Zev Feldman, of the justly celebrated archival specialists Resonance Records, is the co-partner in Reel to Real with Cory Weeds and both are triumphant at having come across a tape of this Sunday-night one-off appearance by singer Etta Jones with the Cedar Walton Trio at the Left Bank Jazz Club in Baltimore. Walton was playing an engagement at the club, whereas Jones was appearing in Chicago and flew in and out on her day off to play the gig. As is usual with Resonance issues, the booklet is worth the money all on its own. The opening essay is by Feldman and the scholarly James Gavin describes Jones' style and career. There are also interviews with singer Catherine Russell and John Fowler, a kingpin at the club, plus a nice question-and-answer session with saxophonist Houston Person, who toured with Jones for 35 years. Jones herself died in 2001 and was clearly a delightful individual who enjoyed success without ever putting on any kind of airs. Down-home and friendly is the collective verdict. All that said, I just wish I liked her voice more.

As might be expected, Walton and the trio fit right in with Jones's choices, opening up on their own with the slightly unlikely ‘Theme from Love Story’, which is given a stirring 10-minute seeing-to, complete with a lively drum sequence from Higgins. That done, enter Jones. Straight into ‘Sunday’, her shaky vibrato and slightly strained sound immediately evident: for all her experience, there's a shouty aspect to these performances, a sense of trying too hard for my taste. Maybe it was the jet-lag. Her inspiration came from Billie Holiday and Dinah Washington and there are vestiges of both in her vocal approach, but on this evidence she lacks their sure-footed touch. Later recordings of Jones fared better than this. Still, Walton is superb throughout.