Search - Lee Wiley :: What Is Love?

2009 collection from the Jazz chanteuse. Each generation of Jazz enthusiasts has notions of what qualifies a `Jazz singer' or rather of what distinguishes one from the rank-and-file of crooners. Whatever her actual credentials, since her death Lee Wiley has been so frequently re-appraised that her place in the vocal Jazz pantheon now seems to be permanent. She who began as a white exponent of a style first developed by Ethel Waters, superimposed her own special attributes: not least of which good diction and timing. Wiley's innately raw tone and grasp of the black crooners' `rocking rhythm' were also plus points in a good head-start, but her full admission to her category would prove longer in coming. 23 tracks. Bygone Days.