Stacey Kent – Summer Me, Winter Me (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Stacey Kent – Summer Me, Winter Me (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 51:49 minutes | 543 MB | Genre: Vocal Jazz, Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © naïve

Singer Stacey Kent brings a new album, which will be released through the label Naïve.

Stacey says, “This is the first time I’ve recorded a song twice on the same album. “If You Go Away” came into my repertoire in 2018 when Jim wrote an orchestral arrangement for a concert in Paris. From time to time, I also sang Jacques Brel’s original, “Ne me quitte pas.” But regardless of the language, someone always asked me why I didn’t sing it in the other language. Some singers then added both languages to the same version. Since both lyrics are beautiful in their own right and equally deserve to be recorded, I decided to record them both.

Since she first appeared on the scene in the mid-90s, amongst a small but genuine group of artists who claim jazz as an unambiguously ‘native’ musical language, Stacey Kent has consistently innovated her stylistic palette, drawing in new audiences without ever needing to sacrifice her own sound, or her artistic integrity. Her new record is the latest example of her artistic versatility. Kent’s talents as a performer are on full display here, in a complete work that includes three original pieces and a series of classics drawn from Broadway musicals, film scores, French chanson tradition, and Brazilian music.

She is accompanied on the record by a small and vibrant jazz ensemble under the artistic direction of her longtime collaborator – multi-instrumentalist and arranger Jim Tomlinson. She navigates multiple languages, and seamlessly transitions with virtuosity and flawless musicality from Michel Legrand’s lyricism (“Summer me,Winter me”, “La valse des lilas”) to Carlos Jobim’s heady sensuality (“Corcovado”), with the light sophistication of the melodies of Richard Rogers’ (“Happy Talk”) or Frederick Loewe (“Show Me”) to the poignant gravity of Jacques Brel (the classic “Ne me quitte pas” sung in French and its English version “If You Go Away”). In each of these pieces, with her clear and vibrant timbre, fluid articulation, and innate sense of swing, Stacey Kent once again demonstrates real artistic originality, through her sensual and sophisticated vocals, full of emotional nuance. – Stéphane Ollivier

Tracklist:
1-1. Stacey Kent – Summer Me, Winter Me (05:05)
1-2. Stacey Kent – La valse des lilas (04:25)
1-3. Stacey Kent – Thinking About the Rain (05:09)
1-4. Stacey Kent – Under Paris Skies (04:21)
1-5. Stacey Kent – If You Go Away (04:55)
1-6. Stacey Kent – Happy Talk (03:52)
1-7. Stacey Kent – Show Me (03:19)
1-8. Stacey Kent – Postcard Lovers (05:02)
1-9. Stacey Kent – Corcovado (05:50)
1-10. Stacey Kent – A Song That Isn’t Finished Yet (05:12)
1-11. Stacey Kent – Ne me quitte pas (04:35)

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