Lee Wiley was the first jazz singer to record a full album (eight songs in the '78' days) dedicated to the music of one composer; her "songbooks" preceded
Ella Fitzgerald's by more than 15 years. The greatest recordings of her career were these four projects, the first two of which are on this Audiophile reissue.
Wiley, who had an introverted and quietly straightforward yet sensuous (and somewhat smoldering) style, is heard singing eight songs apiece by the
Gershwins and
Cole Porter. Her accompaniment includes all-star groups headed by pianist
Joe Bushkin and trumpeter
Max Kaminsky (which include tenor-saxophonist
Bud Freeman, clarinetist
Pee Wee Russell and on four songs
Fats Waller), a quartet with
Bushkin and trumpeter
Bunny Berigan, and
Paul Weston's Orchestra. Wiley's renditions of such songs as "How Long Has This Been Going On," "I've Got A Crush On You," "Someone To Watch Over Me," "Let's Do It" and "Easy To Love" are both memorable and haunting. This reissue is a gem as is the followup Audiophile release of Rodgers & Hart and
Harold Arlen songs. ~ Scott Yanow