After a couple of releases as the side project The Secret Six, the musicians in the Smoking Time Jazz Club are back with their effervescent lead vocalist Sarah Peterson on a new collection of traditional-minded blues and jazz. The music reaches back into the deepest depths of the age-old sounds. It’s the band’s first album since November 2020.

As with all the band’s releases, they provide information about the songs’ origins and helpfully provide listeners with their favorite version of each song. None of the cuts came out after 1940 and most date back to the 1920s.

The album opens with “Dreaming the Hours Away” and clarinetist Jory Woodis is the first soloist to get to show off his chops before the vocals even come in. Peterson’s voice is sweet and refined as she soars on the chorus. A single note banjo solo follows, before Woodis brings it home.

However, as with many of the tunes on this album, it doesn’t end there—more solos and a bridge follow all within four minutes. The songs have multipart arrangements demonstrating both the tightness of this ensemble and the complexity of the Smoking Time Jazz Club’s ageless melodies.

Some of the cuts will be familiar to even the most casual traditional jazz fans, particularly Jelly Roll Morton’s “Don’t You Leave Me Here” and “High Society,” which was famed Creole clarinetist Alphonse Picou’s signature number.

Leader and bassist John Joyce brings an infectious energy to Blind Boy Fuller’s “Step It Up and Go.” His lead vocals and the repeated background chorus compel a sing-along and I suspect a packed dance floor. Trombonist Charlie Halloran leads the horns down the homestretch in just over two and half minutes. I’m out of breath just writing that.

I have reviewed several other recordings from these musicians in various aggregations and though they are prolific, Smoking Time Jazz Club are never careless with this music. This album provides more riches to savor.