Smooth sounds filled with feeling

Pauline Wilson was the lead singer in one of the significant but now nearly forgotten groups of the ‘70s, Seawind. Initially based in Hawaii, then Los Angeles, the band pioneered many of the elements that became essential to the emergence of smooth jazz.

Wilson, who won a Grammy in 1979 for “Friends,” her duet with George Benson, has worked during the past two decades primarily as a session artist, surfacing as a solo act in 1994 with her album “Intuition” and, more recently, “Tribute.”

On Thursday, despite a too-brief performance at La Ve Lee, she affirmed that she is a singer with the mature musicality and inherent jazz abilities to merit wider attention.

Her feeling-filled rendering of “Good Morning, Heartache,” followed by the buoyant, pop-jazz rhythms of “Rio de Janeiro Blues,” were fine efforts by a first-rate vocal talent.

Although Wilson was billed as the headliner, at least half the set was devoted to the tenor saxophone and keyboard playing of Larry Williams, an original member of Seawind who also has had a diverse career as a studio artist.

For this performance, however, he chose to take a more upfront musical role. Nothing wrong with that, since Williams is an articulate saxophonist and a proficient keyboard artist.

But his domination of most of the performing space unfortunately diminished the vocal presence of Wilson, as well as the solo opportunities for two of his gifted musical associates, guitarist Larry Koonse and bassist Dave Carpenter.