Lush Life (Nancy Wilson album)

Last updated
Lush Life
Lush Life (Nancy Wilson album).jpeg
Studio album by
ReleasedAugust 1967
RecordedMay 13–16, 1967
Studio Capitol (Hollywood)
Genre Vocal jazz
Label Capitol
Producer Dave Cavanaugh
Nancy Wilson chronology
Just for Now
(1967)
Lush Life
(1967)
Easy
(1968)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [1]
The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [2]

Lush Life is a 1967 album by Nancy Wilson, arranged by Billy May, Sid Feller, and Oliver Nelson. [1]

Contents

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

Side 1
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Free Again"Joss Baselli, Armand Canfora, Robert Colby3:45
2."Midnight Sun" Sonny Burke, Lionel Hampton, Johnny Mercer 3:48
3."Only the Young"Richard Ahlert, Marvin Fisher2:23
4."(Ah, the Apple Trees) When the World Was Young"Mercer, Michel Philippe-Gérard, Angèle Vannier3:15
5."The Right to Love (Reflections)" Gene Lees, Lalo Schifrin 3:24
6."Lush Life" Billy Strayhorn 3:27
Total length:20:02
Side 2
No.TitleWriter(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.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Free Again"Joss Baselli, Armand Canfora, Robert Colby3:47
2."You've Changed" Bill Carey, Carl T. Fischer 2:49
3."Only the Young"Richard Ahlert, Marvin Fisher2:24
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 Vannier3:15
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]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Allmusic review
  2. Larkin, Colin (2004). "Nancy Wilson". The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (Rev Upd ed.). Virgin Books. p. 941. ISBN   1852271833.
  3. 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.
  4. "Nancy Wilson - The Right To Love". Discogs. Retrieved 2018-11-15.
  5. 1 2 "Nancy Wilson - Lush Life (CD, Album, Reissue)". Discogs. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  6. Mirtle, Jack (1998). The Music of Billy May: A Discography. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. pp. 271–272. ISBN   0313307393.