Peggy Lee only had a small voice and she never improvised much but her singing often crossed over into jazz and she always swung. She came to fame with Benny Goodman (1941-43) although she was so scared at her first recording session ("Elmer's Tune") that John Hammond urged Goodman to fire her. BG knew better and she had a big hit within a year with "Why Don't You Do Right." After marrying Dave Barbour in 1943, Lee retired briefly but was soon a major recording artist for Capitol and during the 1940s and '50s she had quite a few popular records including "It's a Good Day," "Black Coffee," "Manana" and "Fever"; she also proved to be a talented songwriter. Lee appeared in the Dixieland movie Pete Kelly's Blues and recorded Beauty and the Beat (1959) with the George Shearing Quintet but then moved farther away from jazz in the 1960s. Peggy Lee's often-atmospheric records from her prime years can be easily enjoyed by jazz fans. ~ Scott Yanow
--All Music Guide