Customer Reviews

Miss Smith To You!

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers' much anticipated third album blows away all expectations. With each CD Lavay's voice has developed and matured to become even more soulful and masterful than it was to begin with! This lady is all class and clearly has the chops to handle some of the greats. Indeed, Chris Siebert's arrangements and the musicality demonstrated by this band as a whole are more than just a fitting tribute to some of the greatest swing, jazz and blues legends ever known.... they allow the album to achieve a greatness in its own right. In all, this album (like the rest of the Skillet Lickers' albums) takes us back to a better time in music, and is a much welcomed and much needed treat!

I've been a big fan of Lavay Smith and the Red Hot Skillet Lickers since stumbling across one of their albums in a bookstore about five years ago. They have the unique gift of being true to the music that they perform while still being special and dynamic artists in their own right. Technically, Miss Smith and the band are outstanding in this set of recordings. Miss Smith's voice is bang on and she takes it to new stylistic heights. My only gripe is that the arrangements of some of these songs seemed a little off to my ear; particularly "It don't mean a thing" and "When the Saints go Marching In". They're not bad performances; just not what I expected from Miss Smith and the Skillet Lickers. Having said that, "With My Man" and "On the Sunny Side of the Street" are as good as anything they've ever done. If you are a big fan of the first two albums, you may be just slightly disappointed in this one, but I think you will still be happy you have it.

Lavay and the band are in fine form (esp. Ms. Smith!!) on this album. Stylistically she is an acquired taste for some but it was love at first listen from "one Hour Mama" for me! She has a great voice for her style and loads more personality and range than Diana Krall or Jane Monheit. Some may dismiss her as another Lady Day imitator, but there is only one Billie Holiday and everyone knows it. Anyway, a good solid performance and looking forward to more. Cheers!

The solos are uninspired and her intonation is questionable on more than one occasion. It's one thing to bend into a note, but several times she never quite makes it. If you are interested in Lavay's work, start with her two earlier releases. For my money this should be your last stop in the Lavay Smith catalog.

Lavay Smith is sadly a rarity today. You will be very hard pressed to find another singer of her caliber anywhere. She brings you back to the day of Sarah Vaughn, Billie Holiday, and Ella Fitzgerald, when clubs and concert halls where filled when a songstress, backed by a big band could take a song and real make it her own and make you feel it, make you want to get up and dance to it, be it slow of fast.

"Miss Smith To You!" is Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet-Lickers third album, and it matches if not surpasses previous the previous efforts with a great selection of songs, superb performances, and quality production. The songs range from slow ballads to medium tempo swings. Through it all Miss Smith is able to show off her voice and personality.

So in conclusion, if this is a style of music you enjoy (Big Band/Vocal Jazz), I do not think this album will disappoint you. It has a great selection of classic songs, the music of a talented group of musicians and the voice of one of the few who can really pull it off. To me this album really is a complete package, and I hope you can enjoy it as much as I have.

Well I have been a fan since the late 90s, I discovered Lavay Smith while I was buying up all the Retro swing I could find. She is the Real deal backed up by an amazing Band. Please buy all her Music and see her Live.

This CD is outstanding! From swinging jazz to a few sleepy and sultry blues numbers, this is a rare CD in which every song's a winner. Highly recommended for any jazz lover's personal collection!

I absolutely love it. Lavay Smith and Chries Siebert are really great at getting it right: their music is the real deal. Really swinging, really soulful, great solos, and of course very nicely recorded, mixed, and mastered. They're really successful at doing what I'm attempting to do: play these old styles of music in a really genuine way; genuine in the sense that it's true to the idiom, but also in the sense that it sounds fresh and full of the vim and the energy that has always been so vital to this music but which many modern re-creationist bands entirely miss.

The first two albums were good , but this one is great.
Miss Smith just keeps getting more beautiful with every album photo cover she graces........jp

This disc is just as good as Miss Thing, however, after so long a wait I was hoping for more. Perhaps this assessment is unfair because it is certainly a very good album.