Stacey Kent on the road with ‘I Know I Dream’
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Vocalist Stacey Kent is somewhat of a rarity — an artist who originally didn’t aspire to be one. And even more rare, her musical partner of 26 years, her husband Jim Tomlinson, didn’t either.
These two accidental touring musicians, part of a quintet, come to the Manchester Craftmen’s Guild’s Jazz Concert Hall for two shows Saturday behind Ms. Kent’s latest album, “I Know I Dream,” released in October.
The tour, she says, is “a mixed bag” because “some [selections] are the five of us, and some are with an orchestra,” Ms. Kent says. “The [show] that we do [at the Guild] is with the quintet.”
Although the South Orange, N.J., native didn’t come from a musical family, “I sang all the time as a kid,” she says. But even in those days, “I was constantly listening, regardless of the genre of music. I was getting ready for a career in music without realizing I was.”
She majored in comparative literature at Sarah Lawrence College and went to Europe — first Germany, then England — to study for a master’s degree.
But while in England, she met Mr. Tomlinson, who had studied politics, philosophy and economics at Oxford and played saxophone, flute and clarinet on the side.
They had both been enrolled at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.
“That’s what really sparked it for us — we fell in love and we both had a passion for the music,” Ms. Kent says.
The new release was recorded during the winter and spring of this year at Angel Studios in London. Much of the material was written by Mr. Tomlinson and novelist Kazuo Ishiguro, whom Ms. Kent notes has won a Nobel Prize for literature. Orchestral arrangements were written by When: Tickets: Tommy Laurence.
“Their music fits beautifully — very tender, very wistful,” she says.
The different recording sessions turned out to be, in her view, quite necessary to the overall strength of the album.
“To get an album right, you want to marry the sensibility of the featured artists,” she says, because “there is so much possibility of going in the wrong direction” due to lack of focus. “You can get that wrong — you can overdo it. That’s why we decided to split it in two.” So everyone took a break for several months.
“I think we really got this right,” she says.
The rest of the ensemble features pianist Art Hirahara, bassist Tom Hubbard and drummer Anthony Pinciotti.
“The atmosphere is joyous — they love to make music,” Ms. Kent says.