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Stacey Kent -
Breakfast On The Morning Tram (Blue Note)
Released: September 10, 2007 (UK), October 2, 2007 (US)
It's the right time of year for a baseball metaphor, I think. There
seems to be a sort of pecking order
amongst record labels. Sort of like major league, and minor league.
There are many great performers releasing music on small labels, and on
their own, to devoted fans and people who become devoted fans. And some
- get picked up by the majors. What's the difference Where, when, luck?
In the movie, "Bull Durham," Crash Davis - the character played by Kevin
Costner, says, "...you get just one extra flare a week – just one – a
gork...you get a groundball, you get a groundball with eyes...you get a
dying quail, just one more dying quail a week, and you’re in Yankee
Stadium.”
None of that is written to take anything away from Stacey Kent - for my
money, one of the two best girl singers working today. And Blue Note, if
not the Yankee Stadium of jazz labels, certainly one of the two best
labels - thinks so, too. Right place, right time? Sure. Loads of talent,
lots of records sold? You betcha. She's been huge in the UK for a
while - Ms. Kent should have been a worldwide star years ago.
And this latest, "Breakfast On the Morning Tram," is one of the two best
albums ever released by Ms. Kent, with lots of help from hubby Jim
Tomlinson on sax, who contributes four tunes with lyricist Kazuo
Ishiguro. Of those, "The Ice Hotel" is my favorite - a tune that chides
a lover, I think, for detaching: "The thermostat guarantees | a steady
five degrees | what other place could serve our needs so well?"
...or perhaps it's a romance that's overheated? Either way, it'll go on
my list of new classics.
Other favorites from the disc include "So Many Stars," another original
- "I Wish I Could Go Traveling Again," and a delicious, melancholy take on "What A
Wonderful World."
Ms. Kent makes it sound so effortless. She and the band demand your
attention by not demanding it. Got my attention seven years ago -
with an NPR piece I heard during my morning walk. I stopped
walking, to listen - until the piece was over - and then went right out
and bought "Let Yourself Go," the tribute to Fred Astaire.
Urbane, sophisticated, smart. Yeah, all of those things. And then some.
I didn't get a review copy - I picked up my copy in Japan, where it was
released . Took a cab each way, paid a ridiculous price. Just to get
mine early.
This is the very best of the very best.
Highest Recommendation.
Four microphones (out of four)
- Doug Boynton
(09/28/07) |
