Lush Life
Studio album by
Nancy Wilson
ReleasedAugust 1967
RecordedMay 13–16, 1967
StudioCapitol (Hollywood)
GenreVocal jazz
LabelCapitol
ProducerDave Cavanaugh
Nancy Wilson chronology
Just for Now
(1967) 		Lush Life
(1967) 		Easy
(1968)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz[2]

Lush Life is a 1967 album by Nancy Wilson, arranged by Billy May, Sid Feller, and Oliver Nelson.[1]

In his AllMusic review, Nick Dedina says the album continues "Wilson's winning formula of combining jazz and adult pop." He also praises Billy May's arrangement of the title track "as a means to tip his hat to Billy Strayhorn, the song's composer, with a smart mix of big band swagger, intimate small-group jazz, and moody orchestral flourishes straight out of an old film noir."[1]

Author and music critic Will Friedwald also recommends the title song, hailing it as one of the "good orchestral versions" of the famous jazz standard and commending Wilson for how she "slyly uses 'A-Train' as a countermelody."[3]

A 1970 LP reissue was entitled The Right To Love.[4] In 1995, Capitol released the album on compact disc under its original title, with one additional track ("Do You Know Why") and a different song order.[5]

Track listing

1967 Original LP

Side 1
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Free Again"Joss Baselli, Armand Canfora, Robert Colby3:45
2."Midnight Sun"Sonny Burke, Lionel Hampton, Johnny Mercer3:48
3."Only the Young"Richard Ahlert, Marvin Fisher2:23
4."(Ah, the Apple Trees) When the World Was Young"Mercer, Michel Philippe-Gérard, Angèle Vannier3:15
5."The Right to Love (Reflections)"Gene Lees, Lalo Schifrin3:24
6."Lush Life"Billy Strayhorn3:27
Total length:20:02
Side 2
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Over the Weekend"John Benson Brooks, Joseph McCarthy3:02
2."You've Changed"Bill Carey, Carl T. Fischer2:48
3."River Shallow"André Previn, Dory Previn3:28
4."Sunny"Bobby Hebb3:58
5."(I Stayed) Too Long at the Fair"Billy Barnes3:22
Total length:16:38

1995 CD reissue

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Free Again"Joss Baselli, Armand Canfora, Robert Colby3:47
2."You've Changed"Bill Carey, Carl T. Fischer2:49
3."Only the Young"Richard Ahlert, Marvin Fisher2:24
4."Lush Life"Billy Strayhorn3:27
5."Do You Know Why?" (Bonus track not on original LP)Johnny Burke, Jimmy Van Heusen2:41
6."Midnight Sun"Sonny Burke, Lionel Hampton, Johnny Mercer3:51
7."When the World Was Young (Ah, the Apple Trees)"Mercer, Michel Philippe-Gérard, Angèle Vannier3:15
8."River Shallow"André Previn, Dory Previn3:28
9."(I Stayed) Too Long at the Fair"Billy Barnes3:26
10."Sunny"Bobby Hebb3:59
11."The Right to Love (Reflections)"Gene Lees, Lalo Schifrin3:26
12."Over the Weekend"John Benson Brooks, Joseph McCarthy3:02
Total length:39:35

Personnel

Performance

From The Music of Billy May: A Discography (Greenwood Press, 1998).[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c Allmusic review
  2. ^ Larkin, Colin (2004). "Nancy Wilson". The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (Rev Upd ed.). Virgin Books. p. 941. ISBN 1852271833.
  3. ^ Friedwald, Will (2002). Stardust melodies : the biography of twelve of America's most popular songs (1st ed.). New York: Pantheon Books. ISBN 9780307559982. OCLC 891714972.
  4. ^ "Nancy Wilson - The Right To Love". Discogs. Retrieved 2018-11-15.
  5. ^ a b "Nancy Wilson - Lush Life (CD, Album, Reissue)". Discogs. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  6. ^ Mirtle, Jack (1998). The Music of Billy May: A Discography. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. pp. 271–272. ISBN 0313307393.
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