Issue 155

Jazz at the Taliesin

14th May 2007

From the opening bars of Sergio Mendes' 'So Many Stars' Stacey Kent held a sell out Taliesin audience in the palm of her hand. Described by the New York Times as possessing a voice "bright as diamonds in sunlight, tinged with a wistful, kittenish sweetness", the London based, American jazz chanteuse covered a range of songs from the Bossa-Nova of Antonio Carlos Jobim through Rogers & Hart show-tunes and material from her award winning CD 'The Lyric'.

Given top notch support by partner and musical collaborator, Jim Tomlinson on tenor sax, Matt Skelton on drums, pianist Dave Newton and Dave Chamberlain on double bass, Stacey Kent proved at Taliesin that jazz crooners don't have to cultivate a hip bad girl image, à la Amy Winehouse, in order to connect with an audience, as sheer talent will do nicely thank you.

Kent's version of Louis Bonfa's 'Like gentle rain' was the highlight of a close to flawless performance, which closed with a curiously awkward cover of the James Taylor/Carole King classic You've got a friend. In response to the thunderous applause that greeted the closing number Kent and her band encored with One for my baby, and left the stage having served up a cordon-bleu offering of exquisite jazz vocals to the Taliesin faithful.

Paul Seacome