The lovely sound of Stacey Kent - SOUNDS FAMILIAR by Baby A. Gil

Amidst all the boy band harmonizing and the teen diva vocal calisthenics, the release of Stacey Kent’s new album comes like rain after a long, dry season. The young jazz artist has the emotional responsiveness of an old soul and she has the pipes to go with it. Kent has precise diction, crystal-clear tones and a way with lyrics that although not imitative, echoes music greats like Nat "King" Cole and Ella Fitzgerald.

I do not know if her first album Close Your Eyes was ever released in the Philippines, but The Tender Trap is now available locally. This should give music buyers a chance to explore the old via the standards she sings in this album, and also the new through her unique artistry. Hey, you cannot have ear-candy all the time. So why not try something more tasty and substantial with Stacey Kent.

The Tender Trap is made up of some of the most loved songs in American music. These have been recorded and re-recorded a number of times. Name a famous singer from the past five or six decades and he or she would have definitely sang one or two or more. Now, these tunes are so beautiful that they still manage to sound good in almost every instance. But, take note, a singer of extraordinary ability can still take them, discover unexplored nuances and then make them her own. And that is what Stacey does.

Included in the album are Duke Ellington’s I Didn’t Know About You, Cole Porter’s In the Still of the Night, Irving Berlin’s They Say It’s Wonderful, George and Ira Gershwin’s They All Laughed, plus Comes Love, Fools Rush In, East of the Sun, Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart, Don’t Be That Way, In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning and the well-known title track composed by Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn, The Tender Trap. Also featured in outstanding solo spots are musicians Jeff Hamilton on drums, Colin Oxley on guitar, David Newton on piano, Dave Green in bass and Jim Tomlinson on the tenor sax.

Stacey Kent was first exposed to her kind of music by her architect father and magazine editor mother when she was growing up in New York. She never thought of singing professionally and got herself a degree in comparative literature from Sarah Lawrence College. It was while getting ready for graduate school that she took time off to visit friends in Europe. On a whim she joined some musicians in an audition for a jazz course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and she was accepted despite her lack of music training.

Music has been her life ever since. She married tenor sax player Tomlinson. She became the girl singer of the Ritz Hotel’s Vile Bodies Swing Orchestra. She appeared as a big band singer in the movie Richard III. These days she performs in concerts and records albums. Stacey is also an arranger and she and her husband Tomlinson arranged most of the cuts in The Tender Trap. She was named Vocalist of the Year by the British Jazz Awards in 2000 for her work in this album.

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Here now are some more winners of the 2001 Grammys:

R&B Song: Say My Name by Destiny’s Child

R&B Album: Voodoo by D’ Angelo

Rap Duo or Group: Dr. Dre Feat. Eminem Forget About Dre

Rock Album: There is Nothing Left to Lose by Foo Fighters

Pop Instrumental: The Brian Setzer Orchestra Caravan

Rock Instrumental Performance: Metallica with Michael Kamen Conducting the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra The Call of the Ktulu

Rock Song: With Arms Wide Open by Creed

Male Country: Johnny Cash, Solitary Man

Country Duo or Group: Cherokee Maiden, A Sleep at the Wheel

Country Song: I Hope You Dance by Lee Ann Womack

Compilation Soundtrack: Almost Famous

Score Soundtrack: American Beauty

Song for Motion Picture, Television, Others: When She Loved Me from Toy Story 2 by Sarah McLachlan

World Music Album: Joao Voz E Violao by Joao Gilberto

New Age Album: Thinking of You by Kitaro

Reggae Album: Art and Life by Beenie Man

Contemporary Jazz Album: Outbound by Bela Fleck & the Flecktones

Jazz Instrumental Album: Contemporary Jazz by Branford Marsalis

Jazz Instrumental Solo: Go Get It by Pat Metheny