by Scott Yanow
This set was singer Lee Wiley's most successful recording of the postwar years. Wiley is joined on eight selections by the sensitive trumpeter Bobby Hackett, a small string section, a rhythm section led by pianist Joe Bushkin and sometimes two clarinets and an accordion; highlights include &A Woman's Intuition,& &Sugar,& &Manhattan& and &I've Got a Crush on You& although all eight songs are enjoyable. This set is rounded out by four numbers taken from a pair of slightly later Columbia albums (programs of the music of Vincent Youmans and Irving Berlin) that found Wiley backed by the two-piano team of Stan Freeman and Cy Walter; best is &More than You Know& and &How Deep Is The Ocean.& It seems strange, considering the popularity of this particular collection, that Lee Wiley would gradually disappear from the active jazz scene. Well worth picking up.