Published on Sep 24, 2017
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
Saturday, January 16, 2016
Stacey Kent "Tenderly" CD Release Celebration
Birdland
315 West 44th St, New York, NY, 10036
http://birdlandjazz.com/
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Critically acclaimed, Grammy®-nominated singer Stacey Kent sings from the soul, telling her stories with faultless phrasing and a lucid, enchanting voice. Her new CD release, “Tenderly,” is a collaboration with Brazilian music master Robert Menescal and follow-up to ”Marcos Valle & Stacey Kent Live.” Stacey's previous Brazilian-flavored CD, “The Changing Lights,” (EMI) was a follow-up to “Dreamer In Concert,” the Grammy nominated, “Breakfast on the Morning Tram,” (2007) and all-French, “Raconte-moi,” (2009). Throughout her career, Stacey’s band has featured Jim Tomlinson (sax) whose songwriting partnership with famed novelist Kazuo Ishiguro has formed another essential plank in her repertoire.
Monday, December 8, 2014
Interview: Stacey Kent
Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com
Next Tuesday, singer Stacey Kent will begin a five-night stay at New York's Birdland with the legendary bossa nova singer-songwriter Marcos Valle and his band from Brazil. The Birdland run is being produced by Pat Philips and Ettore Stratta. For those not in the know, Marcos was part of the generation that followed Antonio Carlos Jobim, Luiz Bonfá, João Gilberto and Vinicius de Moraes in the early 1960s and the composer of dozens of hit songs, among them Summer Samba (So Nice); Chup, Chup, I Got Away; The Answer; Crickets Sing For Anamaria; She Told Me, She Told Me and so many others.
Stacey, of course, is a jazz singer with a singular voice. After spending her early career studying and performing in London, she was championed by critic and jazz trumpeter Humphrey Lyttelton, and she won the 2001 British Jazz Award and the 2002 BBC Jazz Award for Best Vocalist. In October, Stacey and Marcos released a terrific new live album in the States—Ao Vivo (Sony), which features Jim on tenor sax.
So in advance of their gig next week, I asked Stacey a handful of questions. Her answers may surprise you. Tomorrow, I will feature my similar chat with Marcos:
JazzWax: How did you and Marcos meet?
Stacey Kent: In 2011, a Brazilian TV producer who was putting on a concert in Rio called. He invited me and Jim [Tomlinson], my husband and tenor saxophonist, to come down and perform with Marcos Valle. I had recorded Marcos' So Nice on an album of Jim’s in 2003 [Brazilian Sketches] and we had seen Marcos perform in London, but we had never met him. The producer said that Marcos had recently heard my French album, Raconte-moi, on the radio, bought it and had become a fan of mine.
Upon arrival in Rio a day before the concert, we went to Marcos' house for a rehearsal. That evening, the chemistry was instantaneous. Jim and I and Marcos and his singer-wife, Patricia, stayed up until almost sunrise. We talked and played and sang, and by the end of the session we all felt we had known each other for years.
After our song together at the concert that evening, Marcos had to leave immediately for the airport. Backstage, we hugged good-bye and he pointed to me and said, “Sabe, temos que repetir isso!” ("You know, we have to do this again!") "Yes, we do," I said.
JW: How did the idea for the album come up?
SK: Three weeks later, after Jim and I had returned to our home in Colorado, Marcos emailed me. He said he had found some tour dates and that Jim [above, with Stacey] and I should return to Brazil in the spring to tour with him and his band. Jim and I had only one week free, which miraculously coincided with the dates Marcos had in mind. A few days later, Marcos called. He said that 2013 was going to be his 50th year in the music business and that he and Patricia were kicking around ways to mark the occasion, like recording a CD of songs he had written over the last 50 years. Marcos said that in addition to a tour, he wondered if we would like to record with him live on the road to celebrate the milestone. He didn't have to ask twice.
JW: I noticed the album was released last year.
SK: Yes, it came out last year in Brazil and Japan. Now it's being released in the States. It was nominated for an award at the annual MPB Awards—Brazil's Grammy equivalent—and hit #1 on the iTunes and pop charts there. The cover photo was taken on our balcony at our home in the Colorado Rockies. Marcos suggested we pose in the snow. I loved the idea of Marcos, a Carioca surfer, in a winter wonderland. So exotic.
JW: How does Marcos’ music make you feel when you’re singing it?
SK: Marcos has an unbelievable gift for melody. He's such a romantic composer. He has a tender and generous heart, and I love how romantic he is. Mix this with his love of a great groove and you wind up with special music. Marcos has such a range of musical styles, so this album isn't just one feeling or mood. I'm on a journey of emotions here.
But this feeling goes beyond just singing his songs. I love singing with him on duets. He has such a sweet and pure voice. Like a dancer, he's also a great leader. Let me try and give you an example of what I mean. Marcos asked if I would consider singing his Viola Enluarada (1968). Now, for an American singer to take on such a song isn't easy. This isn't any old song. It's a song that stands as one of Brazil's anthems—a love song that's also disguised to be critical of Brazil's military dictatorship at the time. So many Brazilian composers were doing this then. I knew Marcos' version with Milton Nascimento as well as Dori Caymmi's exquisite rendition. So I was reluctant to take on the song and sing it live on stage in Brazil, in front of Brazilians. It's too sacred a song on so many levels.
But Marcos convinced me I should, that it would be beautiful. I trust Marcos, so I agreed. He came up with this sublime arrangement. He also sang it with me. I will never forget the feeling when we rehearsed it for the first time. I start the song and he eventually joins me mid-way and sings a harmony line behind me, not of the words but a gentle yet so powerful "ah" behind me. I immediately started to cry but I had to keep singing. He brings me to tears on this song every time. I have to suppress the lump in my throat. It is quite simply one of the most beautiful musical feelings I have ever experienced. Oh, I forgot to mention that when you sing this song in Brazil, Brazilians join in, which also is indescribable. A very humbling and human experience.
JW: What surprised you most about Marcos’s chord voicings and harmony lines?
SK: Let me give you an example: His If You Went Away—it's like chamber music, all done on the breath. When we perform the song, he doesn't take his eyes off me. He is listening and watching so he breathes at the piano when I breathe. Those silences and suspended moments are delicious. We both totally look forward to this magical moment each time we perform it.
On every song we sing, Marcos shadows the melody, but I always feel I have the space to sing where and how I want. It's astonishing how closely he can follow me. It's like having somebody walk right behind you, but not crowd you—completely in sync. We share so much in common, so musically we are a great fit.
JW: Are you fluent in Portuguese—or did you write out lyrics to songs phonetically?
SK: I speak Portuguese fluently. For me, I could never write out words phonetically and sing them. Poetry is something I need to internalize and feel. I can't be thinking about the words from a linguistic point of view, when it's such a visceral experience.
Used with permission by Marc Myers
read more: http://www.jazzwax.com/2014/12/interview-stacey-kent.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Jazzwax+%28JazzWax%29
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Who is Stacey Kent....
The story of Stacey Kent's rise to international fame reads like a Hollywood script.
An American language student visits Europe to study French, Italian and German for a Masters degree in comparative literature. Her life takes an unexpected twist that sees Stacey Kent become one of the world's foremost jazz singers.
Stacey, a recent addition to the Blue Note roster of recording artists, now boasts seven best-selling albums including Breakfast on the Morning Tram (2007) and The Boy Next Door (2003) both of which achieved Gold status, a string of awards, including the 2001 British Jazz Award and 2002 BBC Jazz Award for 'Best Vocalist,' the 2004 Backstage Bistro Award for best live performance and the 2006 "Album of the Year" for Jim Tomlinson's album, 'The Lyric' on which she was the featured vocalist, as well as a fan base that enables her to sell out concert halls around the world.
Her new Blue Note release, 'Breakfast On The Morning Tram' (Blue Note 2007) features four original songs, including the title track, written especially for Stacey by Jim Tomlinson and acclaimed novelist, Kazuo Ishiguro, as well as a selection of French chansons and choice standards. Since its release in September 2007, it has remained at the top of the French jazz chart as well as holding its own in the top 20 of the general album charts. Its release around the world is sure to mirror this success.
The twist of fate that took her life in this new direction was a chance meeting in Oxford with saxophonist, Jim Tomlinson. Like Stacey, Jim was embarked on an academic path, but their meeting sparked in each other the desire to pursue their love of music together. After a year's study at the Guildhall School of Music, Stacey set about honing her skills on the London scene in the company of, now husband, Jim Tomlinson.
A demo tape, sent simultaneously to Polygram, Candid Records and broadcaster, Humphrey Lyttelton, secured her a role in Ian McKellen's film version of Richard III, a recording contract and national airplay and endorsement from Britain's most respected jazz broadcaster.
Since the release of Stacey's first album, Close Your Eyes (1997), she has achieved, without compromise, both critical and popular success, with her fresh and heart-felt interpretations of the finest love songs of the twentieth century. But it was a feature on CBS Sunday Morning in 1999 that gave Stacey national exposure in the USA and brought her to wider recognition. Since then, her career has become truly international and she has performed at major festivals and concert halls from Taipei’s Chiang Kai-shek Concert Hall to Carnegie Hall to Paris' famed Olympia.
Stacey's admirers are not limited to the loyal fans that buy her albums and pack out her concerts. Best-selling crime writer, John Harvey, has Stacey sing, if only fictionally, in his latest novel, Still Water. A track from her third album, Let Yourself Go, was selected by novelist, Kazuo Ishiguro, on his appearance on Desert Island Discs on BBC Radio. It was this event that led Kent, Ishiguro and Tomlinson towards the song-writing collaboration that features this new album.
Clint Eastwood invited Stacey to sing at his 70th birthday party, Michael Parkinson invited Stacey to sing on his television show, as did Sir David Frost, who asked her to join him one Sunday morning, to sing a song and review the morning papers with him on "Breakast with Frost" and Aerosmith's Steven Tyler , in a recent interview, listed Stacey, alongside Willie Nelson, as being among his favourite singers.
Most tellingly perhaps, Stacey is appreciated by the writers of the songs she sings.
Three-time Oscar-winning songwriter, Jay Livingston, wrote of her, "Stacey Kent is a revelation. There is nobody singing today who can compare with her. She has the style of the greats, like Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald. And she sings the words like Nat Cole - clean, clear and almost conversational with perfect phrasing. And that's as good as it gets."
If there is one theme that runs through Stacey's music, it is that of romance. Stacey is herself an avowed romantic, and the songs she sings are timeless stories that touch young and old alike, fulfilling a desire for sophisticated love songs that is not catered to by today's pop music industry. She receives fan mail from people of all ages and nationalities and, in an age where music is more likely to divide than unite the generations, it is quite common for three generations of the same family to attend her concerts.
This romanticism is best demonstrated on the award winning recording with Jim Tomlinson, 'The Lyric ... featuring Stacey Kent' (Token 0501). It is the most complete collaboration between Stacey and husband, Jim. On this album, Jim’s saxophone and Stacey’s voice achieve a level of empathy only hinted at on earlier recordings. As the New York Times’, Stephen Holden put it, “Sometimes the chemistry between musicians and the chemistry of love get all tangled up in wonderful ways. When watching the jazz singer Stacey Kent make music with her husband, the tenor saxophonist Jim Tomlinson, it is easy to imagine yourself eavesdropping on intimate pillow talk by besotted partners in a luxury suite atop some faraway pop-jazz Olympus.”
Her new latest album, Breakfast On The Morning Tram, hints at a more confessional side to Stacey's artistic persona. This is a more complete, personal and mature expression of feeling than Kent has delivered on any of her previous recordings.
It is not easy to account for Stacey's success and she herself remains characteristically coy. What is sure is that Stacey has a voice that grabs you. It demands to be listened to and yet never draws attention to itself. As her new collaborator, Ishiguro put it in his liner notes to her 2002 album, In Love Again, "In song after song, we find a route to the emotional heart of the music without first having to admire her technique." Stacey's natural and unaffected delivery allows the craft of the songwriters, whose work she performs, to shine through. She has an appeal that transcends category.
WHAT THE PAPERS SAY ABOUT BREAKFAST ON THE MORNING TRAM
"thoroughly captivating...(Kent's) voice has a startling clarity, turning phrase after phrase with subtlety and an impeccable feel for the music." - BILLBOARD
"a unique and pleasurable listening experience that’s easy on the ears and just right for whatever mood." - JAZZIZ
"the true brilliance of Breakfast on the Morning Tram lies in Kent’s whip-smart interpretations of four originals with music by Tomlinson and lyrics from a surprising source, Kazuo Ishiguro... a marvelously inventive launching pad for this bold, brave new Kent."
- JAZZ TIMES
"full marks" - SUNDAY TIMES
"devastatingly stylish...a beauty in any circumstances" - THE OBSERVER
"a delight" - THE GUARDIAN
"Her voice is sometimes a whisper, sometimes a confiding murmur, sometimes an exhilarated exclamation; but whatever the idiom or the mood, individual listeners frequently feel that Stacey’s music was intended for their ears only." - BANG & OLUFSEN MAGAZINE
"Stacey's best album yet ... if stars were awarded to music here, I'd definitely give it five" - JAZZ RAG“
http://www.staceykent.com/bio0.html
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Stacey Kent....
I was reading today about the TIM FESTIVAL 2008 and I came across in the middle bands with the name of Stacey Kent. Curious as a singer of jazz ago I went to hear the sound - of course neither could be different. Stacey is one of the first attractions confirmed for the festival.
Stacey Kent has a discography seen since 1997. The album "Breakfast on the Tramway" is the latest of the singer. His album "The Lyric (2005)," won the award for "Album of the Year by the BBC Jazz Awards.
Musically speaking Stacey has a soft voice, the instrumental album that is excellent, a perfect combination. In this album adventure Stacey is also the Bossa Nova - in music - "Samba Saravah" Poewell of Baden and Vinicius de Moraes - detail the music is sung in French. Another song that I drew much attention was the version that Stacey did for "What A Wonderful World" - just perfect for her and different way of cantar.O that imprecionou me most was that the instrumetal. The track "The Ice Hotel" has already shown the whole quality of musicians that accompany Stacey Kent, they are: Graham Harvey (Piano), John Parricelli (guitar), Dave Chamberlain (Bass), Matt Skelton (drums and percussion) and Kim Tomlinson (Tenor saxophone, alto and soprano and flute).
Finally, for those who never heard Stacey Kent I recommend.
Credit > http://www.jazzerock.com/
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