Liner Notes by Jim Tomlinson
Anyone familiar with my live and recorded work will know that I am fortunate in having Stacey Kent as my musical and my life’s partner. This partnership has deepened over the years to the extent that we share a musical empathy that is at times uncanny. As well as being my greatest inspiration, Stacey’s singing is an extension of my own musical voice. So when the opportunity arose to record with her on this, my first album as leader in four years, I leapt at the chance. The instrumental material that I had originally planned could wait. This could not! Stacey graciously accepted my invitation, indulged me in my choice of material, and sang with more joy and abandon than she ever has.
Although I am an instrumentalist, I have always had a strong affinity for song. There is no more meaningful form of self-expression for me than to play a ballad with the poetry of the lyric reverberating through me and guiding me. I hope that my love of the lyric communicates itself sufficiently to justify the choice of album title.
david newton: piano - Dave Newton is capable of making the piano sound like an orchestra. His sparkling inventiveness at faster tempi and his sumptuous chordal work on ballads combine to make him an unmistakable and world class voice on the instrument.
dave chamberlain: double bass - Dave has always been a thoroughbred but he has, in the last couple of years, matured from a being a great musician into a phenomenal one. His ability to combine creativity with consistency, to interweave improvised counterpoint into his rock solid bass lines, combine to make him the complete modern bass player.
matt skelton: drums - Matt has a colouristic sensibility in his playing and a range of dynamic and texture that bring the music to life. Listening back to “I Got Lost In His Arms” I realise what makes playing with Matt feel so natural; he hears silence the same way I do.
stacey kent: vocals and whistling - I have devoted considerable thought to the job of articulating what makes Stacey such a special artist. She has, to my mind, never been better understood than by Kazuo Ishiguro in his liner notes to her 2001 album, In Love Again. In such company, my own words will doubtless seem pedestrian, but I hope they go some way towards expressing my feelings about her singing. Stacey sings with the voice with which she speaks, thinks and feels, the voice through which she lives and tells her story. It is both recognizably different yet paradoxically familiar.
In her singing, diction, pitch, timbre and inflection are all in perfect balance and all in the most unselfconscious way. All of the songs here are written by others but Stacey quietly sets about making each one her own. There are no dramatic departures or radical reworkings, no clumsy emoting or overbearing attempts to appropriate the songs. Delicately yet indelibly, she stamps her mark on each of the songs. Stacey instinctively understands that great songs, like those presented here, do not need anything added. Rather, she shines a light on what is already present, revealing the song’s essence and through that process, she reveals her own precious soul. Stacey’s quiet perfection stands in contrast to much that passes for art today like a
diamond glinting in a bowl of shattered glass.
I am very proud to be associated with these wonderful musicians and hope that you enjoy this album.
