Jamie Leo is a wild haired soul-songstress from Stevenage.  ‘Mr Smooth’ is her first release on the urban friendly Seventy Recordings, and is a slice of soul-funk suitable for fans of Estelle, Brand New Heavies and early Winehouse.


The Mr Smooth of the title is not, it transpires, a sleaze-ball with his eyes only on the prize, but a guy that despite being a slick talking type wid da laydeez with a ‘charm in his ways’,is faithful to Jamie.  He sounds like a thoroughly
agreeable type with ‘brown eyes..brown skin, half Cuban’, so its nice to hear
he’s being a good boy and keeping everything locked up.  ‘Love Is A Losing Game’ it ain’t.

 
A great bass line propels the track throughout, with a smattering of guitar licks that would be comfortable in the smokiest of jazz clubs.   There’s an interesting dichotomy at play in the track; on the one hand its airwaves
friendly, but one can’t thinking it would be best suited to being watched on a
small stage at 1 am on a Sunday morning, accompanied by a glass of something strong and the object of your affections sitting near by.

  
Early Winehouse fans, those who were on board before the Blake debacle, should look her up, as should anyone with an affinity for the word ‘sultry.’  With the clutch of females currently dominating the music scene, there is definitely a place amongst Lily, Florence, Amy, Adele et al for an artist with a more explicitly funk orientated direction.  Jamie Leo may well be that person.

Posted In Single Reviews, Jun 07 2009. Words - Emma