced in her career.

Lena Horne ~ The Lady And Her Music

vinyl LP back cover

album cover photo by Christian Steiner

photo of album cover by Styrous®

Throughout the show Horne sang and danced to Tin Pan Alley songs, jazz standards, music from films in which she had appeared, and songs written for her. The show sought to portray Horne's life from her beginning in show business to the present. During the show she spoke of the racism that she had encountered, describing how Hollywood producers told her she opened her mouth too big when she sang and devised a makeup for her, Light Egyptian, which was applied to white actresses such as Ava Gardner and Hedy Lamarr, who took roles that Horne could have possibly played (links below).

Lena Horne ~ The Lady And Her Music

vinyl LP back cover detail

detail photo of album cover by Styrous®

Horne performed her signature song, Stormy Weather, twice in the show, the first time more subdued than the second. She was accompanied by dancers and backup singers. Costumes were designed by Giorgio di Sant' Angelo.

Lena Horne ~ The Lady And Her Music

vinyl LP gatefold cover

album cover photo by Christian Steiner

photo of album cover by Styrous®

There is a great cut, Where or When, in which she is being directed while she sings the song, funny but she comes out on top (link below).

Lena Horne ~ The Lady And Her Music

vinyl LP gatefold interior

album cover photo by Christian Steiner

photo of album cover by Styrous®

She is wonderful with Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man and she talks about her rejection for the role of Julie Laverne in the 1951 film version of Show Boat. She did sing the song in a mini-production of Show Boat in a fictionalized biography of composer Jerome Kern.

Lena Horne as Julie Laverne

Till the Clouds Roll By (1946)

film still

At the height of her career, Lena Horne accidentally stumbled into a power struggle between Hollywood communists and McCarthyites; complete info in an Atlantic article (link below).

Horne received a special Tony Award for distinguished achievement in the theater for her one-woman Broadway hit Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music which opened to rave reviews in 1981 and played to capacity audiences there for 14 months before going on tour.

Lena Horne died of congestive heart failure on May 9, 2010. Her funeral took place at St. Ignatius Loyola Church on Park Avenue in New York. Thousands gathered and attendees included Leontyne Price, Dionne Warwick, Liza Minnelli, Jessye Norman, Chita Rivera, Cicely Tyson, Diahann Carroll, Leslie Uggams, Lauren Bacall, Robert Osborne, Audra McDonald, and Vanessa Williams.

Tracklist:

Side 1:

A1 - Overture - 3:24
Act I
A2 - From This Moment On, written by Cole Porter - 2:01
A3 - I Got A Name, written by Charles Fox, Norman Gimbel - 4:00
A4 - I'm Glad There Is You, written by Jimmy Dorsey, Paul Madeira* - 3:07
A5 - I Want To Be Happy, written by Irving Caesar, Vincent Youmans - 2:45
Cotton Club Revue
A6 - Copper Colored Gal, written by Benny Davis, J. Fred Coots - 1:25
A7 - Raisin' The Rent, written by Harold Arlen, Ted Koehler - 0:55
A8 - As Long As I Live, written by Harold Arlen, Ted Koehler - 2:16
A9 - Lady With A Fan, written by Al Brackman, Cab Calloway, Jeanne Burns - 1:10
A10 - Lena's Dialogue ("Cotton Club To Hollywood") - 1:06
A11 - Where Or When - (Hollywood Sequence), written by Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart* - 2:18

Side 2:

B1 - Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man, written by Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein II* - 2:35
B2 - Lena's Dialogue ("Hollywood") - 1:36
B3 Just One Of Those Things, written by Cole Porter - 0:38
B4 - Stormy Weather (Part I), written by Harold Arlen, Ted Koehler - 2:37
B5 - Love, written by Hugh Martin, Ralph Blane - 1:40
B6 - Lena's Dialogue ("Broadway") - 1:38
B7 - Push De Button, written by E.Y. Harburg, Harold Arlen - 2:56
B8 - The Lady Is A Tramp, written by Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart* - 2:54
B9 - Yesterday, When I Was Young (Hier Encore), written by Charles Aznavour, Herbert Kretzmer - 5:15

Side 3:

C1 - Deed I Do, arranged by Grady Tate, Lena HorneWritten-By – Fred Rose, Walter Hirsch - 3:53
C2 - Life Goes On, written by Craig Doerge, Paul Williams (2) - 3:09

    Intermission
    Act II
C3 - Watch What Happens, written by Michele Legrande*, Norman Gimbel - 3:10
C4 - The Surrey With The Fringe On Top, written by Richard Rodgers/Oscar Hammerstein II* - 3:37
C5 - Fly, written by Martin Charnin - 5:29
C6 - Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered, written by Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart* - 5:11

Side 4:

D1 - A Lady Must Live, written by Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart* - 2:31
D2 - Lena's Dialogue ("Love This Business") - 2:04
D3 - That's What Miracles Are All About, written by Charlie Smalls, Sam Harkness - 3:51
D4 - Lena's Dialogue ("Early Career") - 8:24
D5 - I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter, written by Fred Ahlert*, Joe Young (3) - 3:00
D6 - Stormy Weather (Part II), written by Harold Arlen, Ted Koehler - 4:39
D7 - If You Believe, written by Charlie Smalls - 2:21
D8 - Curtain Music (Stormy Weather, Bows), written by Harold Arlen, Ted Koehler - 1:25

Companies, etc.

    Phonographic Copyright (p) – Qwest Records
    Produced For – Quincy Jones Productions
    Recorded At – The Nederlander Theatre
    Manufactured By – Warner Bros. Records Inc.
    Distributed By – Warner Bros. Records Inc.

Credits:

    Arranged By – Bob Freedman (tracks: A5, B4, D6), C.T. Perkins (tracks: B5, B8), Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (tracks: A6, C5 D1, D3, D5), Gary Anderson (tracks: C3, D7), Gil Askey (tracks: B5, B8), Harold Wheeler (tracks: A3, A8, B9, C2, C6, D7), Lennie Hayton (tracks: A4, C4), Mark Wolfram (tracks: B5, B8), Ralph Carmichael (tracks: A1, D8), Ron Roullier (tracks: A2, B1, B3, B7)
    Bass – Anthony Jackson, Bob Cranshaw
    Concept By – Lena Horne, Sherman Sneed
    Conductor – Bob Freedman (tracks: B4, D6)
    Conductor [Musical Conductor] – Linda Twine
    Conductor [Musical Direction] – Harold Wheeler
    Drums – Grady Tate
    Executive-Producer [For Recording] – George Lee (5), Sherman Sneed
    French Horn – Peter Gordon (8)
    Guitar – Steve Bargonetti
    Keyboards – Leon Pendarvis, Linda Twine, Michael Renzi*, Pat Rebillot
    Mixed By – Bruce Swedien
    Percussion – Warren Smith
    Performer [The Company] – Clare Bathe*, Tyra Ferrell, Vondie Curtis-Hall*
    Photography By [Cover] – Christian Steiner (6)
    Producer – Quincy Jones
    Recorded By – Bruce Swedien
    Reeds – Danny Bank, George Young (2), Harold Vick, John D. Parron, Lou Marini, Michael Brecker, Mort Silver, Roger Rosenberg, Romeo Penque
    Transcription By [Book] – Lena Horne
    Trombone – Craig Harris (3), David Taylor, Jack Jeffers, Wayne Andre
    Trumpet – Cecil Bridgewater, Frank Gordon, Glenn Drewes, Jon Faddis, Ron Tooley

Notes:

This issue has a slight center labels layout variation.

Recorded live in New York City at the David T. Nederlander Theatre.

Issued in gatefold jacket. Some copies carry a custom sticker with reviews of the show.

Barcode and Other Identifiers

Barcode (Scanned): 075992359719

Lena Horne ‎– Lena Horne: The Lady And Her Music (Live On Broadway)
Label: Qwest Records ‎– 2QW 3597
Format: 2 × Vinyl, LP, Album, Gatefold sleeve
Country: US
Released: 1981
Genre: Jazz, Stage & Screen
Style: Musical, Contemporary Jazz

Viewfinder links:

Harold Arlen

Charles Aznavour

Lauren Bacall

Cab Calloway

Jimmy Dorsey

Ava Gardner

Oscar Hammerstein II

Lorenz Hart

Quincy Jones

Cole Porter

Leontyne Price