Dianne Reeves - The Palo Alto Sessions 1981-1985 (1996)

This disc reissues Dianne Reeves' entire 1982 LP Welcome to My Love, plus three tracks from 1985's For Every Heart and one selection from her days as a vocalist with the band Caldera. It contains the first recorded version of her classic "Better Days" and one of the best renditions of the overworked standard "My Funny Valentine" as you're likely to hear. On Welcome, Reeves was exploring the jazz/R&B territory she would claim as her own a decade later. "For Every Heart" was much more commercial, but the three cuts chosen here are worthwhile, especially a duet with Jon Lucien, "Separate Vacations."