EMMA SMITH is a London-based jazz singer. She’s also a member of acclaimed retro vocal trio, the Puppini Sisters. Right now though, Ms Smith is busy promoting the upcoming release of her third solo album , appropriately called ‘Hat-Trick’.
The set, an 11 tracker, is a collection of (mainly) 50s US pop and acknowledged American songbook standards. Supported by a classic jazz trio (Samuel Watts, piano; Joe Lee, double bass; Luke Tomlinson, drums), Ms Smith delivers with real panache and, on the slower moments, a genuine warmth. Enjoy that warmth on her version (released as a single earlier this year) of Patti Page’s ‘Old Cape Cod’ which she seductively slows right down, on an intimate take on Rodgers and Hart’s ‘Where Or When’ and on a tour de force cover of Billy Strayhorn’s emotional ‘Chelsea Bridge’
The album’s more “up” moments include takes on classics like ‘Day In Day Out’, ‘Matchmaker, Matchmaker’ and ‘Don’t Sit Under The Apple Tree’ – a song that the Puppinis regularly feature.
Emma Smith’s beguiling, old school ‘Hat Trick’ is the sort of album that too many jazz fans believed was no longer being made (especially since Clare Teal seems inactive in the studio right now).
EMMA SMITH: HAT TRICK released 25th October via Windsor Castle Records.