“Let the Good Times Roll” sings legendary Keely Smith in her unruffled, cool style. “What did you think, I’d be an old f...in’  broad up here! I am old, but from here down I’m not (with expletive hand motion). So it is when you’ve reached that certain age (80 she told us) and what’s in your brain is on your tongue. It’s one of the perks of endurance. Keely, half Cherokee half Irish, is part of the undisputed Las Vegas royalty, Louis Prima and Keely Smith, rulers in the 1950s. She was also Sinatra, Basie, Presley and JFK’s favorite.  Tony Bennett went on record naming her one of the greatest pop-jazz singers of all time.  Quite a lot of accolades to live up to and she does!

From the silky, smooth “How Deep Is the Ocean,” the hot and spicy Louis Prima signature songs “Jump Jive and Wail” and “Just a Gigolo” as well as “You Go To My (ma) Head,” it’s almost reminiscent of listening to Smith back when. Her voice is still youthful, moving easily up and down the scales. Someone down front talks to her and she says “No, I’m not Kate Smith” as she laughs at the mistaken identity.

She sang just what the admiring audience wanted to hear, backed by her six piece incredible band led by son-in-law and long time conductor/arranger Dennis Michaels on piano. With sax and trumpet wailing on several of the songs, along with plunkin’ guitar, Keely puts her own brand on “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” “How Sweet It Is to be Loved By You” and favorites “I Wish You Love” (with sweet flute accompaniment) and “Old Black Magic.”

Admittedly, she loves to eat as she checks out the ringside tables to ask if what the patrons are gobbling down is good or stops a waitress walking by the stage to see what she’s serving and quips “I’m so hungry!” But more than food, she loves men!  Someone yells out “I love you, Keely” and she says “But you’re taken; is everybody in here taken?” or, “As I’ve gotten older, I just love younger men!”  There’s little doubt that this lady is looking!  She says she used to think that Louis Prima was the most handsome man until she divorced him and realized he was ugly. She’s filled with stories, especially those with double entendre. That autobiography she’s been writing should be pretty close to completion by now and we can’t wait!

Keely Smith is performing at Birdland through June 8^th with 2 shows nightly at 8:30 pm and 11:00 pm.  If you haven’t had the pleasure, don’t miss her!

Sandi Durell
Cabaret Scenes
June 3, 2008
www.cabaretscenes.org