I can sum up Stacey Kent’s concert last night at L’Olympia in two words: Intelligent Jazz.
Intelligence was the word running through my mind all as I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of this perfect evening of musical bliss. Stacey Kent has all the essential elements of a remarkable jazz singer: great song choices, unique phrasing, a strong, flawless quartet accompanying her, and most important of all, a smooth, effortless, honey-dripped voice. But her thoughtfulness in every word, gesture, and song is what makes her special.
She opened with a song that I love that is rarely performed, “So Many Stars”, so right away I was sold.
Petite and gamin-like with short cropped hair and an elegant, simple black dress, she reminded me of the genre of what I call the quiet, classy, white singers from the 1950’s & 60’s that included Anita O’Day, Irene Kral and Blossom Dearie, whos style contrasted the bolder scat styles of Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, and Betty Carter.
Another trademark of a great singer is the ability to seamlessly switch song genres and styles, and she went from sexy “Samba Saravah”, to a quirky “Show Me” from “My Fair Lady”, to Stevie Nicks “Landslide”, to a breathy French version of “I Wish You Love”, effortlessly. Most of the selections were from her new “Breakfast on a Morning Tram” CD, and she sang some original songs that her husband and saxophonist Jim Tomlinson wrote with Kazuo Ishiguro, including “ The Ice Hotel”, a smart, romantic ballad destined to be a standard.
The crowd loved her as much as I did and at the end of the concert, after an eternity of thunderous applause, she graciously sang four more specialties for her encore.
The now meaningless and mundane “What a Wonderful World”, overused as an anthem in commercials selling beer and diuretics, was transformed into a reflective, poetic ballad and it made me rediscover the beauty of the song.
Stacey Kent, you have a major new fan.
Here are some sample tracks from the CD. Enjoy!
The Ice Hotel
Samba Saravah
What a Wonderful World
I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour
includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.
I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.
Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com
Thanks for introducing me to this wonderful voice. I've ordered the CD.
Posted by: Stu | October 24, 2007 at 05:12 PM