Collectors' Choice Music presents a rare compilation featuring
Lee Wiley's most prolific and oft-requested post-World War II extended-play platter, including three complete 10" discs that the vocalist cut for Columbia in the early '50s. When initially issued,
Wiley had already experienced significant success as a traditional pop and torch singer circa the '30s. During this era she was supported by such notables as
Jimmy Dorsey,
Tommy Dorsey, and the
Johnny Green-led
Casa Loma Orchestra. Due to its thematic nature, this project could rightly be considered as an early Songbook or concept album. That said, it is
Night in Manhattan that perhaps most accurately exemplifies the moods, sounds,and auras of The Big Apple after hours.
Wiley's unmistakable voice yields a distinct, organic,and otherwise full-bodied timbre. She unleashes varying degrees of that charm, bringing to life the Great American Songbook classics "Any Time, Any Day, Anywhere" and "(I Don't Stand) A Ghost of a Chance (With You)" with her trademark sense of a distant and at times flawed vulnerability.
Wiley is joined by
Bobby Hackett and
Joe Bushkin's Swinging Strings on
Night in Manhattan. Comparatively, the
Vincent Youmans and
Irving Berlin anthologies offer collaborations with
Stan Freeman and
Cy Walter, who collectively continue building upon
Wiley's considerable back catalog of similar "songbooks" cut throughout the '40s. These centered on the works of
Rodgers & Hart,
Cole Porter, and George & Ira Gershwin. The original decision to cover both high-profile and obscure titles alike -- such as the elegant "Tea for Two" compared to the equally engaging "Why Oh Why" -- was an inspired one to be sure. Yet it is unquestionably
Sings Irving Berlin that serves up one of the finest examples of the magic that can occur when a performer is given access to songs that at times sound as if they were penned specifically for them. Supported by a single keyboard, the classics "I Got Lost in His Arms," "Fools Fall in Love" and "How Deep Is the Ocean (How High Is the Sky)" are haunting and ethereal -- much like Manhattan herself.