“Smile” by Laura Nyro

"Smile" is the title song of Laura Nyro's sixth album, the early-1976 record that ended four years away from the music business, years in which the New York singer, songwriter and pianist married, divorced and kept well out of the spotlight. Columbia had signed her again, and she wrote this one alone, words and music, for a record she dedicated to her mother and made with Charlie Calello, the producer and arranger who had worked with her on Eli and the Thirteenth Confession in 1968.

The credits put a loose, warm little band around her here, Carter CC Colins on congas, David Friedman on vibraphone, Jeff Mironov and John Tropea on guitars, very much in keeping with the album's smooth jazz-pop and its picture of an artist savoring a slower life, well away from the glare of the press.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz.