Peggy Lee - Trav'lin' Light (2002)

Trav'lin Light collects 15 of the radio transcriptions Peggy Lee recorded between 1946 and 1949, with a quintet including her husband Dave Barbour and George Van Eps on guitar, pianist Hal Schaefer, drummer Nick Fatool, and bassist Phil Stephens. Worlds away from the heavily orchestrated studio dates of the day, these relaxed sessions produced some incredible music more akin to a live performance at an intimate nightclub than a hit. The supposed impermanence of these recordings (they were designed to be used only once or twice as bumpers for radio stations) belies the fact that these songs are among the best she ever recorded, and though the sound quality is a shade inferior to her studio sessions, Trav'lin Light is of inestimable historical value.