Biography
Lurlean Hunter cut a total of five albums throughout the latter half of the 1950s, beginning with her RCA debut Lonesome Gal and concluding her run on Atlantic still immersed in the mood of Blue & Sentimental. Chicago served as the site of her discovery, where she had already performed regularly across numerous nightspots, among them a notable partnership with drummer Red Saunders during his long engagement at the Club DeLisa. Her relocation to New York City in 1955 came directly in response to RCA’s offer to record her. In truth her discography had commenced earlier, while she remained in the Windy City, through sessions for a succession of independent jazz imprints, several of them fleeting operations—Seymour among them, an enterprise whose entire output amounted to just four titles. Contemporary notices hailed Hunter as a “blues thrush” while highlighting her readings of three compositions penned by the label’s proprietor, producer, and record-store proprietor Seymour Schwartz.
That same piece of publicity captured something accurate about her musical inclinations, even if it overstated any connection to avian life. Although her work leaned more toward rhythm & blues and pop than toward jazz, the supporting musicians on those dates frequently belonged to the mainstream jazz community. Night Life, issued in 1956, supplies a clear instance, enlisting pianist Hank Jones alongside tenor saxophonist Al Cohn. Blue & Sentimental, whose charts were supplied by the forward-looking Jimmy Giuffre, resurfaced in 2000 on a combined compact disc that also contained an album by fellow vocalist Betty Bennett, once married to pianist André Previn. Hunter’s last studio work occurred in 1964; she was still well short of forty. Accounts agree that she died at a relatively young age, yet the precise circumstances remain obscure. One persistent version claims a mobster lover was responsible, although corroboration of that claim has never been established.
That same piece of publicity captured something accurate about her musical inclinations, even if it overstated any connection to avian life. Although her work leaned more toward rhythm & blues and pop than toward jazz, the supporting musicians on those dates frequently belonged to the mainstream jazz community. Night Life, issued in 1956, supplies a clear instance, enlisting pianist Hank Jones alongside tenor saxophonist Al Cohn. Blue & Sentimental, whose charts were supplied by the forward-looking Jimmy Giuffre, resurfaced in 2000 on a combined compact disc that also contained an album by fellow vocalist Betty Bennett, once married to pianist André Previn. Hunter’s last studio work occurred in 1964; she was still well short of forty. Accounts agree that she died at a relatively young age, yet the precise circumstances remain obscure. One persistent version claims a mobster lover was responsible, although corroboration of that claim has never been established.
Albums
