Title: This is one for the fans.
Review: On first listening, and certainly through the destroying filter of the audio samples presented here, this is pretty raw and rough stuff. Her voice is at its most irritating and all the slurring and lumps are showing. Keep listening. You'll realize that the choice of songs is brilliant. Listen further. The arrangements are slow, stretched-out and relaxed as a sunny day. This is how Shirley Horn does things, and there is wisdom in it. Keep listening. The timing and interpretation are astoundingly good. Keep listening... What I'm getting at here is that this is not EASY listening. It's just VERY GOOD listening. By the way, the cover art is taken from a tiny box of snapping fireworks from China. I have the box, and the cover art is absolutely faithful to it, including the badly translated warnings and instructions. If you are buying your first RLJ album, look elsewhere. If you are a RLJ fan and you want to be slowly blown away, get this.
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