Give Carol credit for discovering a terrific, too rarely heard tune with Peggy Lee’s lyrics. Appropriately, she delivers the coquettish lyrics over a jaunty, foot-tapping, straight-ahead rhythmic swing driven by Carol’s airy piano accents.
-Don Heckman

Carol’s affection for Brazilian bossa nova is front and center in an imaginative take on the Cole Porter classic. Floating over the gentle rhythms, she tells the story, first with a warm exposition of the lyrics, then via buoyant scatting in unison with her piano lines.
-Don Heckman

More simmering Latin rhythms – with an Afro Cuban feeling this time – on the Rodgers and Hart standard that produced another of Lee’s hits. And here, as elsewhere throughout the album, Carol creates an interpretation that recalls the Lee version in a way that simultaneously makes the song her own. Don’t miss Pat Kelley’s take no prisoners guitar solo followed by Carol’s scatting over full chordal clusters into the final chorus.
-Don Heckman

In the same mode as I Like Men, here’s another song about a chick who doesn’t hesitate to express her feelings directly. And another example of Lee’s ability to write provocative lyrics. Alto saxophonist Tom Scott enhances the tune’s high spirited mood with a characteristically bop-tinged, blues driven solo.
-Don Heckman

Carol’s piano and voice version of Jerome Kern’s gorgeously lyrical anthem to love is a deeply intimate, personal reading. "My father," she recalls, "always used to say, 'You have to record that, Carol; it will bring tears to my eyes.’ And he’s ever present here."
-Don Heckman

A million copy seller for Lee with the Benny Goodman Orchestra in 1942. Carol, however, assumes a proprietary position. Notice how her arrangement uses Rene Camacho bass to set the mood. And how, in her own imitable style, she sings a little phrase leading directly into a crisply swinging piano solo. creating a spontaneous connection that continues throughout the song, with phrases rebounding happily back and forth between voice and piano.
-Don Heckman

Carol once again finds a new way to invigorate an old Cole Porter standard, this time with a bouncy, samba feeling. Scatting imaginatively through the changes like the instrumentalist she is, sometimes in unison with piano line, occasionally with chordal accents, she does it all without losing track of the song’s story. And hang on for the happily strutting ending.
-Don Heckman

Carol’s voice and Pierre Coté’s guitar play out the dark drama of the 1954 Nicholas Ray Western-noire film starring Joan Crawford and Sterling Hayden. The lyrics, by Lee, underscore the remarkable range of her writing skills.
-Don Heckman

Lee came up with an unlikely set of lyrics for Duke Ellington’s soul jazz, waltz tune. Carol’s arrangement, while remaining true to the source, spices up the proceedings by adding a driving set of piano choruses to the jaunty melody.
-Don Heckman

Carol takes on the Peggy Lee Swing era legacy with an original, written with Daphna Ziman. And they nailed it, with a catchy melody, love’s labor lost lyrics, and a laid back groove complete with finger snapping. “I thought it had a Peggy Lee-ish quality,” says Carol. And she’s right.
-Don Heckman

One of the great Fields/Kern love songs. Carol immediately asserts her ownership of the tune with a whisper in your ear vocal over a floating, rubato opening. The slow dance mood then continues, beautifully supported by Rene Camacho’s bass lines, with a stunning combination of lyrics, melody and harmonic movement.
-Don Heckman

One of the Lee classics in which her interpretation is virtually locked in stone. Carol wisely does it her own way, with a conga-enhanced groove alternating with a tinge of Basie-style rhythm. And the song – partially written by Lee (the Romeo and Juliet, and Captain Smith and Pocahontas verses) but never credited to her – finds a new life.
-Don Heckman

Ken Peplowski’s soaring clarinet provides the perfect foil for the velvety sound of Carol’s voice on one of the great feel-good tunes. Listen to the long, swinging vamp at the close with voice, piano and clarinet throwing ideas around as they head off into the sunset.
-Don Heckman

A beautiful, touching lullaby by Peggy Lee and Paul Horner, warmly performed by Carol’s voice and piano alone. The only other recording of the tune – with lyrics by Lee and music by Paul Horner – is by Michael Feinstein. The title, according to Lee’s grandaughter, Holly, is a phrase Lee’s mother frequently said when her children were being put to bed.
-Don Heckman