Album Notes

Best known as a songwriter for others (Andy Williams, Emmy Lou Harris, Glen Yarbrough, among others), Walls after several years away from music has reentered the scene with a classy, tasteful CD of original jazz songs ranging from the outrageous "A Piece Of Me" (I've Had A Rotten Disposition Ever Since My Circumcision) to the flirtatious "Holiday Inn In The Andes," to the philosophical "Easier Dreamed Than Done." With Peggy Lee's guitar player (John Pisano), Frank Sinatra's bassist (Chuck Berghoffer), and George Benson's drummer (John Ferraro), the instrumentation is exceptional.

Endowed with an honest and natural voice, Byron Walls has evolved a very cool jazz delivery. Dave Nathan in his All Music Guide review of this CD said, "Walls falls nicely into that vocal category of witty, carefree performers who deliver comments of life with their vocal and/or compositional wares such as Dave Frishberg, Mark Murphy, Bob Dorough and Mose Allison and brushing against the satire of a Tom Lehrer.

The title song "Calm, Cool, and Collected" has been picked up by Blossom Dearie. Other jazz artists who have expressed admiration for this CD include Tony Bennett and Karrin Allyson.