Jazz vocalist Pauline Jean is a native New Yorker of Haitian descent. In 2007 Pauline graduated cum laude from the Berklee College of Music with a BM degree in Vocal Performance. After graduating from Berklee, Pauline returned to New York and immediately became actively involved in the music community. Pauline has been building on the classic art form of jazz by adding her own fresh approach. Her repertoire includes original compositions, unique arrangements of the standards, blues and traditional Afro-Haitian music fused with jazz. Her musical renditions are performed both in English and in her parents’ native tongue kreyòl. Pauline's velvety voice has a range from the low resonance and earthiness of the great Sarah Vaughan to the electrifying voltage of Nina Simone.
Her extraordinary performances have led her to share the stage with a variety of musicians such as Nina Simone’s percussionist Leopoldo Fleming, Randy Weston, Dave Valentin, Ted Curson, Terri Lyne Carrington, Ingrid Jensen, Miriam Sullivan, Luis Perdomo, Alvin Atkinson, Jr., Buyu Ambroise and Emeline Michel.
Pauline has been featured in many venues such as: Lincoln Center, United Nations, Scullers Jazz Club, St. Peter’s Church, Metropolitan Room, Kitano, Chelsea Art Museum, Zinc Bar, Minton's Playhouse, Cachaca, SOB’s, Sage Theater, Enzo’s Jazz Room and the Berklee Performance Center. She has also performed at the 2nd Annual Women in Jazz Festival, the JVC Jazz Festival-New York, the Haitian Jazz Festival and the St. Kitts-Nevis SAS Jazz Reggae Vibes Festival.
Her most recent successes include performing at the 44th International Pori Jazz Festival in Finland and a tribute to Nina Simone at The Cabaret at the Connoisseur Room in Indianapolis, where she was celebrated with standing ovations by an enthusiastic audience for three stellar performances.
Pauline released her debut CD A Musical Offering in June 2009. The album is stirring and best described as swingin’, bluesy and soulful. Musicians on this project include: Sharp Radway (piano), Corcoran Holt (bass), Alvin Atkinson, Jr. (drums), McClenty Hunter (drums), Markus Schwartz (percussion), Marcelo Woloski (percussion), Jean Caze (trumpet) and Thaddeus Hogarth (harmonica).
For more information about Pauline, please visit her website at www.paulinejean.com.
FOR BOOKING INQUIRIES PLEASE EMAIL: pauline@paulinejean.com
An established bandleader and prolific composer, idiomatically conversant with modern and traditional jazz, classical music, Brazilian choro, Argentine tango, and an expansive timeline of Afro-Cuban styles, Anat Cohen has established herself as one of the primary voices of her generation on both the tenor saxophone and clarinet since arriving in New York in 1999.
In September 2008, Anat Cohen released Notes From The Village, her fourth album as a leader. Recorded at Avatar studios in New York City, the album builds on Cohen's acclaimed 2007 releases, captures the thrilling energy of her live shows, and proves her to be an artistically adventurous writer and performer. Notes From The Village finds Anat leading a quartet of some of the most sought-after, engaging young performers in New York, including pianist Jason Lindner, bassist Omer Avital, and drummer Daniel Freedman, with accompaniment from guitarist Gilad Hekselman on three tracks. The album features compositions written by Cohen as well as her interpretations of songs by Fats Waller, John Coltrane, Sam Cooke and Ernesto Lecuona.
“In preparing for the recording,” says Anat “I really wanted to capture the free, risk-taking, open quality this band achieves when performing live. I also wanted to stretch my compositions, and arrangements.” Early responses to the album have been overwhelmingly positive; The New York Times’ Nate Chinen wrote that “Notes From The Village is a resounding confirmation; yes, she is the real deal”, DownBeat Magazine awarded the release four stars, stating that “Cohen makes it seem easy, mixing a gift for melody and an improvisational fluidity that has few peers today.” Anat’s previous outings, Noir and Poetica were released simultaneously in April 2007, inspiring a string of enthusiastic reviews. The Washington Post said that “Cohen has emerged as one of the brightest, most original young instrumentalists in jazz [...] [she] has expanded the vocabulary of jazz with a distinctive accent of her own.” The Village Voice spoke of her “Enviable insouciance” and how “she alludes to the mystical in a merry way,” and Downbeat magazine expressed the opinion that “Noir could be a classic” and “[Cohen’s] stately intonation and unforced elegance on clarinet could take her to the top.”
Anat has performed for audiences in New York’s Village Vanguard, Jazz Standard, Iridium, The Jazz Gallery, and the JVC Jazz Festival. She has also appeared at the Chicago Jazz Festival, Washington DC’s Kennedy Center, San Francisco’s Yoshi's, Boston’s Regattabar, the North Sea Jazz Festival, the Monterey Jazz Festival, and the Montreal Jazz Festival. Anat’s July 2007 engagement at the Village Vanguard in New York was a historic one; Anat is the first female reed player, and the first Israeli to headline at the club. Ms. Cohen’s accomplishments have been recognized in a flurry of awards and distinctions from critics and fans alike; She topped the Rising Star- Clarinet category in DownBeat Magazine’s critics poll in both 2007 and 2008, and placed prominently in a total of four categories including Rising Star Jazz Artist - where she ranked second and was the only female artist to make the list. Anat was also mentioned on DownBeat’s readers poll in 2007 and 2008. The Jazz Journalists Association named Anat Cohen Clarinetist of the Year by in both 2007 and 2008 – the first time in the history of the awards that an artist has earned top clarinet honors two years running. Noir and Poetica both appeared on many year-end best-of summary lists, including those of Paste magazine, The New York Sun, Slate, JazzTimes and others.
Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, Anat grew up with musical siblings; her older brother Yuval is himself a saxophonist of note, and her younger brother, Avishai, is one of New York’s busiest trumpeters. She began clarinet studies at age 12 and played jazz on clarinet for the first time in the Jaffa Conservatory’s Dixieland band. At 16, she joined the school’s big band and learned to play the tenor saxophone. The same year, Anat entered the prestigious “Thelma Yelin” High School for the Arts, where she majored in jazz. After graduation, she discharged her mandatory Israeli military service duty from 1993-95, playing tenor saxophone in the Israeli Air Force band. In 1996, Anat matriculated at Berklee College of Music in Boston. There she met faculty member Phil Wilson, who encouraged her to play clarinet, and other inspiring teachers such as Greg Hopkins, Ed Tomassi, Hal Crook, George Garzone, and Bill Pierce, and an elite international peer group of students.
During her Berklee years, Anat visited New York during breaks between semesters, making a beeline for Smalls to soak up the hybrid of grooves, world music and mainstream jazz that people like Jason Lindner and Omer Avital were then evolving. Back in Boston, she played tenor saxophone in a variety of musical contexts with various bands including Afro-Cuban, Argentinean, klezmer, contemporary Brazilian music and classical Brazilian choro. Anat also began her association with Sherrie Maricle’s top-shelf allwoman big band Diva Jazz Orchestra, which continued into the new millennium.
Once ensconced in New York, Anat quickly found work in various Brazilian ensembles like the Choro Ensemble and Duduka Da Fonseca’s Samba Jazz Quintet, and started performing with David Ostwald’s “Gully Low Jazz Band,” which explores the music of Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Jelly Roll Morton, Sidney Bechet and their Pan-American contemporaries. Anat documented her bona fides on her debut CD, Place and Time, one of All About Jazz-New York’s “Best Debut Albums of 2005.” On the liner notes for Notes From the Village, Ira Gitler writes “She is formidable. Long may she continue to enrich the music in myriad ways.” There is every indication that her star will continue to rise for a long time to come.
“This young musician and composer is at once reestablishing the artistic, cultural, and social tradition of jazz while creating an entirely new jazz language for the 21st century.”
--MacArthur Foundation,2008.
Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellow Miguel Zenón was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico. There, he studied classical saxophone at the famed Escuela Libre de Musica. Although Zenón was exposed to jazz while in high school, it wasn’t until he began his studies at the Berklee School of Music that his formal jazz training began. After graduating from Berklee, Zenón received a scholarship to attend Manhattan School of Music and in 2001, he received a Masters in Saxophone Performance. The distinguished list of educators he has studied with include: Angel Marrero, Leslie Lopez, Rafael Martinez, Danilo Perez, Dick Oatts, Dave Liebman, George Garzone and Bill Pierce.
In his relatively short, but rather illustrious career, Zenón has performed and/or recorded with a quite a diverse array of artists including: David Sanchez, Charlie Haden, The Village Vanguard Orchestra, Bobby Hutcherson, Bob Moses and Mozamba, The Either Orchestra, Guillermo Klein y Los Guachos, The Mingus Big Band, Jerry Gonzalez & The Fort Apache Band, Ray Barretto, and Steve Coleman, among others.
In 2004 Zenón was asked to become one of the founding members of the SF Jazz Collective; an octet whose past and present members include Joshua Redman, Bobby Hutcherson, Nicholas Payton, Joe Lovano, Dave Douglas and Brian Blade. The members, who participate in a residency period where they workshop and rehearse new music, divide their time (roughly two months) between composing, performing and teaching. The SF Jazz Collective has toured in the US, Canada, Asia, and Europe and to date, have released five critically acclaimed live recordings, garnering them a spot in the Downbeat Critic’s Poll Rising Star Small Group category in both 2006 and 2007 – an honor which, coincidentally, they shared with Zenón’s own quartet.
The Saxophonist and Composer has released four recordings as a Leader. His debut CD Looking Forward, was selected by the New York Times as the number one independent jazz record of 2002. In 2004, after being one of the first artists signed to Marsalis Music, he released the critically acclaimed Ceremonial. This same year also marked the beginning of three consecutive years on the top of the Downbeat Critic’s Poll in the Rising Star Alto Sax category. Zenón topped that category as well in 2008,making that the fourth time in the last five years. In 2005 Zenón was honored by Billboard magazine as one of the “Faces to Watch-- 30 Under 30: Top Young Acts and Executives.” That year Zenón also released Jibaro, a tribute to the "Musica Jibara" of Puerto Rico and commissioned by a grant from the New York State Council of the Arts. Like his previous recordings, Jibaro was uniformly well received and appeared on many top ten lists including The New York Times, Latin Beat, El Nuevo Dia, and the Chicago Tribune. In 2006, the readers of Jazz Times Magazine voted him the Best New Artist of the Year. Awake, his fourth recording as a leader was released in April 2008. It was chosen as one of the Best Jazz Cd's of 2008 by Jazz.com, Jazz Improv Magazine, Cuadernos de Jazz, JazzTimes and El Nuevo Dia, among others. (Read Reviews)
In addition to touring extensively throughout the US and Europe and Latin America with his quartet, Zenón has made teaching a priority in his professional career. In 2003, as part of the Kennedy Center’s Jazz Ambassador’s Program, Zenón’s quartet was selected to teach and perform throughout West Africa. Since then he as done master classes, clinics and/or residencies in such diverse institutions as the Banff Centre, University of Manitoba, LeMoyne College, UMASS-Amherst, the Brubeck Institute, Berklee College of Music, Conservatoire de Paris, Rotterdam Conservatory, Manhattan School of Music, Amsterdam Conservatory and the Diaz Institute. Zenón also serves as a private saxophone instructor at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York. Starting in the Fall of 2009, Zenón will be joining the Jazz Faculty at the New England Corservatory in Boston,MA.
In April 2008 Zenón received a fellowship from the prestigious John Simon Guggenheim Foundation to work on his next project, which focused on Plena Music from Puerto Rico. Later that year he was one of 25 distinguished individuals chosen to receive the coveted MacArthur Grant, also know as the “Genius Grant”.
DANI GURGEL trilhou uma escalada de instrumento a instrumento até encontrar o seu: a voz. Como instrumentista foram 15 anos. Dani foi saxofonista da big band regida por Roberto Sion e da banda que acompanhava o Zimbo Trio. Foi quando nasceram suas primeiras músicas que começou a cantá-las, despretensiosamente, no grupo de compositores “Quincas”.
Ao montar o repertório de seu primeiro show solo, após bastante dedicação ao novo instrumento, Dani Gurgel decidiu-se pelas canções de seus contemporâneos, ao invés das já consagradas. Assim surgiu a série de shows “Dani Gurgel e Novos Compositores”, que direcionou o repertório de seus três discos e foi tema do concerto que fez junto com a Orquestra Tom Jobim, como convidada e curadora.
A cantora e compositora foi vencedora na categoria música popular do Prêmio Nascente, mantido pela USP, onde se formou em Comunicação Social. Da faculdade, ela traz o interesse pelas mudanças na música com o digital, já abordado no seu trabalho de conclusão de curso em 2007, e também a busca incansável por novos meios de levar seu som até o público.
AGORA – Dani Gurgel e Novos Compositores, terceiro disco da cantora e compositora paulistana Dani Gurgel, é inspirado na série de shows homônima apresentada em 2007, na qual Dani convidava seus contemporâneos a participarem dos shows e apresentarem suas músicas. O novo trabalho reúne canções inéditas e conta com a participação de 23 jovens músicos da nova cena musical brasileira. Um trabalho eclético, amarrado pela interpretação de Dani, combinada com cada convidado. Brincando, vai do jazz ao pop. Há sambas, como “Linha na Pipa”, de Vinicius Calderoni, grooves, por exemplo, “Clinch”, de Danilo Moraes e Ricardo Teté, e outros quase eruditos, como a canção “Depois”, parceria de Dani com Tatiana Parra. credits released 16 September 2009 Produzido por Thiago Rabello Co-produzido e idealizado por Dani Gurgel
Dani Gurgel [voz] Thiago Rabello [bateria] Debora Gurgel [piano] Daniel Amorin [baixo acústico e elétrico] Michi Ruzitschka [violão e guitarra] André Kurchal [percussão]
Participação especial: Conrado Goys [violão] em "Lé com Cré" Jaziel Gomes [trombone] em "Clinch" Ubaldo Versolato [clarinete e clarone] em "Lé com Cré" e "Depois"
E os compositores, que participam em suas respectivas canções: Rafa Barreto, Vinicius Calderoni, Danilo Moraes, Ricardo Teté, Dani Black, Leo Versolato, Tatiana Parra, Tó Brandileone, Leo Bianchini, Demetrius Lulo, Wagner Barbosa, Ricardo Barros.
Gretchen Parlato´s voice is a thing of wonder. Striking the ideal balance between precision and flexibility, she is never predictable, blurring the lines between singer and instrumentalist as she takes a lyric—and at other times improvised flights of wordless fancy—to places it´s never before been. On In a Dream, her debut album for ObliqSound, which releases August 25, Parlato and her intuitive support team reinvent constantly, Parlato impeccably articulating in a voice so ethereal that the listener might very well feel that he or she is "in a dream."
Coming four years after her self-titled debut, In a Dream finds Parlato embarking on a beguiling journey deep into the heart of both her own compositions and classic material by the likes of Stevie Wonder, Duke Ellington, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and others—all of which she instantly makes her own. Each song emerges as a unique world unto itself, yet there´s an undeniable thread linking them all together.
Aligning with a virtuosic quartet she describes as "inspiring, creative, sensitive, musical souls"—Lionel Loueke on guitar, Aaron Parks on piano and Fender Rhodes, Derrick Hodge on acoustic and electric bass, and drummer Kendrick Scott—Parlato brings the warmth and compelling command of her much-heralded live performances to 10 exquisite new peeks into her artistic personality. In a Dream firmly places Gretchen Parlato in the upper echelon of today´s vocal artists.
Both Hancock and Shorter are already fans. Hancock has said that Parlato has a "deep, almost magical connection to the music," and Shorter has said "in an inconspicuous way, Gretchen plays the same instrument as Frank Sinatra."
Michele Locatelli, the album´s producer and co-founder of ObliqSound, notes that Parlato´s desire to blend a broad range of musical influences sets her apart. "Even though her means of expression is jazz-based, it goes beyond that. The defining thing about her, however, is her subtle sense of rhythm and timing: she makes a song seem easy when it´s not."
From the opening number, her interpretation of Wonder´s "I Can´t Help It," best known via Michael Jackson´s rendition, Parlato´s extraordinary vocal calisthenics, immaculate sense of timing and nuanced phrasing are in full bloom. Parlato transforms the song into a breathy neo-bossa nova, joined solely by Loueke´s closely intertwined, sweet guitar lines and vocalized percussion and bass accompaniment. "The song just grew organically and has continued to develop every time we play it," Parlato says.
The song list runs the gamut from classic Brazilian—"Doralice," learned from the legendary singer/guitarist Jo„o Gilberto—to the flowing "Turning Into Blue," penned by the bassist Alan Hampton, with lyrics by Parlato based on Buddhist teachings. The way in which she stretches out the word "turning," then catches up with "into blue" is indicative of Parlato´s innate ability to work miracles with a lyric and hold the listener´s attention via her ingenuity. Ellington´s "Azure," says Parlato, "taps into that dreamlike state we can be in when we long for someone and feel completely alone. I love to reveal the beauty in the darkness." Performed in a 5/4 rhythm, the track features a stunning bass solo by Hodge.
Hancock´s "Butterfly," she says, "is about the beauty of simplicity and space. I arranged it so that we could play around rhythmically, while still allowing the lyrics to shine through." In this arrangement, Parlato stays on top of the groove without deviating, even while exploring every nuance it has to offer. Shorter´s "ESP," not surprisingly the purest jazz track on In a Dream, eases in via meditative vocalizations and ultimately gives way to Parks´ spellbinding Rhodes solo and intricate drum work from Scott. The title track, with music by the young pianist Robert Glasper and lyrics by Parlato, is appropriately dreamy, a groove-based, harmony-rich rumination on the otherworldly quality of being in love.
Two tracks, "Within Me" and "On the Other Side," arrived via guitarist Francis Jacob. On the first, Parlato´s vocal sneaks in with a whisper, then barely rises, yet remains dynamic and alluring. Appropriately introspective, she drills deep inside of the lyric and instinctively delivers it the way it begs to be delivered. The latter song is more rambunctious, a tight weave of precision, melody and heart. "Weak," which closes the album, was originally performed by the R&B trio SWV in 1992. Says Parlato, "I thought it would be cool to sing this song in a new way and have people say, ´Wait, why do I know this?´"
The theme of the album´s title, In a Dream, runs throughout each song. "Every song has a purpose, relates to my life in some way, and tells a story," Parlato explains. Her own story begins in Los Angeles, where she was born into a highly artistic and musical family that shaped her ears. In her youth, Parlato soaked up every sound that came her way, from rock and pop to classical, musical theatre, soul and R&B and, especially, African percussion and the sensuous rhythms of Brazil—all of which worked its way into her nascent style. Jazz gained a special foothold in her musical life because, she says, it forces an artist "to figure out who you are and find your own voice."
Her talent became apparent in her early childhood—in fact, In a Dream includes a handful of snippets of Parlato belting out songs in perfect rhythm and remarkable pitch at age 2! "I thought it was fitting to try to work these early recordings in with my current music, because it shows the first steps of my musical path, who I am, where I come from," she says. "It makes me realize that music was in me since the very beginning, I had no choice but to pursue it and share it."
As she grew, Parlato´s musical abilities blossomed. She attended the L.A. County High School for the Arts, later graduated from UCLA with a BA in Ethnomusicology/Jazz Studies, then went on to attend the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance, as the Institute´s very first vocalist. That was followed by a 2003 move to New York to pursue her dream. A year later, Parlato won the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition and, in 2005, self-released her debut.
In the years since, Parlato´s star has only risen. She´s toured internationally with her own band and as a guest of many A-list artists; notable performances include La Villette in Paris with Wayne Shorter as her guest, the Hollywood Bowl with Oscar Castro-Neves, Gal Costa, Ivan Lins, and Dianne Reeves, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. Her recording credits include Terence Blanchard´s 2005 Grammy-nominated album Flow, Kenny Barron´s The Traveler, and Esperanza Spalding´s 2008 self-titled album. She was recently featured in The Documentary Channel´s 4-part series "Icons Among Us: Jazz in the Present Tense," and in a special called "Rising Stars" on Japan´s NHK-TV, with a one-hour focus on Parlato. Glowing reviews have followed her around, such as the one from the New York Times´ Ben Ratliff that singled out her attention to rhythm and dynamics, and proclaimed, "It´s evident that she´s an extraordinary singer."
Adds Lionel Loueke, "She is the only singer that I never have to account for or change the way I play; the guitar and the voice are so well balanced that no one is ever out in front." That is in fact true of each of her accompanists. Inherently aware of the leader´s ability to find herself within a given song, the musicians instinctively find their place alongside her and serve to accent Parlato´s fine-tuned arrangements.
Parlato is understandably proud. "I sing from my heart and soul and hope that people feel that. I just want them to feel something. That could be joy or sadness, as long as it moves them in some way." Anyone who is not moved by In a Dream is quite possibly incapable of moving at all.
Aydar é filha de Mario Manga, integrante do grupo Premê, e de Bia Aydar, produtora de diversos artistas brasileiros, entre os quais Lulu Santos e Luiz Gonzaga. Nesse ambiente, ficava atrás dos palcos, dormia nos camarins [1] e ia junto com os cantores para o estúdio, aprendendo muita coisa só observando.[2][3]
A trajetória musical teve início em 2000. Em 2004, após anos de estudo no Brasil e na Berklee School of Music, em Boston, morou em Paris por um ano. Lá conheceu Seu Jorge, que a convidou para abrir os shows na turnê européia. De volta ao Brasil em 2005, passou a investir no disco de estréia, Kavita 1, lançado em setembro de 2006.[4]
Mariana, que estudou cello, violão e canto,[2] já esteve no palco com Seu Jorge, Elba Ramalho, Dominguinhos, Arnaldo Antunes, Toni Garrido, Samuel Rosa, Daniela Mercury , Céu, João Donato, entre outros.
É considerada como integrante de uma safra de cantoras no cenário da nova MPB.
Em abril de 2007, a música "Deixa o Verão" foi convocada para entrar na trilha sonora do seriado adolescente Malhação 2007, da Rede Globo.
Em agosto para setembro de 2007, Mariana Aydar foi indicada a Revelação no VMB (Video Music Brasil), realizado pela MTV
Em janeiro de 2008, realizou o primeiro show em Salvador, na Praça Tereza Batista, no Pelourinho, para um público superior a mil pessoas totalmente envolvido e conhecedor das ´músicas do repertório da cantora. O show foi uma parceria entre o Projeto Pelourinho Cultural, do IPAC - SECULT, com o produtor baiano Chicco Assis e o Movimento ChA Com Cultura.
Em 2009, a música "Prainha" entrou para a trilha de Malhação 2009, sendo tema do Ceará. [editar] Discografia [editar] Álbuns
* 2006 - Kavita 1 * 2009 - Peixes, Pássaros E Pessoas
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.
