Stacey Kent: Reconte-Moi

Stacey Kent (vocals)
Reconte-Moi (Blue Note)

Stacey Kent is one of my favourite jazz vocalists alive today. I put her right up there with Claire Martin and Karrin Alyson. They all have roughly about the same amount of material available. But each has stake a different path. Martin tends to experiment with various composers--treating them with her own brand of arrangements. Alyson tends to explore genres all with a very unique and delicate touch of jazz. Kent has always stayed with the Great American Songbook as well as developing her material.

On her previous effort and debut for Blue Note Records, Breakfast on the Morning Tram (Blue Note; 2007), she broke up from her "standards" moniker and place some heavy attention on her own material as well bows to Latin and french composers (specifically Serge Gainsbourg). Breakfast on the Morning Tram was a nice departure and a new beginning for a vocalists I think deserves a lot more recognition.

The addition of Gainsbourg tracks on "Breakfast..." was definitely adventurous. I have heard Stacey perform French live and I was always taken a back but then realized, "hey this actually isn't all that bad" and "great for her for trying something a little different". So flash forward a few years and what do we have in a stereo today--Stacey Kent Reconte Moi (Blue Note), an album of all French material. And guess what. It is absolutely delightful!

Reconte-Moi isn't Stacey Kent turned Astrud Gilberto but she has carved a nice mark in the pavement to state her case. As always the music is beautiful and tightly orchestrated by her husband and saxophonist, Jim Tomlinson. But the work by Graham Harvey (piano) and John Parricelli (guitar) carry Reconte-Moi to a different level than on previous Kent albums. Stacey Kent and her band have stepped up tot the challenge and created a rich, lush, emotional record that brims with love on a summer day. Kent has chosen not to do the standard French covers here either--making Reconte--Moi even more exciting. She has included a couple of Benjamin Biolay numbers in addition to a lovely version of "Les Vacances au bord de la mer" by Michel Jonsaz and Pierre Grosz. Other standout for me are the title track where Parricelli is truly sublime, "Au Coin du monde." "Jardin d'hiver" and "Mi Amor".

Reconte-Moi for me is a near perfect record. It's definitely one of the best Stacey Kent records in years. You don't have to understand French to enjoy this album. Kent's interpretations are all you really need. The knowledge will help but music is about emotion and the moment. So enjoy this moment and the emotion will endure for a long time. Reconte-Moi is brilliant.

Nnenna Freelon

Nnenna Freelon (vocals; b. 1954)
Homefree (Concord Music)

Nnenna Freelon is one of those artists you really must see live. While her albums are exceptional it is the live performance that has always been the clincher for me. I have to admit, I hadn't listened to a Nnenna Freelon album in awhile but listening to the new record Homefree (Concord) I was reminded why I became a fan just under 20 years ago.

Freelon interprets soul, pop, jazz and the American Songbook with the versatility not seen in most singers today. For anyone who hasn't heard Nnenna Freelon before your first impressions may be Billie Holiday or Sarah Vaughan but Freelon has developed her own distinct voice over the last two decades. This is an artists that when you hear her voice coming through the speakers you know it and she commands your attention.

Homefree, Freelon's 7th studio album, is another beautiful reconstruction of the American Songbook with delicate and well crafted arrangements of "The Very Thought Of You," "You The Night And The Music," "Skylark" and more. One of most exciting and refreshing things I've always enjoyed about Nnenna Freelon is her ability to turn a standard into her own. Her arrangements are not what you immediately expect from a jazz singer. I sometimes think how Tony Bennett, Peter Gabriel and Bryan Ferry can rearrange a classic and make you think they actually wrote the song.

The band are another reason for Freelon's creative versatility. With some truly elegant work from Brandon McCune (piano), Kinah Ayah (drums), Wyane Batchelor (bass) and the rest of her ensemble Freelon takes the listener on luminous journey filled with emotion, passion and occasional swathes of funky soul that shines on every tune. From the funky opener "The Lamp Is Low'" to the one Freelon penned number "Cell Phone Blues", Homefree displays her rich gift as both a truly fascinating vocalist and original arranger.

The one startling number for me was towards the end with the standard "Lift Every Voice And Sing" which includes a rap by Pierce Freelon. It's a little jarring but on second listen it settles into the Freelon cannon as another interesting revision on a classic. As with such vocalist as Claire Martin and Mark Murphy, Nneena Freelon has always been a risk taker and appears to enjoy the challenge of re-imagining what can be done in the vocalists songbook.

Homefree is definitely a diverse and rewarding experience. If you end up getting this, you might also want to check out Better Than Anything (Concord) which is a compilation of her previous six albums and makes for the perfect companion piece to Homefree.

Anita O'Day: The Incredible

Anita O'Day (vocals; b. 1919 - 2006)

Unfortunately always overshadowed by Sarah, Billie, Ella, Dinah and even Carmen, Anita O'Day was probably the most versatile of all this great legion of jazz vocalists. Anita moved comfortably between the swing era and bebop with a tough exterior that she carried her entire career. Take about feminism, Anita embodied it and then some. Her ability to scat could rival Louis Armstrong any day. Her gritty demeanour also reflected the rough and tumble lifestyle and demons she fought throughout a large majority of her career. O'Day could go from soft and sultry to fierce and punchy in the blink of an eye.

For jazz lovers there is no more an iconic image (and possibly performance) of Anita than her appearance at The Newport Jazz Festival of 1958, now immortalized in the film Jazz On A Summer's Day. The film itself is highly recommended especially if you are new to jazz. It's not necessarily the jazz version of Woodstock but it does include some incredible and unforgettable performances from jazz icons--especially Anita.

There are very few vocalists who have a catalouge that is as spotless as Anita O'Day's. There's not a dud in the batch. It's probably going to be extremely hard to find individual albums at the this point so you may be left with a host of compilations. While most of them are all quite good the two that are the easiest to find are Finest Hour and The Diva Series. Both cover her most prolific years with Verve (The Diva Series has an absolutely awful cover but its the music that counts) and the most well known material. I prefer the Finest Hour release just because of the sequencing, but that's me. It includes a killer version of Benny Goodman's "Sing, Sing, Sing", "Tea For Two" and "God Bless The Child". In addition, there is a great compilation call Let Me Off Uptown (Columbia) which covers her swing era material with the great drummer/band leader Gene Krupa which is a must.

The jazz completist should seek out The Complete Verve Recordings (Mosaic Records) which is the entire vault and good weekend's worth of listening pleasure. Anita continued to record right up to her passing in 2006. Not too many female vocalist today can hold a candle to O'Day but you can hear the spirit in artists like Stacey Kent, Claire Teal and Claire Martin. A real troubadour for the Great American Songbook, Anita O'Day was a stunning vocalist whose legend needs to be spread and heard by as many people as possible.