Billboard : 02/16/1957
Score of 74

Miss Lea‘s second LP, and the first on 12-inch. Thrush, who was voted New Star Vocalist in ’56 Jazz Critics’ Poll, can be sold on basis of her fresh sound and somewhat detached air – like a younger Lee Wiley – and also on basis of some fairly rare repertoire. This includes the KernNobody Else But Me from the 1946 production of “Showboat,” Porter‘s Where Have You Been? and a re-creation of I’m Comin’ Virginia in the Beiderbeck spirit. Johnny Windhurst and an updated Bix-ieland crew provides fine support. Many jocks will like this and “sophisticated” specialty shops should move quite a few.

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Down Beat Review : 02/20/1957
Dom Cerulli : 4 stars

This is Miss Lea’s finest recorded effort to date, and is among the best integrated vocal albums issued in recent months. There is a relaxed jazz feeling throughout; largely due to the efforts of Windhurst, Cary, and Casamenti. Barbara’s vocal line has settled into a smooth, rhythmic groove. She sings with taste and a feel for the lyrics of a song. And her material here hasn’t been done to death.

The top track is a superb version of Virginia, opening with mood-setting Casamenti guitar, then moving into a soulful Windhurst solo that pays homage to Bix. Barbara sings the seldom-heard verse. My Honey’s Lovin’ Arms is kicked off by Cassmenti, and booted along for a chorus by Windhurst backed by Cary on the alto horn. The vocal swings, and there are flashes of the Teagarden touch in it, as in True Love and Gee Baby which follow. Album planning allowed plenty of elbow room for Windhurst to spread out and resulted in some swinging solos in nearly every number. A very happy album.

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Liner Notes by Robert S. Altshuler

In ordinary times, if an LP by an unknown singer stirs musicians and critics to search their minds for new ways to express their enthusiasm, we are likely to perk up our ears, and listen. But, in these days, when record albums featuring new vocalists appear as regularly as your favorite daily newspaper, then such a response signals a major musical event. Miss Barbara Lea, whose first album prompted a rash of unanimous raves by critical observers, seemed certain to reintroduce the public to that special thrill which comes on the discovery of a new and exciting voice.

As in all things, timing can be of such great consequence, that the fates must surely be held responsible for what was to prevent the general public from enjoying the wondrous singing of Barbara Lea until a later date. For at the moment of the release of her first album (a ten inch LP), the record industry began the reconversion of recorded material to the standard 12″ LP record. During the ensuing chaos, the Barbara Lea album was removed from circulation (as were most ten inch LPs) and now is almost unobtainable. Nevertheless, some idea of Barbara Lea’s talents was reaching the attention of music listeners. Her personal appearances helped: DJ’s who clung to the paltry recorded examples they had played the life out of them; but most important, the critics’ exclamations were proving once again the strength of the printed word.

Some of the praise heaped upon this young singer could cause the head of a seasoned, established performer to turn slightly off focus. I must add quickly that Barbara’s modesty remains perfectly in tact. Here is what a jury of the world’s musical authorities said.

“A refreshing new voice, like a breath of fresh air blowing away the fog of the gimmicky vocals of today. Miss Lee sings each word as if she meant it, with excellent phrasing and inflection, certainly a rarity today.” – Chicago Sun-Times

“… a lassie with a voice that is throaty and husky and mellow by turns, a young lady with something different to say, something sweet and honest and womanly.” Maitland Zane – Hartford (Conn.) Courant

“… this gal is easy listening. It’s refreshing, after the maze of vocal contortions we put up with these days, to play her highly enjoyable album.” – Harold Arlen

“This young lady has nice style… quite intimate and never reachy or obvious. I hope she achieves the success which her talent so richly deserves.” – Bing Crosby

“Barbara Lea… sings… with great warmth and sincerity.” – Deems Taylor

“The way she sings sophisticated songs is very wonderful. I also like her phrasing and the atmosphere of her singing. There are mot many popular singers today who develop so much sensitivity without ever losing the beat; this, it seems to me, is very remarkable. – Joachim E. Berendt, Baden-Baden, Germany (author and feature writer for Jazz Echo)

“In addition to possessing an attractive voice, she has the ability to put over many different types of songs with equally accomplished versatility. – Robert Irving, Musical Director of the Sadler’s Wells Ballet

“One of the great pleasures of writing songs is that someone with the good taste and sincerity of Barbara Lea may sing them.” – Johnny Mercer

“Miss Lea has a most personal style and a genuine jazz feeling. Her low pitched and husky voice bas a sexy quality that intrigues me, as well as her subtle and still simple approach to the musical material she uses. I like her firm vibrato and the relaxed drive in her phrasing.” – Arrigo Politto; Milan, Italy (author and critic for Musica Jazz)

In August of 1956, Barbara Lea finished first in the New Star – Girl Singer category in Down Beat’s Fourth Annual International Critic’s Poll. Thus, to bring, the story up to date, the demand to hear a full-fledged LP by Barbara Lea has reached the bursting point.

The biographical details of Barbara Lea’s life are not exactly what we expect as the background for a jazz singer. Though a native of Detroit, it is conceivable that her musical heritage be traced to a great-great uncle, Alexandre Charles LeCoq, a noted and prolific composer of French opera-comique (1852-1918). Her first professional appearances (with small dance bands around the Detroit area) occurred while Barbara was attending Kingswood School Cranbrook. Her excellent grades earned a scholarship to Wellesley College, where she majored in Music Theory. New England supplied further opportunities to expand her musical activities. The Boston Post of December 6, 1948 headlined a performance with the Crimson Stompers, Harvard’s dixieland jazz band. Music, in fact, occupied every free moment. She sang in the Wellesley Choir, was a jazz disc jockey over WBS (Wellesley’s radio station), wrote for and appeared in her Junior Class Show, was jazz critic for the Wellesley News, sang in a student production of “The Beggar’s Opera“, arranged for and conducted the Wellesley Madrigal Group. She also found time to arrange and direct a Brass Choir of ten Harvard student-musicians in a special Easter concert. P.S. her marks remained above average.

College graduation marked the start of a professional career in earnest. A round of engagements in Boston cocktail lounges and small clubs in New Jersey led eventually to her discovery by Art Ford WNEW (NY) disc jockey. Barbara was signed to appear on Ford’s young talent show, “One Week Stand.” Immediately thereafter she was booked into Child’s Paramount restaurant in Times Square for three weeks. The offers for her talents began to mushroom. Radio and TV cornered much of her time, while night clubs vied for her services. The range of her night club experience includes Winston’s Theatre Grill (a plush gold key club in Toronto), the intimate Westnor in Westport, Conn., the swank Dore’s in Pittsburgh, and that talent-showcase standby, the Village Vanguard in New York’s Greenwich Village. The recent “Connecticut Jazz Festival” and “Jazz On Housatonic”
were graced with her vocal charms.

The songs in this album are variously sophisticated. simple, sad, happy, proud, and humble. Of the twelve tunes, only two are very familiar; Blue Skies, and I’ve Got A Pocket Full Of Dreams.

The remaining songs have not fared as well Nobody Else But Me and Thursday’s Child having been on the scene for several years, are only now beginning to be recorded. Several long-neglected show tunes, seldom, of never recorded, are included. Honey In The Honeycomb, introduced by Lena Horne in “Cabin In The Sky” and subsequently recorded by Ethel Waters, receives a completely different and up-to-date treatment. From “The New Yorkers” (1930) comes Where Have You Been; from “St. Louis Woman” the lament, I Haven’t Myself A True Love, and “A Connecticut Yankee” is represented by one of Lorenz Hart‘s quizzical minor masterpieces, (taken at a breakneck tempo Richard Rodgers couldn’t have foreseen) I Feel At Home With You.

In addition there are Baltimore Oriolewhich is, to borrow a phrase from James Thurber, “A Fable For Our Time,” and the nostalgic Gee Baby Ain’t I Good To You.

Two of the songs are inspired by great jazz records of the past. I’m Comin’ Virginia acknowledges its debt to one of the best-loved and most beautiful of Bix Beiderbecke‘s performances. Realizing this was treading on dangerous ground, Barbara wanted to capture the spirit of the earlier recording without in any way copying it. Note that Johnny Windhurst‘s two solos resemble Bix’s, not in their notes, but in their breathtaking originality and beauty. My Honey’s Lovin’ Arms is in tribute to Pee Wee Russell, whose 1945 version transformed a simple, merely pleasant tune into a thing of rare warmth and loveliness.

Two requirements were considered essential in the selection of the musicians to accompany Barbara in the album. A sympathetic treatment of the programmed material, and be in rapport with Barbara’s kind of singing. Surely Johnny Windhurst and Barbara Lea are stylistic twins. The delicious “comping” of both pianists (Dick Cary and Richard Lowman) is inevitably right, while the warm tones of Al Casamenti‘s non-electrified guitar (except on Gee Baby Ain’t I Good To You) are sheer joy.

Mike Butcher, editor of the English New Musical Express succinctly adds up Barbara Lea’s vocal attributes this way: “Barbara Lea is that rarity in this day and age, a singer whose voice is a musical instrument, whose reading of a lyric makes complete sense, who knows how to phrase and shade, has style, charm, and the ability to evoke the opulent glamour of a night on the town with caviar and champagne. In short, Miss Lea must be counted among the truly civilized artists in contemporary entertainment.” If you think this praise is too strong for any sing, I suggest you listen to this album without delay.