Terry Morel - Songs Of A Woman In Love (1955/2014) [HDtracks]

Songs of a Woman in Love is a quintessential Bethlehem label release -- a smoky, profoundly expressive session bathed in neon tavern light, it's singer Terry Morel's lone release for the label, which seemed to specialize in this kind of one-and-done snapshot of feminine malaise and melancholy. Backed by a trio led by pianist Ralph Sharon and featuring flutist Herbie Mann, Morel's dusky, come-hither vocals mask a deeper emotional turmoil that shades songs like "Too Late Now" and "The Night We Called It a Day." The session is devoid of all traces of the sweetness and innocence that so often define her peers, instead articulating an intimacy and intensity rare in the postwar, pre-feminist '50s