Love

Cuban expatriate singer Isaac Delgado turns to mid-20th century standards, some of them of Latin origin, on L-O-V-E, crooning over a small jazz band. He does include a few conventional salsa performances, but for the most part, the album allows him to address songs from the swing era's coincidence with the Good Neighbor Policy, such as "Perfidia" and "Green Eyes." On "Quizás, Quizás, Quizás," he is joined for the first time by Freddy Cole, who comes in halfway through to render the English lyric, making it "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps." Delgado handles standards like "Tenderly" (as "Tiernamente") and "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face" ("A Su Mirar Me Acostumbré") on his own, then Cole returns to take the introductory verse and first refrain of "Green Eyes," before Delgado sings it in its original form as "Aquellos Ojos Verdes." A different kind of transformation occurs with the song here called "Hojas Muertas," which was originally written in French as "Les Feuilles Mortes," but rendered in English by Johnny Mercer as "Autumn Leaves." Delgado evinces a warm understanding of these songs, singing them in his smooth, burnished tenor over the jazzy arrangements. [The digital version of the album adds two bonus tracks, Spanish translations of "Star Dust" and "Mona Lisa." On the latter, Cole interestingly provides the introductory verse his brother, Nat King Cole, never did.]