Following her split with husband and creative partner
Louis Prima, vocalist
Keely Smith signed with
Frank Sinatra's Reprise Records for a series of finely curated and well-received albums designed to showcase her voice and relaunch her career. The first of these, 1963's
Little Girl Blue/Little Girl New, featured arrangements by
Sinatra's longtime collaborator, the illustrious
Nelson Riddle, and was conceptualized in two parts with Side A, "Little Girl Blue," featuring ballads and Side B, "Little Girl New," focusing on more upbeat numbers. The result was a tour de force of an album that presented
Smith as the solo star she deserved to be -- and which
Sinatra had known she could be for many years prior. Thankfully, as per all of
Sinatra's Reprise contracts, the artists kept the rights to the master recordings, which is where they remained until
Smith struck her own deal with Real Gone Music for a series of reissues, including this 2017 expanded edition of
Little Girl Blue/Little Girl New. Though she had recorded solo albums for Dot during her years with
Prima, she had been somewhat overshadowed by the kitschy, flamboyant tone (and Grammy-winning success) of their performances, which often found her playing the cheeky straight man to her trumpeter husband's swing-era clown. Afforded far greater freedom on
Sinatra's label, she was presented on
Little Girl Blue/Little Girl New as an urbanely sophisticated hipster and a clarion diva in the mold of such similarly inclined contemporaries as
June Christy,
Anita O'Day, and
Kay Starr. Cuts like her yearning take on "Here's That Rainy Day" and her languorously sensual reading of "I'll Never Be the Same Again" reveal her as a mature and knowing performer in contrast to the lighter, more comedic tone of her work with
Prima. That said, she can still knock 'em dead as she does on the latter half of the album, her highly resonant voice slicing through uptempo swinger's like "I'm Gonna Live 'til I Die" and "I've Got a Lot of Livin' to Do." Ultimately, listening to
Smith and her pointed yet dusky, golden-toned voice pouring out of
Riddle's shimmering, sky-blue arrangements, one can easily see why
Sinatra jumped at the chance to work with her. ~ Matt Collar