Lovely and Alive

Lena's musical home was in the American Songbook, which she approached with a natural and entertaining manner. A good example of this is the first number here - the Cole Porter classic "I Concentrate On You", which swings along to the perfectly recorded big-band sound of the Marty Paich Orchestra. A surprise element is the extensive palette of vocal sound-coloring with which the diva enhances her voice to achieve the drama of a Shirley Bassey or the dusky depths of a Dinah Washington. Each and every number on this Grammy-worthy album has been thought out in great detail and guarantees sophisticated entertainment, and a hint of West Coast Jazz is perceptible when Jack Sheldon treats us to the sound of his warm and dark trumpet solos.