The question, of course, is whether any more feeling can be wrung from these age-old standards, so many times have they been done. John Nowak’s answer on Once More with Feeling? Absolutely.

A New Jersey native living in Mexico, Bobby Kapp brings a sense of humor and fun to older classics and new originals that begins with the album’s title – “blue white boy” in Spanish.

George Benson’s chart successes in the 1970s and ’80s as a breezy R&B crooner have largely obscured his initial promise as a boss jazz guitarist with a intelligent, liquid tone — an heir to Wes Montgomery’s throne.

If there’s any question as to how off-the-cuff, how gloriously in the moment, this ultra-rare one-off concert collaboration in fact was, one need only hear the lead tune — a fizzy, improv-filled take on “Lullaby of Birdland.”

The wonder is how much Eliane Elias, the Brazalian-born pianist and singer, has in common with the doomed American romantic Chet Baker.

Don’t cry, indeed. For Ben Sidran — producer of Van Morrison and Rickie Lee Jones, co-writer of “Space Cowboy” with Steve Miller, sessions man with the Rolling Stones, NPR radio voice — being a hipster seems like such an effortless thing.

The pairing of legendary pianist Dick Hyman and wondrous vocalist Heather Masse takes flight on Lock My Heart, a charming and easygoing record.

Jazz vocalists don’t typically give me the same charge I get from jazz instrumentalists, but there are always a few exceptions to the rule.

One of the best jazz vocal groups to emerge from the 1990s, New York Voices is marking their 25th anniversary with a live CD, Live with the WDR Big Band Cologne.

Even during the height of her early-1970s singer-songwriter successes, when the radio was shag-carpeted with Carole King songs, I never could get past the idea that another singer would have done better by those lyrics.