Vasteras - There are stories, and then there are great stories. To hear the American-born jazz singer Stacey Kent perform is to revel in at least two amazing tales: the song she is singing and the fascinating story of her own life.
Kent, a New York native, graduated from college and went to Europe to pursue a master's degree in comparative literature, yet never earned it. Instead, she fell in love and became one of the great jazz singers of our time.
Now, more than a decade, six albums and numerous awards - including the 2001 British Jazz Award and 2002 BBC Jazz Award for Best Vocalist - later, Kent still has a crush on the same guy.
When she met saxophonist and husband Jim Tomlinson, he was a philosophy major, and, like Kent, wanted to take a break from his academic career to pursue music. Since then, they have worked together and have, as Kent puts it, "chemistry."
The Baltic Times sat down with Kent during a sound check of a sold out concert in Sweden, where she has a loyal audience, to talk about telling timeless stories and her latest album, "The Boy Next Door."
Released last autumn and featuring 16 tracks, "The Boy Next Door" is Kent's sixth album. "'The Boy Next Door" is really my favorite tour, my favorite album, my most personal one," she said.
Kent chooses material for her albums from the Great American Songbook, a vast collection of classic American popular music that has been featured in 30s, 40s and 50s movies.
"There is so much music from which to choose, and I'm like a kid in a candy store," Kent said, adding that she loves the songs for their fantastic stories. "They are universal stories that we can make so personal. The human condition doesn't really differ from place to place, and that's what I love. So we sing these love songs - love found and love lost, we wonder about the same things and we find joy and grief in the same things, and yearn for the same things. I find so much that I can tell in these stories."
While no doubt classic, penned by such masters as Cole Porter and Hugh Martin, among others, the music on "The Boy Next Door" is very accessible. Playful, heartfelt and entertaining, the songs are catchy and easy to fall in love with.
The album opens with Cy Coleman's "The Best is yet to Come," and the album's title track is followed by another great hit by Hugh Martin - "The Trolley Song" from the musical "Meet me in St. Louis."
The lively pace continues with Porter's "Too Darn Hot," and Kent's voice transports the listener to a scorching summer night to hear what must be one of the best-sung complaints about a lover ever. "What the World Needs now is Love," a sweet and peaceful lullaby, follows soon after.
The album also features Duke Ellington's "I Got it Bad," which Kent learned as a 17-year-old while nursing a broken heart.
From joyous to thoughtful, from passionate to peaceful, the album is a joy to listen to. While Kent continues to tour Europe and beyond (the now-London based musician had only spent five nights at home this year at the time of the interview), and has a performance scheduled at Carnegie Hall in New York City, she has never sung in the Baltics.
So unless a talented Baltic saxophonist intends to meet a talented singer for a successful jazz collaboration soon, Baltic promoters had better get Kent's agent on the phone fast. Ms.Kent is too darn hot to miss. o
For a European
tour schedule, visit www.staceykent.com
