The basis of award-winning New York City-based vocalist
Mary Foster Conklin's heartfelt tribute to songwriter
Matt Dennis is that he died in 2002 too little remembered, and she wanted to shine the light on his legacy. Then, of course, the crisply written liner notes by James Gavin quotes a praise by
Tony Bennett, talk about
Dennis' "Angel Eyes" being recorded by
Frank Sinatra and
Ella Fitzgerald, and others being waxed by
Chet Baker. The point seems to be, then, not that
Dennis was totally obscure, but that his catalog was richer than these legends would have suspected. While she puts just the right smoky, heartbreaking touch to "Angel Eyes" and the elegant title track,
Conklin does an equally magical job on whimsical, punchy John Di Martino arrangements of more obscure gems like "Show Me The Way to Get out of This World" and "Let's Get Away From It All." Other highlights include
Conklin's beautiful Spanish lyrics on the balmy "Encanto d'Amor" (a translation of "It Wasn't the Stars That Thrilled Me") and her uncovering of two songs whose lyrics were penned by
Bobby Troup -- the eloquent, sparsely arranged "Where Am I to Go?" and thoughtful "Learn to Love." The subtle joys of this labor of love will hopefully get the attention of more contemporary vocalists, who should consider mining more of
Dennis' wonderful songs in the future. ~ Jonathan Widran