Joy Bryan - Make the Man Love Me / Joy Bryan Sings (2013)

As a jazz singer, Joy Bryan still alive at the time of writing (2012) was a natural. Despite that, the two LPs collected here are the only albums she ever made. Highly regarded by some of the finest jazz musicians in the 50s and early 60s, when she recorded them, Bryan sang with an unaffected warmth and innate feel for the music.

Its particularly true of Make The Man Love Me, where she fronts a superb rhythm section in Wynton Kelly - whose work as accompanist and soloist must be among the best this great pianist ever recorded - Leroy Vinnegar and Frank Butler, with Al Viola added on guitar. There are captivating versions of the title track, My Romance, My Funny Valentine, These Foolish Things and, above all, Old Devil Moon, where she handles the shifting metres with total aplomb.

The second album, Joy Bryan Sings, made four years earlier, includes West Coast jazz royalty in Marty Paich, Herb Geller, Jack Sheldon, Bob Enevoldsen, Red Mitchell, Mel Lewis, and Ronnie Lang. And though Paichs arrangements made it a tighter date than its successor, there are accomplished contributions from Sheldon and Geller in particular, with Bryan poised and at her best on an arresting Round Midnight.