"Big City" is a song by Marvin L. Jenkins.

Shirley Valerie Horn (May 1, 1934 -- October 20, 2005) was an American jazz singer and pianist. Horn collaborated with many jazz greats including Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Toots Thielemans, Ron Carter, Carmen McRae, Wynton Marsalis and others. She was most noted for her ability to accompany herself with nearly incomparable independence and ability on the piano while singing, something described by arranger Johnny Mandel as "like having two heads", and for her rich, lush voice, a smoky contralto, which was described by noted producer and arranger Quincy Jones as "like clothing, as she seduces you with her voice". Although she could swing as strongly as any straight-ahead jazz artist, Horn's reputation rode on her exquisite ballad work.

Shirley Horn kept for twenty five years the same rhythm section: Charles Ables (bass) and Steve Williams (drums). Don Heckman wrote in the Los Angeles Times (February 2, 1995) about "the importance of bassist Charles Ables and drummer Steve Williams to Horn's sound. Working with boundless subtlety, following her every spontaneous twist and turn, they were the ideal accompanists for a performer who clearly will tolerate nothing less than perfection".

Due to health problems in the early 2000s, Horn had to cut back on her performances. After 2002, a foot amputation (from complications of diabetes) forced her to leave the piano playing to pianist George Mesterhazy. In late 2004, Horn felt able to play piano again, and recorded a live album for Verve, at Manhattan's Au Bar with trumpet player Roy Hargrove, which did not satisfy her. It remains unreleased except for tracks on But Beautiful - The Best of Shirley Horn.

A breast cancer survivor, she had been battling diabetes when she died of complications from it at the age of 71. She is interred at Ft. Lincoln Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

With Shirley on piano, she's accompanied by Johnny Pate (arr/prod); Jerome Richardson (flute, tenor sax); Frank Wess (flautist); Joe Newman (trumpet); Kenny Burrell (guitar); Marshall Hawkins (double bass); andBernard Sweetney (drums). Recorded February 9th, October 19th, 1965 in New York City. (ABC-Paramount Records)

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