Still Loving Stacey Kent

I felt in love with Stacey Kent a couple weeks ago and still do so with several more albums. Her clear enunciation combined with her no-nonsense phrasing makes her so damn pleasure to listen to during work and drive.

Raconte-Moi is my favorite album for the morning commute. Ms. Kent’s romantic French-singing and the tasty arrangements, particularly the bossa nova groove on the first two tracks (“Les Eaux De Mars” and “Jardin D’hiver”) are a perfect way to start the gorgeous autumn day.

The Lyric is a lovely collaboration with her husband, saxophonist Jim Tomlinson. The album kicks off with an instrumental cover of “Manha De Carnival.” While it is a beautiful, one would wish Ms. Kent lent her voice to the track because Mr. Tomlinson isn’t Paul Desmond nor Stan Getz. The ones featured Ks. Kent, including “I’ve Grown Accustomed To His Face,” “If I were A Bell” and “My Heart Belongs To Daddy,” are sensational.

Breakfast On The Morning Tram truly showcases Ms. Kent as a gifted storyteller. From “The Ice Hotel” to “Landslide” to “I Wish I Could Go Traveling Again” and the title track, Ms. Kent brought novelist Kazuo Ishiguro’s lyrics to life like she was narrating to a romantic film with simple picking guitar. The album strangely ends with her straightforward reading of “What a Wonderful World.”

I still have a few more albums of her to get through, but these three are pure pleasure.