Long time favorites of the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers are proof positive that dance-inducing music never goes out of style. A leading force in the swing music revival of the 1990s, Smith and her scalding Skillet Lickers earned international renown interpreting West Coast jump blues, Kansas City swing, and Depression-era torch songs without a hint of nostalgia. Most of her peers on the swing bandwagon have long since jumped overboard, but Smith is still going strong because she continually finds tunes ripe for blues-inflected interpretation, whether exploring the songbook of Duke Ellington or Patsy Cline. Led by pianist and arranger Chris Siebert, the Skillet Lickers feature some of the best musicians on the scene, including trombonist Danny Armstrong and drummer Howard Wiley.

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