G.E. Smith & The Saturday Night Live Band “Get a Little”: Liberty

At last. This album answers the question that’s undoubtedly occurred to anyone who’s watched “Saturday Night Live” in the past eight years: Sure, the house band is great, but don’t they know any songs longer than 20 seconds?

Actually, it’s no great surprise that guitarist Smith and his cohorts do indeed keep the sparks flying for up to six minutes at a stretch on their album debut. For in addition to their duties playing the “SNL” theme and those 20-second interludes between skits and commercials, they’ve also been the backup band for guest artists from Annie Lennox and Anita Baker to Randy Newman.

Eight of the 10 tunes are written by Smith. In the four instrumentals, there’s nothing in the way of a big-band sound that’s as fat and juicy as a New York steak.

The moods range from uptown Chicago blues (the title track) to New Orleans second-line funk (“Fattenin’ Frogs for Snakes”) to a diary-like folk confessional (“Forgotten Songs”).

On the six songs with vocals, Smith handles duties at the mike. He’s not going to make anyone forget about B.B. King, or even Robert Cray, but he musters a decently slurpy Dr. John growl in his ode to the low-down blues, “Might As Well Get Drunk.”

The rest of the time, his singing serves primarily as a link between instrumental choruses. Rightly so, for this crack outfit can just about do it all. It’s high time this band got a little--undivided attention, that is.