DENNIS DAY-All Things in Time

When a vocalist, particularly an African-American male singer, is confident enough to record songs so strongly associated with Johnny Hartman, Joe Williams, Nat “King” Cole, and Sammy Davis, Jr., you question his bravado and wait to listen to the result of such audacity.

Dennis Day is not afraid of the challenge, and if he doesn’t completely wrest the tunes from their progenitors, he puts his unique stamp and vibrato on a few of these standards from the American songbook.

What stands out most with this Harlem-based singer is his versatility. Day’s pleasant baritone, with dollops of second-tenor silkiness, is as warm and inviting on ballads as it is bouncy and exciting on the up-tempo tunes. From the opening, “Caravan,” you have embarked on a global excursion of melodies with touches of Brazil, Africa, the Mississippi Delta, London, and delightful forays into those evergreens of Tin Pan Alley.

On “All Things in Time,” his first jazz CD, Day is backed by some of the finest mus