Her husky, surprisingly sensual voice and exquisitely cool readings of

pop standards distinguished her singing, but Lee Wiley earns notice as

one of the best early jazz singers by recognizing the superiority of

American popular song and organizing a set of songs around a common

composer or theme -- later popularized as the songbook or concept LP.

She was also a songwriter in her own right, and one of the few white

vocalists with more respect in the jazz community than the popular one.

Even more tragic then, that while dozens of inferior vocalists recorded

LPs during the late '50s and '60s, Wiley appeared on record just once

between 1957 and her death in 1975.