Customer Reviews

Dreamsville

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

CORRECTION:
ALBERT, not Alfred, Marx [Discovery Records]

Please fix. Thanks

What can I say, I love Stacey Kent. There is something about her voice, the way the wraps around a song just makes you feel good. The song " You are there" is worth the price of this CD alone. Buy this CD. You wont be disappointed.

I just received my first Stacy Kent CD, "Dreamsville."
Needless to say, it won't be my last!
Her voice is incredible!

Stacey's voice is perfect: never forced, and perpetually grinning. Dreamsville is a perfect CD.

Stacey Kent Brings To Mind The Great Anita O'Day!! She Is Wonderful! I Will Be Buying All Her Cds!! The Musicians Are Fantastic! I Love This Singer!!! Thank You Stacey!! A Fan For Life!!!

Stacey Kent is a glorious synthesis of all the best sweet and smooth singers on the jazz history: Billie, Mildred Bailey, Doris Day, Helen Carr, Lucy Ann Polk, Beverly Kenney, Julie Wilson, Joanie Sommers etc.
.'Dreamsville'is a pearl, a masterpiece full of intimate renditions. Backgrounded by a small group of excellent players - where her husband Jim Tomlinson brights with his saxophone that sounds like a mixture of Lester Young with Stan Getz - Stacey sings with a particular enunciation. She is the most original voice in jazz from many years but what is important is the pleasure when we hear her. I would like to repeat: she is the best jazz singer today!

It took me a while to get turned on to Stacey Kent, because she doesn't get nearly the hype that Diana Krall and now Jane Monheit get (Krall deserves it, Monheit needs to grow as a singer before she will). But having heard Dreamsville, I'm excited to have found a new artist to add to my playlist. First, there is that voice: sweet yet breathy and seductive. Add to that the fact that she knows how to truly sing, not just exhibit her vocal skills (something Monheit desperately needs to learn). Kent makes each song her own, yet does it in such a way that the song retains its identity. There's not a weak link on this CD, but for me, "Hushabye Mountain" stands out as a showcase of Kent's ability to breathe emotion into a song. Be warned, however: if you're one of those people who think Krall's "The Look of Love" is "boring" because "all the songs sound the same" (i.e. because there's no "Hit That Jive Jack") then this album may be a bit above your musical appreciation skills.

I was privilaged enough to see Stacy Kent live in London's Ronnie Scotts club, Stacy Kent and her band were simply in a class of their own. I think she should be played on all the radio stations out there, for all true music lovers.

I stopped dead on my tracks when I heard her and this album for the first time in the store...and bought it! Impulse buying is not my style but she grabbed my heart and did a nice enough tug to make me change for that moment.
Her version of 'Dreamsville' is warm, cozy, like being wrapped by a lover compared to Diana Krall's seductive and sexy version(available as a guest only on Dave Grusin's 'Two for the Road', a tribute to Mancini...her song is literally worth the price of the whole CD although Dave is excellent too).

Stacey's just as good on the others in this album...a dreamy, romantic and warm addition to anyone's ballad collection. Five
hearts(and stars) to the chanteuse!

I feel I must respond to the review by Mr Leroy James of New York city. First off, I don't quite see how the British are somehow meant to be less discerning than American and "international" audiences. The British jazz market is very discerning, certainly no less so than over the Atlantic. The British jazz market is smaller but if anything that tends to make it even more discerning. Many jazz musicians now find they are receiving a far better and more knowledgable reception over here than in America and there is generally a lively interest heavyweight jazz of the non-soft variety, both American and European. As for Kenny G, well I think Mr James will discover that lovers of Kenny G exist the world over! For some reason. Secondly, far from having no understanding of jazz, Stacey Kent presents a lucid and intelligent jazz programme on British radio. Third off, I can't stand Kenny G and I love Charlie Parker and John Coltrane, I've sold my own grandmother to see Dave Holland live, but I also happen to think Stacey Kent is pretty good too! Far from being a "little girl lost" type, having seen her live, she comes over both as being remarkably feisty and amusing and also as being deeply committed to the music she sings. And she works a crowd well too. True, the style is very different to Ella Fitzgerald or Dinah Washington or even Cassandra Wilson but I don't think it suffers for all that. Dreamsville is a ballads album, so if numbers with a little more pace are your thing you may want to try one of Stacey Kent's other albums first.