Long a force to be reckoned with on the legit jazz scene, Broadway/jazz lady Lea DeLaria leaps to the next level with the release of her hottest album to date, The Live Smoke Sessions on Ghostlight Records. Among the pleasures of listening to the versatile DeLaria is the intimacy with which she conveys her musical ideas. And, typically, this gutsy artist with the silky voice kicks everything up a notch on timeless standards from Porter’s “Miss Otis Regrets” to contemporary composer Michael John LaChiusa’s “Puff” on this live album recorded at Smoke Jazz Club. Other serious cuts include a dizzying “Down with Love” (Arlen/Harburg) with echoes of Anita O’Day at her zenith and a languid “You Don’t Know What Love Is” (Raye/DePaul) placing her in a league with Abby Lincoln.

It’s all brilliantly backed by a sizzling band with mind-boggling solo riffs led by Gil Goldstein on piano with Brit singer Ian Shaw guesting on two cuts. Generating strong industry buzz, the album debuted as a collector’s item by a master interpreter of old- fashioned jazz.

Heretofore, she has eschewed reinventing classic songs and done her own thing quite brilliantly as evidenced by her previous CDs. Here, she helped arrange and mix everything. The result is her strongest entry to date with a classy album that is bound to get a lot of attention.

John Hoglund
Cabaret Scenes
November 2008
www.cabaretscenes.org