Lyn Stanley: Lost In Romance

Singer, dancer, ingenue, Lyn Stanley is a fully realized and mature talent exploding into her own. An award-winning ballroom dancer, Stanley melds that physical experience of movement with her performance of jazz standards, bringing the genre back to its dancing, kinetic roots. As executive producer, Stanley brings a Midas touch to the proceedings, producing in wholly urbane and sophisticated collection of the best the Great American Songbook has to offer. It takes a certain fortitude to record one more collection of jazz standards,but, then again, this is the most appropriate starting place for Stanley. Standards are the proving ground for Stanley's singing philosophy and that philosophy is a sound and entertaining one.

The songs include a smoldering "Fever," an island humid "That Old Black Magic" and a late-night "The Nearness of You" (featuring the inestimable Bob Sheppard on tenor saxophone) that set a relaxed mood, one that is sure of the talent to which it's being devoted. There are no steep cliffs here, only straight and elegant byways to pass the time, with some exceptional ballad and mid-tempo vocal performances by the dense loam of talent that is Lyn Stanley.

Stanley takes these songs on with a conservative ear, opting for a traditional performance. The value of this approach is to always allow the composer to speak as intended when conceiving these pieces. Stanley's singing is beyond sexy or sensuous; it is whatever transcends these anemic descriptors. This is singing and delivery that must wait for the proper word to come along to define it. The same applies for the elegance and grace her accompanying musician bring to the project, a who's who of West Coast jazz talent convening for a holiday—and that holiday is Lost In Romance.