A truly warm record. Not just a great collection of wonderful, charming songs from the beginning of Tin Pan Alley [this material goes back to the turn of the 20th century], but a conscious effort to place them in the context of nostalgia and memory. There are non-musical audio portions of the CD that place one firmly in the firmament of Manhattan, and a lot of the music is either peformed in front of a boisterous tavern audience or made to sound that way. It's a modern trick that doesn't always work - the quality of the crowd is definitely turn of the 21st century on occassion! - but it does add a rich context to the music and the listening experience. It's not jazz, but it's jazzy and great for anyone who loves good American song-writing.