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I found this tidbit on Shidoobee:
http://pub6.ezboard.com/fshidoobeewithstonesdougfrm15.showMessage?topicID=7661.topic
Stacey Kent
Howes About Jazz: Mar 17 edition
Stacey Kent
By Chris Howes
The latest word around Dartford is they have renamed the Jagger Centre the "Jazzer Centre", such is the high-powered level of its crowd-pulling jazz programme.
Since January, a rare batch of box office big-hitters has graced the stage and an especially successful February and March go out with a shout as international headliner Stacey Kent and her all-star band seduce fans with their winning mixture of vocal charm and musical command on March 31.
Kent is among a still-young generation which has given a highly-distinctive presence to British jazz on the world stage, radio and television since the early-1990s.
Among this stylistically-diverse group are pianists Gareth Williams (see him on Friday in Greenwich at Peter de Witt's Cafe) and Steve Melling, saxophonists Courtney Pine, Steve Williamson and Denys Baptiste, and singers Claire Martin, Ian Shaw and Tina May. They are all on frequent international festival, club and concert hall tours, attracting big crowds and rave press reviews.
Kent, in particular, has achieved some spectacular and long-lasting record sales with her albums. Her most recent, The Boy Next Door (Candid CCD 79797), has spent months in the American billboard charts since its release last September. In May she will make her Carnegie Hall debut.
A New Yorker by birth and up-bringing, she spent her student days working on languages in Paris and on music in London, where she has lived for the past 15 years or so. Her songs are mostly from the standard show-song repertoire and her flowing band shapes things peerlessly, thanks to the brilliance of pianist Dave Newton, sax man Jim Tomlinson, guitarist Colin Oxley, bassist Dave Chambers and drummer Steve Brown.
The sound of her voice evokes memories of Anita O'Day and Billie Holiday, although she says she has taken her stylistic lead from Sinatra. You will hear a creative love for the material, a respect for the traditional values of clear vocal diction, group dynamics and rhythmic adventure and a natural way of engaging the audience. Never mind the fact you have heard most of the songs a million times before, their outstanding quality lives on and Stacey Kent, for one, ensures it does.
Call the Jagger Centre box office now on 01322 291100/220000 and save yourself all that tiresome travelling to Carnegie Hall.
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