Staceykent.com Website Review

stacey kent - downbeat - 5-stars i know i dream: the orchestral sessions. stacey kent’s mezzo-soprano voice is a beautiful instrument for offsetting orchestral accompaniment, a fact that i know i dream illustrates well. the orchestra, a 52-piece london studio as*emblage, has a lushness that would smother nelson riddle - yet kent cuts in fairness, the arrangements hardly compete with kent. but the singer has a relatively soft, restrained voice that on a less-skilled performer might easily be overpowered. kent is incisive even at a near-whisper, as on the tender arrangement of jobim’s her voice becomes a featured instrument against saxophonist jim tomlinson’s vivacious samba “make it up.” indeed the effect in a song with a segmented lyric line, like the french-language “avec le temps,” is very much like a concerto, with rich strings blooming in along with the jobim and other standards are several originals, composed by tomlinson and several lyricists. one of the two best songs, the latter role is author kazuo ishiguro’s - kent’s longtime collaborator and a nobel laureate. “bullet train” puts the closing “the changing lights” is i know i dream’s crown jewel, a bittersweet memory that could be a companion piece to joni mitchell’s “the last time i saw richard.” it’s the capstone of a nearly perfect vocal jazz album.. all about jazz album review: i know i dream dec 22, 2017 by dan bilawsky. stacey kent has practically done it all over the past twenty years, selling north of two million albums, putting her gorgeously delicate stamp on standards, introducing fresh tunes into the canon, racking up awards, and bringing her flawless voice to fans in more than fifty countries. but one thing she hadn't done prior to this point is record an album with an orchestra. cross that one off the list now and bathe with i know i dream, kent's voice receives a warm embrace from a sizeable orchestra containing nearly sixty musicians. but rather than