Elaine A. Small
Musician
Singer, Performer
Elaine A. Small, singing under the name of Elaine Steele, fashioned a successful career as a chanteuse in the mid – 1960s. To quote the Toronto Star, Small gained recognition as “…one of the best supper club singers in Canada…”
“Elaine Small’s voice sounds warm and genuine, with hints of Ella Fitzgerald in her lower range. That is a compliment I do not throw around casually, because in my mind, Ella was the ultimate vocalist. Perhaps the accumulated wisdom and experience of her years make her performances more grounded. There is a delightful poignancy to hearing her sing ‘You Make Me Feel So Young’. What strikes me is how the communication of text is so natural in Elaine’s singing. I believe that she feels what she is singing.” David Reed – CD Junkie, Music Critic, The Belleville Intelligencer
Small’s album, I’ll Be Seeing You is an exciting collection offered in a Jazz-pop genre with wonderful clarity commemorating the resilient sounds and lyrics from the Great American Songbook which make up Elaine’s verdant musical memories. These songs are the driving force of her award winning book, Priests in the Attic, a candid memoir centered in Toronto during the ’60s and ’70s–a tale of high profile careers and the influence of songs first heard in the crib, so emotionally moving, they refuse to die.
Her second Album/CD All or Nothing at All, featured two double Juno Award winners in Guido Basso and Robi Botos, along with Brian Barlow, Scott Alexander, Michael Francis and Roly Platt.
Also an author, Small admits her first love is music. About her local music recordings, she states, “It is a true thrill to finally have the opportunity to record a professional CD with Canada’s top jazz musicians: Guido Basso, Brian Barlow, Mark Eisenman and Scott Alexander.”