Summer Me, Winter Me comes out this November
Grammy nominated jazz vocalist Stacey Kent who has recorded with Brazilian legends Marcos Valle, Roberto Menescal and Danilo Caymmi and the celebrated French string quartet the Quatuor Ébène has released a few new tracks from her forthcoming album, Summer Me, Winter Me which is slated for release on November 10th on naïve Records. The recently released tracks are “If You Go Away” and “Ne me quitte pas”. You can hear them right here.
The album will feature several familiar jazz standards, but will also have space set aside for fan favorite tracks that Kent has not yet recorded during her several decades of entertaining. She explains the selection process:
“‘Which album is that song on?’ is a question I often get asked after a concert at signings. Since our set lists invariably include a mixture of old and new repertoire, the answer is sometimes, ‘it’s not on any album.’ So, whilst not exactly a requests album, Summer Me, Winter Me is a response to that informal and unscientific sounding, a representative selection of some of your ‘requests.’ I hope you are pleased with this selection and I look forward to seeing you at my next concert and to being able to say, ‘it’s on this album.’”
Also on the album are three original numbers, one of which is titled "Postcard Lovers" and was co-written by Nobel Price winner and Kent's collaborate, Kazuo Ishiguro. Stacey's husband - Jim Tomlinson - also brings his talents to the project by adding his sax skills along with arranging and producing.
These tunes are the second and third track shared from the forthcoming album, the first being "Under Paris Skies" which was originally written for the soundtrack to the film Sous le ciel de Paris and made famous by American pop singer Andy Williams in the ’60’s, it's an ode to falling in love among the Parisian scenery which - of course - you know is entirely a possible thing that can happen.
It's not just the music either! Stacey and Ishiguro will release a full-color book next March; it's a collection of the lyrics they have collaborated on over the course of their career together. The book will include 16 lyrics, complete with specially commissioned illustrations by Italian artist Bianca Bagnarelli and an introduction by Ishiguro. The Summer We Crossed Europe in the Rain will be released by Know in the stated on March 5 and in the U.K. via Faber on March 7th.
Stacy will be coming to a town near you this fall including a residency at New York City's Birdland in December. If you'd care to catch her live act, see the dates below.
STACEY KENT NORTH AMERICAN TOUR
October 10—Muncie, IN—Ball State University October 12—Victoriaville, QC—Le Carré 150 – Espace culturel de Victoriaville October 14—Quebec, QC—Palais Montcalm October 15—Rockport, MA—Shalin Liu Performance Center October 16—Phoenix, AZ—Musical Instrument Museum October 18—College Station, TX—Rudder Complex October 20—Edmond, OK—UCO Jazz Lab December 12—New York, NY—Birdland December 13—New York, NY—Birdland December 14—New York, NY—Birdland December 15—New York, NY—Birdland December 16—New York, NY—Birdland