An excellent singer who was associated with swing and Dixieland, Barbara Lea never broke through with the general public, but she recorded quite a few worthy albums. She sang with Detroit dance orchestras while in school, performed with the college jazz band (the Crimson Stompers) at Harvard, and worked on the East Coast in the 1950s. She recorded for Riverside (1955) and Prestige (1956-1957), using such sidemen as trumpeter Johnny Windhurst and pianists Billy Taylor and Dick Hyman. In the 1960s, Lea worked as a stage actress and taught. In the 1970s, she sang with Dick Sudhal...