Isabel Smith is a Los Angeles based  jazz vocalist, pianist in Los Angeles and music educator with a love for swing and the Great American Songbook.

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She grew up playing violin and piano before finding her way to singing, and later studied music at UC Berkeley. In 2016, she started Strada Swing, named after the little café outside Berkeley’s music building, which was originally inspired by her love of French Gypsy jazz. 

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Her sound is warm, playful, and light, and she especially loves the freedom and spontaneity of improvisation. She draws inspiration from the great jazz singers like Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan, along with the understated charm of Blossom Dearie. Her repertoire moves between the Great American Songbook, bossa nova, and French jazz.

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Varnish Music Director Marc Gasway described her this way: “There’s a lot of magic in Isabel Smith’s voice. She has a lithe, rounded tone... She thinks like an instrumentalist because she is one.”

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