Stacey Kent’s clear-as-light vocals and Art Hirahara’s lyrical piano make their duo outing exactly “what the world needs now.”…
Stacey Kent is a jazz singer in the mold of the greats, with a legion of fans worldwide, a host of honors and awards including a Grammy nomination, album sales in excess of 2 Million, Gold, Double-Gold and Platinum-selling albums that have reached a series of No. 1 chart positions during the span of her career. An interpreter of The Great American Song Book and beyond, Kent's music and influences span multiple genres, a testament to her "wandering, restless spirit" as an artist. Her long time songwriting collaborator is Nobel Prize winning author Kazuo Ishiguro.
This is a highly enjoyable laid back album with the husbnad and wife team of Jim Tomlinson and Stacey Kent taking centre stage here.With this album Tomlinson and his band do more than just provide backing music for Stacey's vocals with Tomlinson playing some mellow Getz like tenor solos and David Newton contributing a few nice swinging piano solos.Kent doesn't possess the most powerfull of voices but,as always,puts what she has to the best possible use here using that sweet natured swinging style to great effect.
“‘Which album is that song on?’ is a question I often get asked after a concert at signings. Since our set lists invariably include a mixture of old and new repertoire, the answer is sometimes, ‘it’s not on any album.’ This album is therefore a collection of those songs. It’s a response to all those people who have said over the years, somewhat disappointed, ‘you haven’t recorded ‘If You Go Away’?’ and so on.