This week on Afterglow we'll feature singer Lee Wiley's 1956 album West of the Moon.
A smoky, sultry-voiced vocalist whose paramours included Bunny Berigan, Jess Stacy, and Victor Young, Lee Wiley made what are considered to be the very first songbook records in the late 1930s.
As her career progressed, however, Wiley's recording opportunities became rarer and rarer.
West of the Moon, soon to be reissued by Mosaic Records, was the first of two LPs that she would make for RCA Victor in the mid-1950s. With orchestration by arranger Ralph Burns, West of the Moon is considered to be one of Wiley's finest efforts, and it's one of the last albums she'd ever record.
You can read more about Lee Wiley here . We'll also hear music from Mose Allison, Horace Silver, Mel Torme, Jim Hall with Ron Carter, Oscar Brown Jr., and more.