Lush Life (Nancy Wilson album)
Lush Life is a 1967 album by Nancy Wilson, arranged by Billy May, Sid Feller, and Oliver Nelson.[1]
| Lush Life | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | August 1967 | |||
| Recorded | May 13–16, 1967 | |||
| Studio | Capitol (Hollywood) | |||
| Genre | Vocal jazz | |||
| Label | Capitol | |||
| Producer | Dave Cavanaugh | |||
| Nancy Wilson chronology | ||||
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| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
| The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz | [2] |
In his AllMusic review, Nick Dedina says the album continues "Wilson's winning formula of combining jazz and adult pop." He also praises Billy May's arrangement of the title track "as a means to tip his hat to Billy Strayhorn, the song's composer, with a smart mix of big band swagger, intimate small-group jazz, and moody orchestral flourishes straight out of an old film noir."[1]
Author and music critic Will Friedwald also recommends the title song, hailing it as one of the "good orchestral versions" of the famous jazz standard and commending Wilson for how she "slyly uses 'A-Train' as a countermelody."[3]
A 1970 LP reissue was entitled The Right To Love.[4] In 1995, Capitol released the album on compact disc under its original title, with one additional track ("Do You Know Why") and a different song order.[5]
Track listing
1967 Original LP
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Free Again" | Joss Baselli, Armand Canfora, Robert Colby | 3:45 |
| 2. | "Midnight Sun" | Sonny Burke, Lionel Hampton, Johnny Mercer | 3:48 |
| 3. | "Only the Young" | Richard Ahlert, Marvin Fisher | 2:23 |
| 4. | "(Ah, the Apple Trees) When the World Was Young" | Mercer, Michel Philippe-Gérard, Angèle Vannier | 3:15 |
| 5. | "The Right to Love (Reflections)" | Gene Lees, Lalo Schifrin | 3:24 |
| 6. | "Lush Life" | Billy Strayhorn | 3:27 |
| Total length: | 20:02 | ||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Over the Weekend" | John Benson Brooks, Joseph McCarthy | 3:02 |
| 2. | "You've Changed" | Bill Carey, Carl T. Fischer | 2:48 |
| 3. | "River Shallow" | André Previn, Dory Previn | 3:28 |
| 4. | "Sunny" | Bobby Hebb | 3:58 |
| 5. | "(I Stayed) Too Long at the Fair" | Billy Barnes | 3:22 |
| Total length: | 16:38 | ||
1995 CD reissue
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Free Again" | Joss Baselli, Armand Canfora, Robert Colby | 3:47 |
| 2. | "You've Changed" | Bill Carey, Carl T. Fischer | 2:49 |
| 3. | "Only the Young" | Richard Ahlert, Marvin Fisher | 2:24 |
| 4. | "Lush Life" | Billy Strayhorn | 3:27 |
| 5. | "Do You Know Why?" (Bonus track not on original LP) | Johnny Burke, Jimmy Van Heusen | 2:41 |
| 6. | "Midnight Sun" | Sonny Burke, Lionel Hampton, Johnny Mercer | 3:51 |
| 7. | "When the World Was Young (Ah, the Apple Trees)" | Mercer, Michel Philippe-Gérard, Angèle Vannier | 3:15 |
| 8. | "River Shallow" | André Previn, Dory Previn | 3:28 |
| 9. | "(I Stayed) Too Long at the Fair" | Billy Barnes | 3:26 |
| 10. | "Sunny" | Bobby Hebb | 3:59 |
| 11. | "The Right to Love (Reflections)" | Gene Lees, Lalo Schifrin | 3:26 |
| 12. | "Over the Weekend" | John Benson Brooks, Joseph McCarthy | 3:02 |
| Total length: | 39:35 | ||
Personnel
Performance
From The Music of Billy May: A Discography (Greenwood Press, 1998).[6]
- Nancy Wilson – vocals
- Ted Nash –clarinet, flute
- Abe Most – clarinet, flute
- Justin Gordon – bassoon, clarinet, flute
- Harry Klee – bass flute, clarinet, flute
- Robert Hardaway – English horn, bassoon, clarinet, flute
- Phillip Teele – trombone
- Vincent DeRosa – French horn
- Henry Sigismonti – French horn
- Richard Mackey – French horn
- William Hinshaw – French horn
- Donn Trenner – piano
- John Collins – guitar
- Buster Williams – double bass
- Shelly Manne – drums
- Larry Bunker – percussion
- Victor Feldman – percussion[5]
- Ann Stockton – harp
- Catherine Gotthoffer – harp
References
- Allmusic review
- Larkin, Colin (2004). "Nancy Wilson". The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (Rev Upd ed.). Virgin Books. p. 941. ISBN 1852271833.
- Friedwald, Will (2002). Stardust melodies : the biography of twelve of America's most popular songs (1st ed.). New York: Pantheon Books. ISBN 9780307559982. OCLC 891714972.
- "Nancy Wilson - The Right To Love". Discogs. Retrieved 2018-11-15.
- "Nancy Wilson - Lush Life (CD, Album, Reissue)". Discogs. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
- Mirtle, Jack (1998). The Music of Billy May: A Discography. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. pp. 271–272. ISBN 0313307393.