If the bubbly vibes Emma Smith exudes over the phone are anything to go by, we’re in for a treat when she comes over here from the UK for her Hot Jazz nationwide tour from January 6-13.
Some know just what they are going to do for a living from an early age. Some just go with the flow, while others manage it against odds of varying sizes. Mind you, it’s not that Smith exactly had to come out with all guns blazing to achieve her ambition of becoming a jazz vocalist but she says her parents would have been happier – at least initially – had she settled for a more comfortable way of making ends meet.
Nevertheless, she got down and dirty, learned the ropes, paid her dues, and honed her singing and performing skills to the nth degree. Local audiences will get that, in spades, when Smith comes over to entertain – with a capital E – jazz fans up and down the country as the centerpiece of the forthcoming Hot Jazz series installment.
Following in the footsteps
For Smith, there’s also an intriguing interdenominational twist to her entertaining offerings. “I get to sing all these Jewish composers who wrote all the best Christmas songs,” she laughs. “Jewish composers wrote the most famous Christmas songs. “White Christmas” is Irving Berlin. “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire” was written by Mel Tormé.” The latter, best known for his silky crooning, had a Jewish father. “I am very proud of the Jewish lineage, generally in the Great American Songbook, and therefore jazz and, specifically, in the Christmas jazz idiom. Anyway, Jesus was Jewish, and so was Irving Berlin. So, we’re the best.”
We? That immediately begged a personal question. “Are you Jewish?” I inquire of Ms. Smith. “Yes, I am,” she chuckles. “My mother’s maiden name was Cohen.” Indeed, what’s in a name? “I couldn’t be more Jewish if I tried,” adds the 33-year-old singer.
All of which makes her even keener to strut her stuff over here. It’s a somewhat overdue local debut, she explained.
“I have visited Israel many times before [on vacation] but I was meant to be performing there with a group called Postmodern Jukebox,” she explains, referencing the New York-based collective that has made waves over the past decade or so for its entertaining reworking of contemporary numbers into various vintage genres, such as swing-style jazz. “It is essentially today’s hits with yesterday’s style,” Smith puts it succinctly. That is pretty much her own line, too.
The Postmodern Jukebox circuit was scuppered by the war in Gaza but it’s enabling Smith to break out on her own, backed by longtime collaborator, guitarist and musical director Denny Ilett. Also on board for the trip are Dutch trumpeter-vocalist Michael Varekamp, a repeat participant in the Hot Jazz venture over the years, and a home-based rhythm section in the shape of pianist Yonatan Riklis, bassist Asaf Hakimi, and drummer Yonatan Rosen. IN FACT, Smith didn’t have much choice when it came to her career path. The odds of her becoming, say, an accountant or lawyer, were genetically stacked against her. “I’ve been doing this job since I was 15 years old,” she says. It was, basically, a matter of just going with the pedigree flow. “I am from a family of jazz musicians. My grandfather played with Frank Sinatra for 20 years. He played trombone in a big band on many of the tours. He did a Las Vegas residency with Frank and with Sammy Davis Jr.” Smith’s usage of Sinatra’s given name suggested a sense of acquired intimacy with Ol’ Blue Eyes. Sort of stands to reason.
The ancestral A-lister roll call goes on. “My grandfather also played with Shirley Bassey and Barbra Streisand and Oscar Peterson.” For Smith, the latter legendary jazz pianist is the jewel in the backdrop crown. “For me, Oscar Peterson is my Desert Island Discs. I couldn’t live without the music that he made.” For uninitiated non-Brits, Desert Island Discs is a radio program, which first aired in 1942, that hosts well-known guest “castaways” who choose eight audio recordings, a book, and one luxury item they would take with them if they were to find themselves marooned in some remote location.
There’s more to the genetic rhythm section. “My dad is a trumpet player and a composer. He has worked as a resident [musician] with the BBC, on Friday Night Is Music Night [radio program which ran from 1953 to 2023] for many years. My mum is an alto [saxophone] player, and she played with big bands from a very young age. It’s the whole family. I have cousins who play trumpet and my brother is a guitarist.”
Having set out on her musical path at such a young age, Smith has steadfastly stuck to her chosen task. She attended the Purcell School of Music, the oldest specialist music school in the UK. “I was the first ever jazz singer to go there,” she notes with more than a hint of pride. That was followed by a stint at an even more prestigious educational establishment. “I went to the Royal Academy of Music and did a jazz course there. I was one of the first singers to go there.”
SHE TOOK her high-level training straight into the spotlight as she embarked on a busy career that has seen her spar with Canadian crooner Michael Bublé as a member of the Puppini Sisters trio. “It was a dream gig that most artists can only imagine,” says Smith. It was also tailored to her own predilection for yesteryear numbers. Bublé’s renditions of beloved standards like “White Christmas,” “For Once in My Life,” and “Come Fly With Me” have earned him legions of fans across the globe. And there is a whole slew of big names that have benefited from Smith’s vocal gifts and joie de vivre, including Cindi Lauper, Robbie Williams, and Seal.
Her internship duly done, it was time for Smith to step out into the limelight to do her very own thing. The Hot Jazz crowd will get mostly blues-based fare but Smith’s Meshuga Baby debut album, which came out last year, is a joyous, high-octane blast from the Jewish past that could get anyone merrily grooving and boogying.
Smith makes no apologies for her sunny disposition and intent. “Meshuga Baby has done really well in the jazz idiom. I was so proud that something so Yiddish is a very proud statement of my heritage whilst being very swinging and very ingrained in the jazz tradition. It’s a marriage of both of them. That’s where I exist as an artist.”
That’s entertainment!
For tickets and more information: (03) 573-3001 and eng.hotjazz.co.il