Stacey Kent & quartet. Photo by Tom Alvarez
Virtuoso jazz singer Stacey Kent proved that less is more when she performed on Sunday at the Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel. I last saw her perform at The Cabaret at the Columbia Club in 2012 and never forgot her low-key ability to create a story, establish a mood, and capture an emotion in a gentle and subtle way, often sweetly melancholic, that is very soothing. During this most recent concert, even though her performance took place in the vast space that is the Palladium, she nevertheless made it feel as if the concert were taking place in the most intimate club.
Stacey Kent
On a national tour, which began only recently following a two-year hiatus owing to the pandemic, Kent was accompanied by a quartet of fine musicians that included her husband James (Jim) on sax and flute (also a songwriter and arranger), Art Hirahara on piano, Rob Hubbard on bass, and Anthony Pinciotti on drums. Performing in front of a surprisingly small, yet receptive, audience, Kent, known for her simple phraseology, chiseled style and pure voice sang a captivating setlist that included both standards and original songs from her albums.
Fluent in English, Portuguese and French, demonstrated throughout her set, Kent set the tone for an evening of elegant entertainment when she opened with “Under Paris Skies” or “Sous le ciel de Paris,” a song initially written for the 1961 film of the same title. Other selections Kent conveyed in her signature style, which is to say that she sings softly, sometimes even in a whisper, included “Photograph” by Brazilian composer Antonio Carlos Jobim, “Valse,” “What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?” by Alan and Marilyn Bergman, and “Les Eaux de Mars.”
Kent continued to mesmerize in Act 2, with the classic “Bésame Mucho,” a bolero song written in 1940 by Mexican songwriter Consuelo Velázquez, the Beatles’ “Blackbird,” and “Bonita,” another selection from Jobim, one of her favorite composers. Showing off her gift for speaking multiple language with ease, Kent closed the concert, singing a lilting interpretation of “Samba” in French.
Without question, one of my favorite vocalists, Kent, with her distinctive mezzo-soprano voice and warm and calm delivery, turned in another memorable performance at her Palladium debut. It was an experience that simply reinforced what I first witnessed in 2012, a spellbinding performer, who is a best-selling artist in France and Brazil. Also fluent in Italian and German, Kent once again demonstrated that in any language, she is a one-of-a-kind, singular, talent.
