This week on Afterglow it's "Southern Style" as we feature reissues of two of torch-jazz singer Jeri Southern's 1950s Decca LPs.

Jeri Southern was a singer and pianist who retired in 1961 while she was still in her prime; known for her intimate, direct vocal approach (one critic called it "conversational"), she also found it more and more difficult to perform in front of audiences as her career went on.

She was born in Nebraska in 1926 and came to notice in the late 1940s working the Chicago jazz-club scene, eventually signing with Decca Records, where she scored hits with the singles "You Better Go Now" and "When I Fall in Love."

We'll hear music from her mid-1950s Decca albums Prelude to a Kiss and The Southern Style.

Other artists on the program include Duke Ellington, Mundell Lowe, and Bud Shank, as well as new recordings from singer Tony DeSare and pianist Stefano Bollani.