Terry Morel - Songs of a Woman in Love. Her Complete Recordings 1955-1962 (2021)

Terry Morel (1925-2005) was a gifted vocalist who always seemed to find steady work in her native Philadelphia, ever since her professional debut in 1949. For a good six years, she was mostly singing musical comedy tunes, with successful appearances at nightclubs all over the East Coast, but this wasn't quite enough for Terry. She loved jazz, and wanted to sing the songs she liked, the way she wanted. That's why she gave up a successful career in a field she didn't really enjoy, to become a single, a jazz singer.

As soon as she took that new, bold step in her career, audiences started to notice, and so did labels, Prestige and Bethlehemin particular. In the records that resulted, we find a Terry that swings lightly, with a husky, pleasant voice, warmth, closeness, and a feeling for words and melody. In 1957 she moved to Los Angeles, and spent a few years performing successfully on the West Coast, but after 1962 she all but vanished from the papers. Her memory has faded almost completely, and all we are left with are these recordings, a testament to her special kind of effortless bedroom hush, so common in the June Christy and Chris Connor style, that in her case sounded completely natural.