Lena Horne & Gabor Szabo - Watch What Happens! (1969) [1990]

The pairing of chanteuse Lena Horne and guitarist Gabor Szabo may seem incongruous on paper, but Watch What Happens! is an unexpected delight, capturing a soulfulness and sass largely absent from the singer's previous efforts. Producer and arranger Gary McFarland's candy-coated orchestral settings afford Horne the opportunity to step out of the elegant but often stuffy refinement of her classic LPs and let down her hair. Her vocals pirouette around Szabo's hypnotically funky guitar leads with the focused abandon of a child playing hopscotch. Keyboardist Richard Tee, bassist Chuck Rainey, and drummer Grady Tate contribute the supple grooves that highlight so many McFarland sessions, and the material is top-notch, including no fewer than three Beatles covers: "In My Life," "Fool on the Hill," and "Rocky Raccoon," the latter featuring the most purely joyful performance of Horne's career. [Watch What Happens! was originally released on Szabo's Skye Records label as Lena & Gabor in 1970.]

Tracks:

01. Watch What Happens 04:04
02. Something 03:11
03. Everybody's Talkin' 02:56
04. The Fool on the Hill 03:46
05. Yesterday When I Was Young 04:09
06. Rocky Raccoon 03:32
07. My Mood is You 04:45
08. A Message to Michael 03:20
09. Nightwind 03:43
10. In My Life 02:56