(Phineas Newborn Jr. Bright promising future cut short)
When Phineas Newborn Jr. came on the scene in 1956 he was considered one of the great up-and-coming pianists in Jazz. His reputation rose very quickly in the late 1950's. But in the early 1960s things took an abrupt change and Newborn went through the rest of his life in and out of mental hospitals, battling a debilitating mental illness that eventually took his career.
But when he was at the crest of his wave, Newborn cut an album with a full orchestra led by the great British band leader Dennis Farnon for RCA. While My Lady Sleeps is the title cut off this same-titled album (Victor LPM-1474). There's something about recording a session with a full orchestra and strings that has always been so appealing to Jazz musicians - it's almost a sign of "having arrived" to having cut one. And Newborn was no different.
And so, from the session cut in New York on April 23rd and 24th 1957 . . .
