Lucy Ann Polk's lone Mode/VSOP session pairs the singer with a sextet led by pianist and arranger
Marty Paich, whose nuanced, spacious orchestrations perfectly complement
Polk's sultry yet supremely controlled style. The strength of
Lucky Lucy Ann is its subtlety -- not a note is wasted or extraneous, and for all the modernist elements converging in
Paich's arrangements, he never obscures the clarity of perennials like "Makin' Whoopee" and "Time After Time."
Polk likewise shades the universal themes of the lyrics with a style and fierce intelligence all her own -- for all the power of her voice, it's her restraint that rings loudest and clearest.