The standards album has become, well, a standard itself. It’s a well-known, time-honored thing, and each artist’s challenge is to put his or her individual stamp on the standard. Irvin Mayfield and Ellis Marsalis step outside the standards canon on Love Songs, Ballads and Standards by broadening their notions of standards. They do the standbys “In a Sentimental Mood” and “Round Midnight,” popular song classics “Yesterday” and “A House is Not a Home,” and they include Norah Jones’ “Don’t Know Why,” Corinne Bailey Rae’s “Like a Star” and two Stevie Wonder songs, “Blame it on the Sun” and “You and I.” Since standards albums often feel like retreats from the modern world, the contemporary touches are welcome.

The tendency on covers of standards is to take a lovely melody and make it, mmmm … lovely. Mayfield and Marsalis certainly keep that tradition alive. At relaxed tempos, Mayfield phrases the melodies as if they’re rare and delicate flowers, presenting them gently and faithfully. If anything, he errs on the side of being too respectful, and it’s only when he burns a solo on “Like a Star”—one of the album’s highpoints—that you realize what has been missing for the previous half-hour.

Marsalis’ support for Mayfield is impeccably tasteful. He rarely draws attention to his piano, making each move sound predestined. When Mayfield is establishing the melody in opening minutes, Marsalis is discreet, and when they explore what the melody has to tell them, he is an active part of hunt, gently suggesting avenues to Mayfield. In the closing moments of “A House is Not a Home,” he does so with a little more force.

As beautiful as the album is, it never becomes more than pretty because of their respect for the source material. The songs never leave the Music for Lovers vibe, nor do the solo passages reach for unexpected places. Both Mayfield and Marsalis seem reined in, putting the song first to such a degree that their artistic personalities rarely find expression. Some solos show signs of catching fire, but rather than extend the part that provoked the solo, they obey the structure of the song and return to it and the melody. Restraint is often admirable, but Love Songs, Ballads and Standards is a case where more would be more.