Music1: Lena Horne & Black Female Voices of Jazz

Copyright 2010-All Rights Reserved

Another who reigned in the Black pantheon of jazz is gone from us to make music in another sphere. Lena Horne (1917-2010) died Sunday, May 9, 2010. Her death startled me because I thought of her as eternal. I guess because she’s been around all of my life. Somehow, I didn’t think she’d ever leave us.

Voices. Lena’s was one of a kind. She was one of a kind—beautiful, elegant, unforgettable. She was one of those who led the way for her vocal Black female descendants, for other great Black jazz songstresses to carry on the heart sound of jazz—that very special kind of music invented by Black folks.

I’ll miss Lena Horne’s presence, her voice in the world, just as I miss the heavenly voices of other Black female jazz singers, now gone, that I grew up listening to. They gave me, gave all of us, such enchantment when they opened their mouths and sang songs their way.

Nobody, least of all me, will ever forget the inventive scatting of Ella Fitzgerald, the melodic range of Sarah Vaughan, the bluesy-gospel inflections of Dinah Washington, the behind-the-beat phrasing of Carmen McRae, the raw and rough-edged intensity of Nina Simone. No one will forget Lena Horne’s sultry voice that compelled you to listen closely to what she was saying/singing.

All of them gone, but I take heart that Lena’s legacy lives today in these Black women of song: Nancy Wilson, Della Reece, Roberta Flack, Patti Austin, Betty Carter, Oleta Adams, Toni Braxton, Cassandra Wilson, Queen Latifah, Dianne Reeves, Natalie Cole, Regina Bell, Shirley Horn, and Lizz Wright.

The Black musicians and singers of jazz have given us beautiful sounds. And we thank them for it.