Scott:
I share your sadness on the loss of Shirley Horn. She was a great musician.
I was lucky enough to meet this soft spoken women in person, and will never forget how unpretentious she was. On one particular occasion she played an intimate concert at Yoshi's Nightclub in Oakland, I'll never forget how she simply stepped on stage, walked over to the piano, and placed her bright red purse ON TOP of it before sitting down to play.
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Your statement reminds me a bit of the late James Williams
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=3927 I'd been a James Williams fan for 20 years and heard him many times playing in the Boston area in places like the Willow Jazz club, Starlight Roof and the Regatta Bar. James like Shirley was softspoken and unpretentious.
My wife and I saw him in February of 2004 at Sculler's in Boston. A month or 2 later he died. But before his performance he walked around the club greeting friends and fans. If you didn't know he was James Williams, you'd think he was just another fan. That night he played with Harry Allen and vocalist Carole Sloane. It was a memorable evening.
A number of years ago while in NYC James played the Knickerbocker. Incredible this great pianist was there and only about 10 people were there. During the break James and I talked a litte about being born with talent or was it just hard work to acheive the level that he played at. He said to me " I play like I do because 99% of it was hard work."
[This message has been edited by Stephenm52 (edited 10-22-2005).]