Billboard : 07/22/1957
Score of 70

Although there are few jazz elements in this thrush’s style, jazz backing, the label and some cult attraction determine the specialty categorization. Miss Lea has some of the charms of Margaret Whiting, but considerably less polish and “sell.” Fans of such as Lee Wiley might like this – in fact, the backing by Dick Cary, etc., is reminiscent of some early all-star Wiley dates. Patrons of “intimate” clubs may constitute a fair market for the disk.

—–

Cash Box : 7/27/1957

Miss Lea is a melodically-wise stylist, putting her regard for a song’s melodic line (and lyrics) in the forefront of her vocal approach, and depending largely on simple, tasteful arrangements. Backed by an octet, and quartet, the performer keeps her material on a welcome level, evergreens such as Mountain Greenery, Ain’t Misbehavin’; excellent rarities such as Will I Find My Love Today, and Sleep Peaceful, Mr. Used-To-Be. Worthy material sung in the proper prospective by Miss Lea.

—–

Audio
Charles A. Robertson : October, 1957

In a tender perusal of assorted aspects of love, Barbara Lea shows the fine discrimination in choice of material that heightens all of her collections. The dozen tunes are given thoughtful arrangements by Dick Cary, who accompanies on piano and alto horn. Johnny Windhurst, who is unexcelled in his tasteful background phrasing on trumpet, is again present, along with Garvin Bushell, oboe and bassoon; Ernie Caceres, clarinet and baritone sax; Al Casamenti, guitar; Al Hall, bass; Osie Johnson, drums. On five numbers, pianist Jimmy Lyon leads his trio of guitarist Jim Raney and bassist Beverly Peer.

The Lea repertoire makes room for such singular items as Autumn Leaves with the French lyrics, We Could Make Such Beautiful Music Together, Am I in Love?, and The Very Thought of You. Also Cole Porter‘s neglected I’ve Got My Eyes On You and You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To. A folk-song vein is tapped in the previously unrecorded Will I Find My Love Today and True Love, which is favored by the addition of harpist Adele Girard. It suggests the revival of a tune associated with her Little Sir Echo – even at the risk of an echo chamber. It was recorded at Bell Sound Studios.

—–

Pensacola News Journal
J. Sam Jones : 04/27/1958

As Barbara Lea says on the cover, she picked the tunes “for quality and variety alone, without regard to familiarity or the lack of it.”

The result is a variety well adapted to her talents and including some fine music.

Standards are such as Ain’t Misbehavin’, Autumn Leaves, I’ve Got My Eyes on You and You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To.

Interspersed are lesser known but pleasant tunes such as Will I Find My Love Today? and Mountain Greenery. There are twelve tunes in all.

They make for a pleasant record with some fine backstopping by two different rhythm sections: a group headed by Dick Cary and the Jimmy Lyon Trio.

—–

Philadelphia Inquirer
Phil Sheridan : 08/13/1957

We predict you’ll love Lea in Love on Prestige. Her warm appeal turns its charm on songs about love – finding it, enjoying it, and loosing it. Some are familiar like I’ve Got My Eyes on You and More Than You Know and some strangers, too, like Am I in Love, Will I Find My Love Today and others. We hope you’ll find your way to the record store and enjoy Hi Fi Lea style Jazz. Incidentally, kudos to Dick Cary for nice backing.

—–

Down Beat : 10/03/1957
Dom Cerulli

In this collection, Lea in Love, Barbara moves into the field of the mood singer, as opposed to the straight jazz idiom with which she has been identified. The jazz feel is here, on such tracks as Am I in Love?, Mountain Greenery, We Could Make Such Beautiful Music Together, and I’ve Got My Eyes on You.

But the spreading out comes with such moody vehicles as Will I Find My Love Today?, True Love, Autumn Leaves (sung in brave French and English), and Sleep Peaceful, Mr. Used-To-Be. For the most part, she carries them off well, although I wish she had a bit more body in the climax of Used-To-Be. There’s taste here, and some interesting backgrounding by such as Ernie Caceres, Dick Cary (who arranged the 12 tracks), Garvin Bushell, Al Casamenti, Adele Girard, Osie Johnson, Johnny Windhurst, Al Hall, and the Jimmy Lyon trio.

—–

Liner Notes by Barbara Lea

The girl on the cover is Barbara Lea, and she bas the warmest way with songs we know. The tunes in this album are about love – about looking for, and finding it, and about the swinging thing of being in love. There are songs about the endings of love too – gentle, like Autumn Leaves and violent, like Sleep Peaceful. Barbara Lea sings about love with joy and excitement. We don’t think there’s anyone else quite like her.

Once we had decided to make this album of love songs, the tunes were picked for quality and variety alone, without regard to familiarity or lack of it. As luck would have it, two of them Autumn Leaves and True Love miraculously landed on the “Hit Parade” in 1956, and some, notably Ain’t Misbehavain’ have bene familiar to all of us since time immemorial. On the other hand, Will I Find My Love Today? has never been recorded before; and as far as I know Sleep Peaceful, Mr. Used-to-Be hasn’t been done outside of the magnificent Broadway show, “St. Louis Woman,” which introduced it. It was sung by a woman to her ex-lover, immediately after she had shot and killed him. In addition, there are a couple of rare and wonderfully ridiculous Cole Porter verses; it is my fond hope that somebody will dig them as much as I do. Incidentally, in including the French words to Autumn Leaves, I am not attempting to pass myself off as a Parisian; it’s a beautiful lyric, and I see no reason why an American shouldn’t sing it.

In answer to the classic question, “who picked the tunes?” (or, more sophisicatedly, “Who A&R’d the date?”) – I did. One of the privileges of recording for Prestige is artistic freedom. Unfortunately, this has its disadvantageous side, too. I usually start out with a list of about 125 tunes, all of which must go into this album. Cutting it down to a dozen is like drowning kittens – an odious task for one who likes cats as much as I do.

For those of you who haven’t heard about Barbara Lea before, here’s a capsule biography: I’m from Detroit, Boston, and New York, in chronological order. After graduating from Wellesly College (where I majored in Music Theory and sang with a jazz band at Harvard) I finally embarked upon the singing career I had dreamed of since the age of four. After the usual break-in period with bands and in little clubs no longer in existence, my recording career began. This led to better night clubs, radio, and television, and eventually to my present happy association with Prestige.

I believe in jazz and in singing, but not necessarily in jazz singing.

The musicians were, of course, the best we could find. I had worked with most of them before, and the feeling of personal friendship which existed was almost as important to the result as musical ability. I wish it were possible here to give each individual the credit he deserves; but since it is not, I’ll have to leave that for your ears to hear. However, I must mention Dick Cary as the special recipient of my eternal gratitude. It’s impossible to exaggerate his value as arranger, instrumentalist, and conductor. His work was always in perfect sympathy with the material and with my way of singing it; and after listening to the tapes repeatedly, | have come to the inescapable conclusion that anything good that happens on this record is mostly Dick’s doing. I’m glad that his multiple talents are finally beginning to be properly recognized through his work with Bobby Hackett’s new group.

These twelve sides (and a few more) were recorded in four sessions, each with different personnel, We used two different rhythm sections; one session was done with rhythm section alone, and the others with two or three horns added. The reason for this is elementary, and yet it is surprisingly often overlooked: A 12-inch LP of any one thing can be very wearying. By varying certain elements, especially rhythm and tone color, interest can be sustained throughout an album, and I feel that the listener deserves this.

Hidden somewhere in these notes is a very vague idea of the goals we sought in making this album. But after all, it’s only the music that counts; you can get a much better idea of our goals, and whether we attained them, by listening. Be my guest.