Blaise Lantana talks with vocalist Stacey Kent about her new album "A Time For Love,' featuring Jim Tomlinson, sax/flute, and Art Hirahara, piano. To learn more about her music and her touring schedule, visit staceykent.com
Transcript/Text Alternative
You said there'd be shutters
And rusty ceiling fans
And broken-hearted gangsters
With roses in their hands
There would be tango in Macau
That's what you told me
And I believed in you somehow
Believed all your baloney
We've come halfway round the world
I guess I'm stuck with you for now
I'm not saying that you lied
But it was
[0:00 - 0:42] [Music: “Tango In Macao” Whimsical and jazzy lounge music, featuring light, bright acoustic guitar, dynamic piano chords, and smooth, expressive vocals at a mid-tempo pace]
Blaise Lantana: That is Stacey Kent from her album "Songs from Other Places" doing Tango in Macau, Art Hirahara at the piano with singer Stacey Kent. And I'm Blaise Lantana. Stacey Kent is here with me talking about her new album. I'm Blaise Lantana and Stacey Kent is with me. Good to have you here talking about your music and you mentioned that you've been traveling a lot. Do you get to go to a lot of places to play?
Stacey Kent: We have, we do and you know what, Blaise, it's so lovely to talk to you and we have so many beautiful memories, truly, of coming to you guys uh in Arizona at MIM. Um but I'll tell you this year we've been we've traveled a lot so far. We had the winter off and then we were launching this new album, which I know we're going to talk about, but we started the year in Brazil and then we went to South Africa and then we went to Europe and we hopped around from country to country for a little while. Um just come home and are heading west to all of you guys in a few days. So, we're trying to get a balance right between being home and doing all these travels around the world. There's a lot of traveling.
Blaise: Yeah, I was wondering, you go to you were in Brazil and then you're in South Africa and then Europe. How is the audience different and how is your performance different in those places? Say compared going from Brazil to South Africa. How is that different?
Stacey: Well, it's funny. I mean, I think that it has more to do with the sensibility of the people who come out to the shows, because you can answer this question differently in two different ways, but I basically see people everybody's kind of the same, you know? You get the same feeling from people, and this is the biggest privilege of being a touring musician, to be a person who travels and is part of the world. We've been in about 60 countries already, and what we find is that people are the same everywhere you go. You know, on one level they are the same and that is such a beautiful and heartening and human thing to be able to experience. Now, some places are a little bit different. For example, when you go to Brazil, culturally, it's so interesting, everybody sings at the concerts. It's very vocal in there. Um and so if you sing a song that they know, like we recorded recently "Carinhoso", this very famous, much beloved Brazilian song, um there is nobody who isn't singing it uh in the in the house. And so you get a lot of singing along, you get a lot of um more singing along than mouthing along. So those are little differences. But, you know, um I find people to be so open and so open-hearted and so part of the community. This is the thing. I think people just love being in a room full of other people all listening and enjoying and feeling the the vibrations of of live music together. That's why in a sense, I I essentially don't really see them as that different.
Blaise: Right. But then then you went up to Europe and not everybody speaks English, do they? In the countries you're playing.
Stacey: No, it depends. I meet a lot of people who do and then we meet an awful lot of people who do not. Um so you get both. Now, in countries where I already speak the language, uh for example, I grew up speaking French. My grandfather grew up in France and so um French is a language I'm I'm fluent in and so when I'm in France, I speak to them in French. Um I sing in all sorts of of my languages: English, French, Portuguese, Italian. Um but the concert will be kind of run in French. Um and so, you know, I was a language student before I was a musician, so I do speak some other languages and try and um incorporate them into my shows when I'm in that particular country. Um but you find that people respond to music whether they understand it or not, um word for word, in a I suppose we could liken it to when we listen to classical music or instrumental music and there are no words, you're still feeling very much the intensity and the emotion of the music. And so when people don't understand, in the same way that we you and I listen to music that we don't understand from countries that we um whose languages we don't understand, um you you very much feel it. What I find, here, I'll tell you one thing that I think is a funny footnote. Often people come to me and they will say, "When you sing in other languages," for example, a man was listening to my album recently called "Raconte-moi", which is well all in French, he said, "I bring this to the office, because I love listening to you, but if I listen to you in English when I'm working," he was a lawyer, he said, "it's too distracting. If I listen to you in a language I don't understand, I get to enjoy the music without being absorbed in it and I can get my work done." I just thought that was fantastic.
Blaise: How interesting! Yeah, that is intriguing. Yeah. I'm talking with Stacey Kent and I want to play one of my favorite swing tunes that you did back on Let Yourself Go. This is a title cut from that album and then we'll also hear a song about traveling. This is "I Wish I Could Go Travelling Again" and this is from Stacey Kent's album, Breakfast on the Morning Tram. First, Let Yourself Go. Here's Stacey Kent.
As you listen to the band
Don't you get a bubble?
As you listen to them play
Don't you get a glow?
If you step out on your floor
You'll forget your trouble
If you go into your dance
You'll forget your woe
So come, get together
Let the dance floor feel your leather
Step as lightly as a feather
Let yourself go
Come, hit the timber
Loosen up and start to limber
Can't you hear that hot marimba?
Let yourself go
Let yourself go
Relax and let yourself go
[3:42 - 5:02] [Music: “Let Yourself Go” -- An upbeat and rhythmic jazz song, featuring bright piano chords, lively horns, and bouncy bass lines at a fast tempo]
I wish I could go travelling
Again
It feels like the summer will never end
And I've had such good offers
From several of my friends
I wish I could go travelling
Again
I want to sit in my shade, sipping my latte
Beneath the awning of a famous cafe
Jet lagged and with our luggage gone astray
I wish I could go travelling
Again
I want a waiter to give us a reprimand
In a language neither of us understand
While we are
[5:04 - 6:31] [Music: “I Wish I Could Go Traveling Again” -- Smooth and mellow bossa nova style jazz, featuring gentle nylon-string guitar, soft percussion, a warm saxophone line, and intimate vocals at a slow tempo]
Blaise: That is Stacey Kent, "I Wish I Could Go Travelling Again" and before that we heard her do "Let Yourself Go". I'm Blaise Lantana. This is Jazz PHX. Stacey Kent is here, by the way, talking about her music. She's got a brand new album out called "A Time For Love" and on this album and on earlier ones, you have used pianist Art Hirahara and saxophonist Jim Tomlinson. Now, how did you make that connection and stay with that same ensemble?
Stacey: Yeah, it's really fun to talk about all this music that we've recorded and played over the years from "Let Yourself Go" to the present day, because I get to see how listening back, I get to hear the the timeline of it all, right, and and our growth and see the sort of pathway um and at the same time, realize how much has remained the same, i.e., the sensibility and um the the tie the the strand that links all of this together. And that goes for not just me musically, but the band with whom I play. Now, for those who don't know, Jim Tomlinson, who is my producer, saxophone, and flute player, arranger of my songs, writer of some of the songs, he wrote "Tango in Macau" and he wrote "I Wish I Could Go Travelling Again" with the Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro, he also happens to be my husband and we've been together since college. So, that's a long-running story um and we love working together. We have since the very beginning and we've grown up together. Um Art, I would say we've also grown up together. Art Hirahara is somebody we met in New York. He was put in as a dept, as a sub on a show we did in New York over 20 years ago, maybe 22. And we all really just connected. And this is the thing about chemistry and people, whether you're playing music, whether you're in the arts, or whether you're just in your private life, whatever it is, chemistry is so vital and we had a great dialogue on and off the stage, and we've been together playing because it just it felt so right and we really did grow up together. We kept growing together. Sometimes, you know, people can grow apart as well. For us, the intensity just remained ever-growing and ever-developing. We love that we've been together all this time and have gone through these different phases. Um and we come from different places. Art is he lives in New York now, but he's originally from California. Jim is a Brit and I'm from the East Coast, so we bring we're all pretty much the same age, but we bring different elements and that's fun, too, because it you're these three cooks making this um other creation. And I just think that we have something that is very special and very um intimate, and we knew from the beginning even when we were playing with larger ensembles, sometimes we're five, sometimes we're six, and also sometimes we're with symphony and 60, but we knew all along, Jim and Art and I, that we would make a trio record or a couple of them in fact, that we have, um because something about the three of us um really just when it's right, it's right and we love it.
Blaise: Now, do you ever correct each other? Is there like, "No, I don't like that. No, I don't want that," or is it just so seamless that you don't have to do that anymore?
Stacey: Um yeah, I mean I'm I'm honestly trying think think of samples of example of of "I don't like," it's more it's a really good open conversation. "Hey, you guys, how about if we do it this way?" It's not so much that something's wrong, it's that of the three of us, we might be having a conversation when we're in the studio or even at a sound check um or rehearsal and we go one of us goes, "Hey, what if we did this?" And then the idea is This is what I mean about it being a dialogue. It is very much a dialogue. It is very much a conversation and it's very fluid. So, nobody really dislikes each other's ideas. I think we're just looking to go and grow and improve things and we all have different ideas to bring to the to the trio.
Blaise: Well, let's listen to the trio. This is Stacey Kent's new album with Jim Tomlinson playing saxophones and flutes, and Art Hirahara at the piano. The new album is called "A Time For Love". Here's Stacey Kent from her new album, "A Time For Love", doing "As".
As around the sun the Earth knows she's revolving
And the rosebuds know to bloom in early May
Just as hate knows love's the cure, you can rest your mind assured
That I'll be loving you always
As now can't reveal the mystery of tomorrow
But in passing we'll grow older every day
Just as all that's born is new, you know that what I say is true
That I'll be loving you always
Always
Always
[11:15 - 12:47] [Music: “As” -- A warm, mid-tempo jazz arrangement of a classic tune, featuring vibrant acoustic piano chords, a melodic saxophone line, soft percussion, and smooth, expressive vocals]
Blaise: That's Art Hirahara playing the keys with Jim Tomlinson on sax, Stacey Kent vocals, and Stacey Kent is here talking about the trio and her music. So, that particular tune, "As", how did you come up with choosing that one?
Stacey: You know, this is really fun to talk about, because I can I can visualize how we were putting this together before we got to the recording of it. Um I grew up on Stevie Wonder, as I'm sure you did and many of your listeners. Right. There's such an incredible groove from Stevie Wonder and when he's on stage, the whole thing is just electric and there are so many of them. Now, uh so many musicians and and participants. Um so many people singing on that particular track. And Jim and Art and I sat down talking about this song. I'll go back one step. I came up with the songs with these guys for "A Time For Love" that it's just an album filled with love songs. You know, those evocative songs that just invite you into this universe of of love. And we loved making this record so much. I wanted to do this song for a long time, and I sat down with my chamber orchestra of three and said, "So, how do we triage I'd really like to include 'As'. How do we take it as a song that is played by, I don't know, dozens of people and make it something great and groovy um and putting that lyric, which is just so phenomenal, so exquisite, at the center of it all?" And I think the three of us, we started to play it on sound checks and maybe we'd only play, you know, a few bars of it, and we'd just play around because, you know, it's kind of nice not going straight to the finish line, just letting something gel and sit there for a while so that the ideas can just kind of simmer. And so we would play it and then we'd go away from it and we would play it and then go away from it. And then, this is exactly the case in point, Blaise, where we were talking about one of us would say, "Hey, why don't we do this on this section?" It was such a great dialogue between the three of us and I'm really proud of it, because we we were able to triage it and make it this great, intense community song of just the three of us. And since we've been playing it live on stage, I love that people are clapping and they're singing and they're so involved. And I get to stand back and think, "Oh, yes, I remember when we were sitting here going, 'Now, what do we do with this?'" So it's really fun to watch the puzzle pieces come together.
Blaise: Wow! I'm talking with Stacey Kent about her new album, "A Time For Love", and she's working with Art Hirahara on this and Jim Tomlinson. And what a beautiful sound. Now, do you ever jump in and play piano, because I know that you did play piano. Don't you start on piano?
Stacey: I did. I grew up playing the piano, classical piano, so it's still under my fingers. I never jump in and play the piano. There are gigs and and and years and periods where I will jump in on guitar. Um I had an injury on my hand so I didn't actually I haven't played the guitar for a little while. But um nope, I leave all that to Art, and uh he's a You know, Art blows my mind, because he's one man. Um he is a one-man band, but he takes us all these places. It's really an extraordinary privilege to uh to get to play with him.
Blaise: Well, let's listen to the title cut from the new album. This is Stacey Kent on vocals, Jim Tomlinson Is he playing sax on this one?
Stacey: He is.
Blaise: This is "A Time For Love" and then Art Hirahara on piano. Here's Stacey doing the title cut, "A Time For Love".
A time for summer skies
For hummingbirds and butterflies
For tender words that harmonize
With love
A time for climbing hills
For leaning out of window sills
[16:47 - 18:24] [Music: “A Time For Love” -- Ballad-style slow jazz, featuring delicate and sparse acoustic piano notes, a smooth and soulful saxophone melody, and gentle, intimate vocals]
Blaise: Stacey Kent, "A Time For Love" with Jim Tomlinson and Art Hirahara. Well, Stacey's here with me talking about her new album all about love. It's called "A Time For Love" and this is This is a beautiful love song, "The Shadow of Your Smile", that we're going to listen to. And how did you choose this and uh how did you put it together?
Stacey: What I enjoy so much is I feel very patient about the songs I'm going to record eventually. I have to say I am very iPhone and um list-oriented. I always have been. I have a ton of lists, and among my lists is one of songs that I eventually want to record. "The Shadow of Your Smile" has been on that list for so long. They kind of go from list to then my spreadsheet and I have different columns and there are songs that get closer to, "Oh, this would make a great song for this particular album," because I like to make, even though people are going to listen to songs in their own order and in their own way, and sometimes they're listening digitally, sometimes on a on a CD, sometimes on a on a vinyl, and so everybody has their own way. But regardless of a song being a single for people or a full album, Jim and I like to make a full album. And so I think that I choose my songs according to, "Oh, this would make a good one for this particular album," or, "I really want to record this song but I'm not quite ready," or, "I don't have a home for this song." "The Shadow of Your Smile" has been that song for me for a long time. So I sing it a lot live, and finally it found a home on this record. Um it's kind of poignant, if I'm honest with you, because we were playing this live, I don't know if I played it at the MIM, but um we've played it as the quintet and sextet, uh namely with our beautiful drummer Anthony Pinciotti, who we came to uh Arizona with on one of our many visits to MIM. Um I remember that gig so well and specifically backstage and singing and dancing with him. And um That is he he died last year, Anthony, and he is very, very, very missed. That's really hard for me that he's gone. Um and I have such really strong memories of being with him and playing this live. Um In any case, um it's not that it's we can play this as trio, quartet, quintet. Uh the song itself is just such a beautiful and evocative love song. I feel every time I sing it, I feel like I'm thoroughly transported to that place. It's so full of imagery. I believe every word, you know what I mean? Yeah. It is a powerful song. It's beautiful. "One day we walked along the sands, one day in early spring." I mean, I can completely I would say that when I sing songs, for me, sometimes my eyes are open, sometimes they're closed, but open or closed, the whole experience is so visual, um as well as uh audio. And uh it is just a very powerful and evocative song, and I felt like for "A Time For Love", it just was so right.
Blaise: Well, I'm glad you put it on this album. It's a really beautiful song and you do beautiful job on it. And how I wanted to ask you like how do you keep You're doing all this traveling, different places, different countries, Arizona, the desert. How do you keep your voice in shape for all that? How do you stay, you know, keep your voice working in good order?
Stacey: Thanks for asking. I um I try and take very, very good care of myself, you know? Um sometimes sleep is um not the easiest thing to get, because you have adrenaline after you work at night and then you have to get up and go the next day and it can get pretty fatiguing out there. But, um we eat super well. We're so super conscious of how, you know, what we what we take in. Um I hydrate a lot. I I drink a lot. I don't drink any alcohol. Um I lip trill and I straw. Um phonating through a straw is very nice, because it um stretches and um takes the pressure off your vocal cords. If anybody wants to ask me about that more specifically, they can write to me on my social media pages and I'll fill them in. But, you know, there's a lot of this. [Makes lip trill sound] You know, I try and keep that exercise and well. I don't push when I sing. I keep my voice lessons going. So, you know, the voice lessons that I take are I love my voice teacher, Christina Fleming, and when we work, we're always looking to raise the ceiling, of course, but we're also looking to raise the floor. In other words, when I'm tired, when I'm a little bit beaten up, how can I keep it so that um my voice is in good shape? Um so that you're not just in, you know, kind of survival mode when you're that tired. Yeah. Um but I try and sing as well and correctly as I can all the time with support, and uh if I'm feeling a little bit unwell or poorly or inflamed, I take very, very good care of that as quickly as possible. Obviously, I'm human and like anybody else, you can get hit with a cold here and there, but um I arm myself as much as I can. I guess the answer I'm giving you is probably pretty similar to all singers and all touring musicians and people who want to take care of themselves on the road. Um and then just balance it so that we are touring a lot, but we also try and get home, especially more these days, um balance it right so that we get home life, too. Um I'm very lucky in that I get out there with people I love and love to work with. There is just a great spirit out on the road, um traveling with my best friend in Jim, so, you know, that kind of stuff helps, too. Um and that's all I can think of off the top of my head.
Blaise: That's quite a bit. That's quite a bit. Now I have I have one off-the-cuff question to ask you, and that is well, actually about your extracurricular activities like skiing. Are you still skiing? Do you still ski?
Stacey: Absolutely. I mean, I'm skiing less these days, because we moved from We were living in Colorado for many years, you know? We were out there for, you know, over 20 years.
Blaise: Um so I would ski So where were you Where were you in Colorado?
Stacey: We were up in the middle of nowhere. We were up in the Rockies, um where we lived was in the middle of the nowhere, but it wasn't that far from that many places. We were sort of between Glenwood and Aspen so Oh, mhm. um we would ski we had that whole Pitkin County area, for people who know the area, um at our fingertips. It was amazing, because we could, you know, go out, ski for a little while, hike for a little while, and still go home and Wow, yeah. make a record in our studio. But I don't get to do that as much, because we now live um in Virginia. Uh but skiing is still an important part of my life. Hiking is an important part of my life. Being in the yard, be- anything that we do Outside. for extracurricular is an outdoor activity, put it that way. And even when we're on tour, we'll ask the concierge at a hotel, "You know, where's the nearest park? Where's the nearest garden?" Um we were in Oh god, where were we recently where we went to visit a zoo? Uh it was absolutely gorgeous. We went to the zoo. Maybe we were in I forgot which country already. Um uh but, you know, we love Mother Nature. That is very inspiring to us and I think that probably shows in the music that we make, too. Um so sure we enjoy the cities that we go to and take advantage, but um most of the time we run to the parks.
Blaise: I'm talking with Stacey Kent. She has a new album out, "A Time For Love". I'm Blaise Lantana. Stacey, thanks for talking with us about your music.
Stacey: Blaise, it's such a pleasure to talk to you. This is so much fun and thank you so much for having me. Thanks for the invitation.
Blaise: All right. Well, let's listen to Stacey Kent and "The Shadow of Your Smile" on Jazz PHX.
One day we walked along the sands
One day in early spring
You held a piper in your hand
To mend its broken wing
Now I remember many a day
And many a lonely mile
The echo of a piper's song
The shadow of your smile
[26:10 - 27:35] [Music: “The Shadow Of Your Smile” -- Intimate, slow ballad jazz, featuring minimalist acoustic piano chords, a soft, melancholy saxophone line, and warm, gentle vocals]
And rusty ceiling fans
And broken-hearted gangsters
With roses in their hands
There would be tango in Macau
That's what you told me
And I believed in you somehow
Believed all your baloney
We've come halfway round the world
I guess I'm stuck with you for now
I'm not saying that you lied
But it was
[0:00 - 0:42] [Music: “Tango In Macao” Whimsical and jazzy lounge music, featuring light, bright acoustic guitar, dynamic piano chords, and smooth, expressive vocals at a mid-tempo pace]
Blaise Lantana: That is Stacey Kent from her album "Songs from Other Places" doing Tango in Macau, Art Hirahara at the piano with singer Stacey Kent. And I'm Blaise Lantana. Stacey Kent is here with me talking about her new album. I'm Blaise Lantana and Stacey Kent is with me. Good to have you here talking about your music and you mentioned that you've been traveling a lot. Do you get to go to a lot of places to play?
Stacey Kent: We have, we do and you know what, Blaise, it's so lovely to talk to you and we have so many beautiful memories, truly, of coming to you guys uh in Arizona at MIM. Um but I'll tell you this year we've been we've traveled a lot so far. We had the winter off and then we were launching this new album, which I know we're going to talk about, but we started the year in Brazil and then we went to South Africa and then we went to Europe and we hopped around from country to country for a little while. Um just come home and are heading west to all of you guys in a few days. So, we're trying to get a balance right between being home and doing all these travels around the world. There's a lot of traveling.
Blaise: Yeah, I was wondering, you go to you were in Brazil and then you're in South Africa and then Europe. How is the audience different and how is your performance different in those places? Say compared going from Brazil to South Africa. How is that different?
Stacey: Well, it's funny. I mean, I think that it has more to do with the sensibility of the people who come out to the shows, because you can answer this question differently in two different ways, but I basically see people everybody's kind of the same, you know? You get the same feeling from people, and this is the biggest privilege of being a touring musician, to be a person who travels and is part of the world. We've been in about 60 countries already, and what we find is that people are the same everywhere you go. You know, on one level they are the same and that is such a beautiful and heartening and human thing to be able to experience. Now, some places are a little bit different. For example, when you go to Brazil, culturally, it's so interesting, everybody sings at the concerts. It's very vocal in there. Um and so if you sing a song that they know, like we recorded recently "Carinhoso", this very famous, much beloved Brazilian song, um there is nobody who isn't singing it uh in the in the house. And so you get a lot of singing along, you get a lot of um more singing along than mouthing along. So those are little differences. But, you know, um I find people to be so open and so open-hearted and so part of the community. This is the thing. I think people just love being in a room full of other people all listening and enjoying and feeling the the vibrations of of live music together. That's why in a sense, I I essentially don't really see them as that different.
Blaise: Right. But then then you went up to Europe and not everybody speaks English, do they? In the countries you're playing.
Stacey: No, it depends. I meet a lot of people who do and then we meet an awful lot of people who do not. Um so you get both. Now, in countries where I already speak the language, uh for example, I grew up speaking French. My grandfather grew up in France and so um French is a language I'm I'm fluent in and so when I'm in France, I speak to them in French. Um I sing in all sorts of of my languages: English, French, Portuguese, Italian. Um but the concert will be kind of run in French. Um and so, you know, I was a language student before I was a musician, so I do speak some other languages and try and um incorporate them into my shows when I'm in that particular country. Um but you find that people respond to music whether they understand it or not, um word for word, in a I suppose we could liken it to when we listen to classical music or instrumental music and there are no words, you're still feeling very much the intensity and the emotion of the music. And so when people don't understand, in the same way that we you and I listen to music that we don't understand from countries that we um whose languages we don't understand, um you you very much feel it. What I find, here, I'll tell you one thing that I think is a funny footnote. Often people come to me and they will say, "When you sing in other languages," for example, a man was listening to my album recently called "Raconte-moi", which is well all in French, he said, "I bring this to the office, because I love listening to you, but if I listen to you in English when I'm working," he was a lawyer, he said, "it's too distracting. If I listen to you in a language I don't understand, I get to enjoy the music without being absorbed in it and I can get my work done." I just thought that was fantastic.
Blaise: How interesting! Yeah, that is intriguing. Yeah. I'm talking with Stacey Kent and I want to play one of my favorite swing tunes that you did back on Let Yourself Go. This is a title cut from that album and then we'll also hear a song about traveling. This is "I Wish I Could Go Travelling Again" and this is from Stacey Kent's album, Breakfast on the Morning Tram. First, Let Yourself Go. Here's Stacey Kent.
As you listen to the band
Don't you get a bubble?
As you listen to them play
Don't you get a glow?
If you step out on your floor
You'll forget your trouble
If you go into your dance
You'll forget your woe
So come, get together
Let the dance floor feel your leather
Step as lightly as a feather
Let yourself go
Come, hit the timber
Loosen up and start to limber
Can't you hear that hot marimba?
Let yourself go
Let yourself go
Relax and let yourself go
[3:42 - 5:02] [Music: “Let Yourself Go” -- An upbeat and rhythmic jazz song, featuring bright piano chords, lively horns, and bouncy bass lines at a fast tempo]
I wish I could go travelling
Again
It feels like the summer will never end
And I've had such good offers
From several of my friends
I wish I could go travelling
Again
I want to sit in my shade, sipping my latte
Beneath the awning of a famous cafe
Jet lagged and with our luggage gone astray
I wish I could go travelling
Again
I want a waiter to give us a reprimand
In a language neither of us understand
While we are
[5:04 - 6:31] [Music: “I Wish I Could Go Traveling Again” -- Smooth and mellow bossa nova style jazz, featuring gentle nylon-string guitar, soft percussion, a warm saxophone line, and intimate vocals at a slow tempo]
Blaise: That is Stacey Kent, "I Wish I Could Go Travelling Again" and before that we heard her do "Let Yourself Go". I'm Blaise Lantana. This is Jazz PHX. Stacey Kent is here, by the way, talking about her music. She's got a brand new album out called "A Time For Love" and on this album and on earlier ones, you have used pianist Art Hirahara and saxophonist Jim Tomlinson. Now, how did you make that connection and stay with that same ensemble?
Stacey: Yeah, it's really fun to talk about all this music that we've recorded and played over the years from "Let Yourself Go" to the present day, because I get to see how listening back, I get to hear the the timeline of it all, right, and and our growth and see the sort of pathway um and at the same time, realize how much has remained the same, i.e., the sensibility and um the the tie the the strand that links all of this together. And that goes for not just me musically, but the band with whom I play. Now, for those who don't know, Jim Tomlinson, who is my producer, saxophone, and flute player, arranger of my songs, writer of some of the songs, he wrote "Tango in Macau" and he wrote "I Wish I Could Go Travelling Again" with the Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro, he also happens to be my husband and we've been together since college. So, that's a long-running story um and we love working together. We have since the very beginning and we've grown up together. Um Art, I would say we've also grown up together. Art Hirahara is somebody we met in New York. He was put in as a dept, as a sub on a show we did in New York over 20 years ago, maybe 22. And we all really just connected. And this is the thing about chemistry and people, whether you're playing music, whether you're in the arts, or whether you're just in your private life, whatever it is, chemistry is so vital and we had a great dialogue on and off the stage, and we've been together playing because it just it felt so right and we really did grow up together. We kept growing together. Sometimes, you know, people can grow apart as well. For us, the intensity just remained ever-growing and ever-developing. We love that we've been together all this time and have gone through these different phases. Um and we come from different places. Art is he lives in New York now, but he's originally from California. Jim is a Brit and I'm from the East Coast, so we bring we're all pretty much the same age, but we bring different elements and that's fun, too, because it you're these three cooks making this um other creation. And I just think that we have something that is very special and very um intimate, and we knew from the beginning even when we were playing with larger ensembles, sometimes we're five, sometimes we're six, and also sometimes we're with symphony and 60, but we knew all along, Jim and Art and I, that we would make a trio record or a couple of them in fact, that we have, um because something about the three of us um really just when it's right, it's right and we love it.
Blaise: Now, do you ever correct each other? Is there like, "No, I don't like that. No, I don't want that," or is it just so seamless that you don't have to do that anymore?
Stacey: Um yeah, I mean I'm I'm honestly trying think think of samples of example of of "I don't like," it's more it's a really good open conversation. "Hey, you guys, how about if we do it this way?" It's not so much that something's wrong, it's that of the three of us, we might be having a conversation when we're in the studio or even at a sound check um or rehearsal and we go one of us goes, "Hey, what if we did this?" And then the idea is This is what I mean about it being a dialogue. It is very much a dialogue. It is very much a conversation and it's very fluid. So, nobody really dislikes each other's ideas. I think we're just looking to go and grow and improve things and we all have different ideas to bring to the to the trio.
Blaise: Well, let's listen to the trio. This is Stacey Kent's new album with Jim Tomlinson playing saxophones and flutes, and Art Hirahara at the piano. The new album is called "A Time For Love". Here's Stacey Kent from her new album, "A Time For Love", doing "As".
As around the sun the Earth knows she's revolving
And the rosebuds know to bloom in early May
Just as hate knows love's the cure, you can rest your mind assured
That I'll be loving you always
As now can't reveal the mystery of tomorrow
But in passing we'll grow older every day
Just as all that's born is new, you know that what I say is true
That I'll be loving you always
Always
Always
[11:15 - 12:47] [Music: “As” -- A warm, mid-tempo jazz arrangement of a classic tune, featuring vibrant acoustic piano chords, a melodic saxophone line, soft percussion, and smooth, expressive vocals]
Blaise: That's Art Hirahara playing the keys with Jim Tomlinson on sax, Stacey Kent vocals, and Stacey Kent is here talking about the trio and her music. So, that particular tune, "As", how did you come up with choosing that one?
Stacey: You know, this is really fun to talk about, because I can I can visualize how we were putting this together before we got to the recording of it. Um I grew up on Stevie Wonder, as I'm sure you did and many of your listeners. Right. There's such an incredible groove from Stevie Wonder and when he's on stage, the whole thing is just electric and there are so many of them. Now, uh so many musicians and and participants. Um so many people singing on that particular track. And Jim and Art and I sat down talking about this song. I'll go back one step. I came up with the songs with these guys for "A Time For Love" that it's just an album filled with love songs. You know, those evocative songs that just invite you into this universe of of love. And we loved making this record so much. I wanted to do this song for a long time, and I sat down with my chamber orchestra of three and said, "So, how do we triage I'd really like to include 'As'. How do we take it as a song that is played by, I don't know, dozens of people and make it something great and groovy um and putting that lyric, which is just so phenomenal, so exquisite, at the center of it all?" And I think the three of us, we started to play it on sound checks and maybe we'd only play, you know, a few bars of it, and we'd just play around because, you know, it's kind of nice not going straight to the finish line, just letting something gel and sit there for a while so that the ideas can just kind of simmer. And so we would play it and then we'd go away from it and we would play it and then go away from it. And then, this is exactly the case in point, Blaise, where we were talking about one of us would say, "Hey, why don't we do this on this section?" It was such a great dialogue between the three of us and I'm really proud of it, because we we were able to triage it and make it this great, intense community song of just the three of us. And since we've been playing it live on stage, I love that people are clapping and they're singing and they're so involved. And I get to stand back and think, "Oh, yes, I remember when we were sitting here going, 'Now, what do we do with this?'" So it's really fun to watch the puzzle pieces come together.
Blaise: Wow! I'm talking with Stacey Kent about her new album, "A Time For Love", and she's working with Art Hirahara on this and Jim Tomlinson. And what a beautiful sound. Now, do you ever jump in and play piano, because I know that you did play piano. Don't you start on piano?
Stacey: I did. I grew up playing the piano, classical piano, so it's still under my fingers. I never jump in and play the piano. There are gigs and and and years and periods where I will jump in on guitar. Um I had an injury on my hand so I didn't actually I haven't played the guitar for a little while. But um nope, I leave all that to Art, and uh he's a You know, Art blows my mind, because he's one man. Um he is a one-man band, but he takes us all these places. It's really an extraordinary privilege to uh to get to play with him.
Blaise: Well, let's listen to the title cut from the new album. This is Stacey Kent on vocals, Jim Tomlinson Is he playing sax on this one?
Stacey: He is.
Blaise: This is "A Time For Love" and then Art Hirahara on piano. Here's Stacey doing the title cut, "A Time For Love".
A time for summer skies
For hummingbirds and butterflies
For tender words that harmonize
With love
A time for climbing hills
For leaning out of window sills
[16:47 - 18:24] [Music: “A Time For Love” -- Ballad-style slow jazz, featuring delicate and sparse acoustic piano notes, a smooth and soulful saxophone melody, and gentle, intimate vocals]
Blaise: Stacey Kent, "A Time For Love" with Jim Tomlinson and Art Hirahara. Well, Stacey's here with me talking about her new album all about love. It's called "A Time For Love" and this is This is a beautiful love song, "The Shadow of Your Smile", that we're going to listen to. And how did you choose this and uh how did you put it together?
Stacey: What I enjoy so much is I feel very patient about the songs I'm going to record eventually. I have to say I am very iPhone and um list-oriented. I always have been. I have a ton of lists, and among my lists is one of songs that I eventually want to record. "The Shadow of Your Smile" has been on that list for so long. They kind of go from list to then my spreadsheet and I have different columns and there are songs that get closer to, "Oh, this would make a great song for this particular album," because I like to make, even though people are going to listen to songs in their own order and in their own way, and sometimes they're listening digitally, sometimes on a on a CD, sometimes on a on a vinyl, and so everybody has their own way. But regardless of a song being a single for people or a full album, Jim and I like to make a full album. And so I think that I choose my songs according to, "Oh, this would make a good one for this particular album," or, "I really want to record this song but I'm not quite ready," or, "I don't have a home for this song." "The Shadow of Your Smile" has been that song for me for a long time. So I sing it a lot live, and finally it found a home on this record. Um it's kind of poignant, if I'm honest with you, because we were playing this live, I don't know if I played it at the MIM, but um we've played it as the quintet and sextet, uh namely with our beautiful drummer Anthony Pinciotti, who we came to uh Arizona with on one of our many visits to MIM. Um I remember that gig so well and specifically backstage and singing and dancing with him. And um That is he he died last year, Anthony, and he is very, very, very missed. That's really hard for me that he's gone. Um and I have such really strong memories of being with him and playing this live. Um In any case, um it's not that it's we can play this as trio, quartet, quintet. Uh the song itself is just such a beautiful and evocative love song. I feel every time I sing it, I feel like I'm thoroughly transported to that place. It's so full of imagery. I believe every word, you know what I mean? Yeah. It is a powerful song. It's beautiful. "One day we walked along the sands, one day in early spring." I mean, I can completely I would say that when I sing songs, for me, sometimes my eyes are open, sometimes they're closed, but open or closed, the whole experience is so visual, um as well as uh audio. And uh it is just a very powerful and evocative song, and I felt like for "A Time For Love", it just was so right.
Blaise: Well, I'm glad you put it on this album. It's a really beautiful song and you do beautiful job on it. And how I wanted to ask you like how do you keep You're doing all this traveling, different places, different countries, Arizona, the desert. How do you keep your voice in shape for all that? How do you stay, you know, keep your voice working in good order?
Stacey: Thanks for asking. I um I try and take very, very good care of myself, you know? Um sometimes sleep is um not the easiest thing to get, because you have adrenaline after you work at night and then you have to get up and go the next day and it can get pretty fatiguing out there. But, um we eat super well. We're so super conscious of how, you know, what we what we take in. Um I hydrate a lot. I I drink a lot. I don't drink any alcohol. Um I lip trill and I straw. Um phonating through a straw is very nice, because it um stretches and um takes the pressure off your vocal cords. If anybody wants to ask me about that more specifically, they can write to me on my social media pages and I'll fill them in. But, you know, there's a lot of this. [Makes lip trill sound] You know, I try and keep that exercise and well. I don't push when I sing. I keep my voice lessons going. So, you know, the voice lessons that I take are I love my voice teacher, Christina Fleming, and when we work, we're always looking to raise the ceiling, of course, but we're also looking to raise the floor. In other words, when I'm tired, when I'm a little bit beaten up, how can I keep it so that um my voice is in good shape? Um so that you're not just in, you know, kind of survival mode when you're that tired. Yeah. Um but I try and sing as well and correctly as I can all the time with support, and uh if I'm feeling a little bit unwell or poorly or inflamed, I take very, very good care of that as quickly as possible. Obviously, I'm human and like anybody else, you can get hit with a cold here and there, but um I arm myself as much as I can. I guess the answer I'm giving you is probably pretty similar to all singers and all touring musicians and people who want to take care of themselves on the road. Um and then just balance it so that we are touring a lot, but we also try and get home, especially more these days, um balance it right so that we get home life, too. Um I'm very lucky in that I get out there with people I love and love to work with. There is just a great spirit out on the road, um traveling with my best friend in Jim, so, you know, that kind of stuff helps, too. Um and that's all I can think of off the top of my head.
Blaise: That's quite a bit. That's quite a bit. Now I have I have one off-the-cuff question to ask you, and that is well, actually about your extracurricular activities like skiing. Are you still skiing? Do you still ski?
Stacey: Absolutely. I mean, I'm skiing less these days, because we moved from We were living in Colorado for many years, you know? We were out there for, you know, over 20 years.
Blaise: Um so I would ski So where were you Where were you in Colorado?
Stacey: We were up in the middle of nowhere. We were up in the Rockies, um where we lived was in the middle of the nowhere, but it wasn't that far from that many places. We were sort of between Glenwood and Aspen so Oh, mhm. um we would ski we had that whole Pitkin County area, for people who know the area, um at our fingertips. It was amazing, because we could, you know, go out, ski for a little while, hike for a little while, and still go home and Wow, yeah. make a record in our studio. But I don't get to do that as much, because we now live um in Virginia. Uh but skiing is still an important part of my life. Hiking is an important part of my life. Being in the yard, be- anything that we do Outside. for extracurricular is an outdoor activity, put it that way. And even when we're on tour, we'll ask the concierge at a hotel, "You know, where's the nearest park? Where's the nearest garden?" Um we were in Oh god, where were we recently where we went to visit a zoo? Uh it was absolutely gorgeous. We went to the zoo. Maybe we were in I forgot which country already. Um uh but, you know, we love Mother Nature. That is very inspiring to us and I think that probably shows in the music that we make, too. Um so sure we enjoy the cities that we go to and take advantage, but um most of the time we run to the parks.
Blaise: I'm talking with Stacey Kent. She has a new album out, "A Time For Love". I'm Blaise Lantana. Stacey, thanks for talking with us about your music.
Stacey: Blaise, it's such a pleasure to talk to you. This is so much fun and thank you so much for having me. Thanks for the invitation.
Blaise: All right. Well, let's listen to Stacey Kent and "The Shadow of Your Smile" on Jazz PHX.
One day we walked along the sands
One day in early spring
You held a piper in your hand
To mend its broken wing
Now I remember many a day
And many a lonely mile
The echo of a piper's song
The shadow of your smile
[26:10 - 27:35] [Music: “The Shadow Of Your Smile” -- Intimate, slow ballad jazz, featuring minimalist acoustic piano chords, a soft, melancholy saxophone line, and warm, gentle vocals]