Positively Entertainment - A bright star in Portland just got brighter
Carlee Smith has released her first CD entitled Yesterday I Said Goodbye, a soulful, funky, jazzy, R&B, get-out-of-your-chair-and-dance-your-heart-out type of album.
Smith has very long, thick, chestnut brown hair, big blue eyes, a strong, clear, beautiful voice and a huge heart and soul for R&B; all wrapped in a tiny, gorgeous, voluptuous body.
Smith’s accomplishment is great and so is her focus. It’s her 10-year goal to record a quality CD under her name. This year, after spending nine months in production, it’s here. And it’s good. Real good.
Smith is in great voice and her energy is right where it needs to be
for R&B. Control, tone, breath, it’s all hers (after many
years of practicing classical scales). Now the proof of a woman on
fire is evident in this
new CD.
What is so interesting is the excellent local talent on the album. Smith has woven a beautiful musical fabric with her friendships. Guitarist supreme Jay Bird Koder and Smith go back to their teenage years, when Smith started singing with her father Carl Smith and the Natural Gas Company big band. Koder is a highly sought R&B guitarist and used to work with Curtis Salgado.
Upon recommendation from Salgado, Smith contacted songwriter Jennifer Eland. What has developed between these two talented women is another branch on the Portland Tree of Music.
Eland and Smith hooked up, hit it off and got to work on new songs. Eland co-wrote with Smith and produced the CD project. Eland also sings background and plays keys on many of the cuts. Eland is an accomplished vocalist, songwriter, pianist and recording artist on her own. She is classically trained and a beautiful blonde. What more could you want? Hey, the whole band is beautiful inside and out.
Check out the rest of the names on the CD: Peter Boe piano; Phil Baker bass; Renato Caranto sax; Joe Millward keyboards; Dave Captein bass; Zachary Barjona vocals and Andy Stokes, who sings a duet with Smith on Use Me by Bill Withers. This is a dream band and Smith deserves it.
The Yesterday I Said Goodbye CD release party in Vancouver at Bacchus on Dec. 2 was packed with longtime and new fans of Carlee Smith. The combination of a wonderful wine selection, executive chef Ralph Stuart’s coconut prawns, great music and an enthusiastic crowd were almost more than most could handle. The fun meter was broken that night and many CDs were distributed.
The CD party musicians included Smith singing her heart out, Jay Koder, guitar; Jennifer Eland, keys and vocals; Clark Bondy, sax; Carl Joiner, bass and vocals; Anthony Jone, drums and Wayne Henderson, keyboards. Not to worry if you missed the first one, Smith will be having another CD release party for Yesterday I Said Goodbye on April 2, ‘05 at Jimmy Mak’s in N.W. Portland.