TURN-ONS AND TURN-OFFS IN CURRENT HOME ENTERTAINMENT RELEASES : Excellent Good Fair Poor : COMPACT DISCS

“Bill Henderson Sings (Best of).” Suite Beat. AAD. The distinctive, uncompromising jazz voice of Henderson (now better known as a TV and movie actor) is well served by these 14 cuts in which he deals sensitively with Carmichael, Arlen, Loesser, Rodgers & Hart, Kern and others. Recorded between 1958 and 1961 for the long-defunct Vee Jay label, he is in pristine form, with the backing of groups led by Ramsey Lewis, Jimmy Jones or Tommy Flanagan; a few cuts have large orchestras. There are slight slips of intonation, but the personal vibrato and keen sense of phrasing are compensation enough.