There has been a longstanding love affair between Japan and the United States as far as popular music goes. Japanese audiences were first exposed to American pop tunes in a big way in the post-War boom years. Later, in the 1960's groups like The Nippon Girls regularly mined the sounds of United States rock and pop for their chart hits. Conversely, often artists who had passed at least the first peak of their American popularity found second careers in Japan. Such was the case with Bossa Nova master Sergio Mendes, who in the 1970's wasn't exactly burning up the charts stateside, but became a phenomenon in Japan, something that helped keep his career alive until he hit gold again in the U.S. in 1983 with "Never Gonna Let You Go." Strangely, Sergio's success in Japan led to that nation becoming one of the most popular exporters of latin inflected music, with such artists as Japanese singer and guitarist Lisa Ono working the Bossa Nova songbook (alongside such stars as Joao Donato) to great acclaim. And so it really shouldn't be that much of a surprise to see and hear another Japanese singer, Hiromi Kanda, reach a bit further back into American chart success and attempt to recreate the great pop singer era of the late 1940's through the 1950's. Kanda's slight but appealing alto wafts through a nice selection of standards that will be familiar to any lover of Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole or even Johnny Ray, as well as a couple of her own originals. As charming, if lightweight, as her own voice may be, the real appeal of this Blu-ray and its simultaneously released CD for music fans may well be the for the most part outstanding arrangements and always sumptuous orchestrations of Matt Catingub, as well as the luscious playing of the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra.