Search - Nancy Wilson :: Lush Life

Nancy at her peak

B. J Robbins | La Quinta, CA United States | 06/15/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I don't have a lot of Nancy's albums, but I have heard her sing as an older, mature singer. Like Lady Day and Sarah V., I think she sang best when she was young, and I am not talking about voice quality. These singers had vocal quirks which they used only sporadically when they were young. When they got older, they used them more often in addition to deviating from the melody drastically. IMO, this led to a depreciation in the quality of their vocals.



That being said, this album was recorded when Nancy was young, and is super. My favorites are "River Shallow", a relatively unknown tune by Andre Previn, which swings madly thanks to a great arrangement by Oliver Nelson (?). "Midnight Sun" has a divine lyric by the best lyricist in the business, Johnny Mercer. Nancy caresses the words she sings as if she were making love to them. And "When the World Was Young", with another lyric by Johnny Mercer (this time a translation from the French--this guy could do anything) is so beautiful it sends shivers up my spine every time I hear it.



Many of the other tunes on the CD are relatively unknown, and Nancy does a fine job of interpreting them. Her feel for the lyric was never better, with unerring rhythm and a full, expressive voice. Don't miss this one."