Album Notes

In "Torch Songs Volume One — Close Enough for Love", singer Cynthia Beal and pianist Steve Larson offer a selection of elegant and sophisticated musical conversations in that smoky sexy style of the classic American ballad.

Cynthia Beal learned her torch song repertoire from her mother, a big-band singer in St. Louis, MO, and the Midwest in the 50's and 60's. Cynthia's been singing jazz since 1994, choosing tunes from that great speak-easy era expressed so well by vocalists like Chris Connor, Julie London, June Christy, and Peggy Lee.

Steve Larson plays piano with a sensitivity, elegance, and passion that draws on a variety of styles — including blues and boogie-woogie, Chopin and Bach, and the lyrical and swinging jazz piano tradition that includes Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, and Dave McKenna — making each torch song a sensual conversation.