On her 1984 debut album, vocalist/pianist Diane “Deedles” Schuur triumphs from the start (a fluid, assured vocal delivery on the standard “The Very Thought of You”) to the end (a duo version of “Amazing Grace” with her on piano and coproducer Dave Grusin on keyboards). Deedles is both traditional, with a 20-piece string section, and contemporary-sounding, with electric bass throughout. Schuur’s career-long penchant for tackling the contemporary songbook is established here with a pair of numbers from the '70s: Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind” (one of two tracks to feature her mentor, tenor saxophonist Stan Getz) and Jackson Browne’s “Rock Me on the Water.” It’s definitely an album of its time, with Yamaha DX-7 synthesizer and occasional Simmons electronic drums. But her effortless scat interpolating of the circus favorite “Entrance of the Gladiators” into Ellington’s “I’m Beginning to See the Light” is evergreen.