Album of the Day

Though Carly Simon is herself an acclaimed songwriter, she lets the likes of Hoagy Carmichael, Duke Ellington and Rodgers & Hart do the honors on TORCH, one of the first – and best – modern collections drawn from the Great American Songbook. Whether or not Simon's impending divorce from singer James Taylor played a role in the song selection, she sounds utterly convincing on such ballads of romantic regret as “Hurt” and Stephen Sondheim's “Not a Day Goes By.” Producer Mike Mainieri assembled top players including saxophonist David Sanborn and guitarists Lee Ritenour and Hugh McCracken to provide a jazz-influenced backdrop for Carly's sultry vocals. TORCH just celebrated its 40th anniversary, and like fine wine, it gets better with each passing year.