Emma Smith & Strings

Emma is without question one of the leading Jazz vocalists of her generation, singing with a poise and facility that many singers twice her age would kill for. She is a third-generation Jazz musician, her grandfather Chris Smith Senior played trombone with Tubby Hayes, Oscar Peterson and Frank Sinatra, her father, trumpeter Chris Smith Jnr, writes and arranges for the likes of the BBC Big Band, and her mother, Simone, is an excellent sax player. So not too surprising then that she did her first gig when she was 14, started performing with NYJO when she was 15 and received a scholarship to the Purcell School of Music when she was 16 - the first ever jazz vocal student to do so. She is now a regular performer in many of London’s top jazz venues, singing her impressive original songs (as featured on her brilliant debut CD, The Huntress) with some classic Jazz standards too. Tonight Emma will be bringing her latest project that not only features her great trio led by pianist Rob Barron (Wed 28th) but also the wonderful Anoushka String Quartet. This promises to be a very special gig from a truly exceptional young talent. Highly recommended.

" audiences will hear a singer who has absorbed Billie, Ella, Ernestine Anderson, looks the part, carries the phrase, inhabits the song and communicates it to the manner born.” LondonJazz News;
“An astonishingly mature performance...Exceptional agility” The Times;
"... A precocious talent who has produced an exceptional debut album" All About Jazz