A Woman In Love + Barbara Lea + Lea In Love (3 LPs on 2 CDs)

STEREO
24 BIT
DIGITALLY REMASTERED
3 LPs on 2 CDs
Barbara Lea (1929-2011) was one of the finest jazz singers of the Fifties and early Sixties, with a marvelously poised gift for phrasing, a laid-back swing and a distinctive voice with a thrilling lower register. The Great American Song Book was her natural home and when, in 1956, Down Beat s critics voted her Female New Star Singer of the Year, it seemed she was headed for public acclaim as one of the great jazz vocalists. But the rise of pop groups thrust her, like so many superior singers, to one side and though she had a good career, with some detours into acting and teaching, she never made it big. The three fine albums from 1955-57 collected here, especially the outstanding eponymous Barbara Lea and Lea In Love , and her leader debut, A Woman In Love , show she deserved better. Her direct, warm approach is beautifully complemented by some excellent soloists, with trumpeter Johnny Windhurst outstanding, along with pianists Billy Taylor and Dick Cary (who also plays alto horn) and the stellar talents of guitarist Jimmy Raney, reedman Ernie Caceres and trombonist Cutty Cutshall. Lea s singing retains a timeless quality, redolent of an era without sounding dated.