Raoul Bhaneja doesn’t sound sweet while singing the standards but minces the words with an edge. His duo with pianist Jesse Whiteley, Blue Standard, romps around the Great American Songbook on their debut album, A Good Thing. Their emotive renditions of “A Man Ain’t Supposed to Cry” and “When I Fall in Love” and their zesty take on “Walkin’ My Baby Back Home” have an in-your-face quality that keeps the cocktail lounge crowd focused on the music, not the Manhattans.
