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Like her previous release, American Lullaby (which focused on jazz interpretations of lullaby-like melodies), Standard Delivery is very thematic (its dominant theme being a jazz vocalist's relationship with time-honored standards). On Standard Delivery, Nunn puts her personal stamp on an abundance of classics from the Great American Songbook, including George Gershwin's "A Foggy Day," Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart's "Where or When," Dorothy Fields' "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" and Jerome Kern's "I'm Old Fashioned." Not every melody on Standard Delivery originated in Manhattan's legendary Tin Pan Alley; the album moves into Brazilian territory on Antonio Carlos Jobim's "One Note Samba," and "Honeysuckle Rose" was composed by the great stride pianist/singer Fats Waller. But everything on Standard Delivery is a well known standard, and everything on the album receives Nunn's personal touch." I don't want an album to be just a bunch of tunes that I randomly threw together," Nunn notes. "That's why I put a lot of energy into having a theme and a continuity when I record an album."

The fact that Standard Delivery sounds both spontaneous and focused has to do with not only Nunn herself, but also, with the presence of her working trio, which consists of acoustic pianist Travis Shook (who is Nunn's husband and frequent musical collaborator and is known for his 1993 debut album on Columbia Records/Sony Music), upright bassist Jennifer Vincent and drummer/percussionist Jaz Sawyer. Nunn's cohesive and highly sympathetic trio, which also appeared on American Lullaby in 2000, has been backing her for 13 years - and their presence is a definite plus throughout Standard Delivery.

"It isn't just the singer who makes a jazz vocal record work; it's the whole band and the way the band comes together," Nunn stresses. "Travis and Jaz and Jennifer are unbelievably supportive. We really know each other musically; we work together all the time, and have played together in many clubs. We have a real sense of each other, and that is so important when you go into the studio. In the past, I've played with people who just dialed it in, but I've never gotten that with Travis, Jaz or Jennifer. This trio has a real sense of commitment."

Although Nunn - like the members of her trio - is closely identified with New York City, she is not a native New Yorker. Nunn was born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas, where she grew up listening to a variety of jazz, soul, funk, rock, blues and gospel. Nunn moved to the Big Apple in 1978, and it didn't take her very long to immerse herself in the New York City jazz scene. " I moved up here not knowing anyone, and I got a job and an apartment the second day I was in town," Nunn recalls. "I worked for Gimbels Department Store on 86th Street and Lexington Avenue. I had such a desire and an energy to be in New York, and we tend to create opportunities for ourselves when we're very focused and have a wishful belief system. I had been in New York about a year and five months when I met Big Nick."

The Big Nick that Nunn speaks of is the late bandleader/tenor saxophonist/singer George Walker, a.k.a. Big Nick Nicholas, who was famous for being a teacher of the seminal John Coltrane (when Trane wrote and recorded "Big Nick" in 1962, he did so in honor of Nicholas). After meeting Nunn at Sweet Basil (a well known, long-running jazz club in Manhattan's West Village) in late 1979, Nicholas quickly took her under his wing and introduced her to a lot of jazz heavyweights (including trombonist/guitarist Eddie Durham, vibist Red Norvo and pianist Roger "Ram" Ramirez, who is best known for writing the standard "Lover Man"). Nunn soon found herself performing one gig after another and getting some valuable on-the-job experience performing with seasoned veterans like trumpeter Doc Cheatham and tenor saxophonist Eddie Chamblee. Along the way, Nunn was offered full scholarships to Boston's Berklee College of Music and New York's equally prestigious Juilliard School of Music, but she turned down both offers and attended Lehman College in the Bronx to pursue a degree in theology.

Studying theology, however, did not decrease Nunn's interest in jazz - and the list of accomplished musicians she has performed with over the years is a long one. It is a list that includes Eddie Harris, Lee Ritenour, Dave Grusin (the G in GRP Records), Jay Anderson, Mark Egan, Roy Hargrove, Astrud & João Gilberto, Michael Bowie, James Carter, Oscar Neves, Rodney Kendricks, Café, Spanky Davis, Manolo Badrena, Ron McClure, Buddy Williams, Bob Cunningham and Xavier Davis as well as pop-rock superstar Sting. Nunn attributes her ability to perform with artists of that caliber to the fact that Big Nick and others were willing to offer her guidance and constructive criticism when she was starting out.

"Big Nick made me understand how to use jazz to work through things in your life and how to use jazz to really communicate with people," Nunn remembers. "He told me, 'If you don't know what you're trying to say, how can you expect anybody else to?' Big Nick recognized the musicianship in singers, and one of the great lessons I got from Big Nick as well as from Eddie Chamblee was the importance of developing my own style."

Nunn also learned that the most meaningful jazz isn't just about chops, technique or complex chord changes - it is about expression, emotion and feeling. Those are the things that, for Nunn, make a jazz performance compelling regardless of whether the performer is a singer or an instrumentalist. Nunn is quick to point out that her major influences are not only jazz vocalists, but jazz instrumentalists as well - that even though she is a strong admirer of Carmen McRae, Abbey Lincoln, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday, instrumentalists were also quite crucial to Nunn's musical development.

"I was always greatly influenced by instrumentalists," Nunn stresses. "I remember reading that Ella Fitzgerald wanted to sound like a horn, and when I read that, I said, 'I guess I'm on the right track.' John Coltrane was a big influence for me, and Hank Mobley, Gene Ammons, Ben Webster and Lester Young were also important influences. I was greatly influenced by the horn players who had really warm tones as well as by McCoy Tyner, who is one of my favorite pianists. I've always admired McCoy's integrity."

Another person Nunn has great admiration for is vocalist/composer Michael Franks, who she has been performing with extensively since 1993. Nunn has toured all over the world with the prolific Franks, who has featured her at concerts in countries ranging from Indonesia to Russia to South Africa.

"I have learned so much about performing and writing from Michael," Nunn explains. "He is very generous."

In fact, Nunn's third album will be a tribute to Franks. And her fourth album will be a Brazilian jazz project and will include arrangement of songs by Djavan, Milton Nascimento and other Brazilian stars; although English is Nunn's primary language, she looks forward to singing in Portuguese on that forthcoming project. But whatever material she is recording - whether she is interpreting songs by Clifford Brown, Stephen Sondheim, Marvin Gaye or Ivan Lins - Nunn wants to make certain that her individuality continues to make its presence felt.

One of the things I love about Mark Murphy is the way he has done so many different tunes from so many different genres and has done them his own way," Nunn asserts. "Jazz has to do with the way you interpret a song and how you use the music to do that. It's not the type of songs you are using - it is what you do with them. All music is emotion-based, and whatever songs I record, I will always use jazz to express my emotions and make my own personal statements."