The Stacey Kent Collection

In a world inundated with the sounds of Eminem and Christina Aguilera, heaven can still be within reach with the music of Stacey Kent. The London-based vocalist of the sweet tones and impeccable phrasing has made American standards the main content of her repertoire and it is just as well. There is a sense of wonder, a hint of laughter in her throat and a uniquely bittersweet expression in the way she shades her interpretation.

The greatest of artists have already performed these songs in ways that have elicited raves over these past years like Ella, Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra. So many others have left behind recordings that show listeners how these classics should be done. Admittedly, it takes a lot of courage for newer artists to take on these compositions. But as evidenced by the recently released Stacey Kent Collection, Stacey, though a younger artist from a different era, was also born to perform these classic love songs.

I especially love her work on the Gershwin tunes They All Laughed, He Loves and She Loves and They Can’t Take That Away from Me plus Duke Ellington’s All Too Soon, but only because they happen to be personal favorites. The truth is Stacey Kent also sounds great with Come Love, I’m Just a Lucky So and So, East of the Sun, In the Still of the Night, Isn’t This a Lovely Day, It’s Delovely, You Go to My Head and Day In, Day Out.

Added bonus is the particularly arresting performance by her accompanists. These are Stacey’s husband Jim Tomlinson on tenor sax, Colin Oxley on guitar, David Newton on piano and John Pearce on piano, Andy Cleyndert, Simon Thorpe and Dave Green on bass and Steve Brown and Jeff Hamilton on drums. Keep a tight watch on Tomlinson. There is something so special in the way his sax interacts with Stacey’s singing.

Give yourselves a break and treat yourselves to this collection.

John Lennon’s house

Here is good news for Beatles fans lucky enough to be visiting the UK soon. John Lennon’s childhood home in Liverpool was officially opened to the public last week by his widow Yoko Ono. The semi-detached house in Menlove Avenue, Woolton where Lennon lived from the age of five to 23 was where the late Beatle composed the group’s breakthrough hit Please, Please Me with best friend Paul McCartney and many of their early works.

Yoko donated the house to the National Trust by Lennon’s. She also asked that the house be preserved so people can get an idea of the early experiences that inspired Lennon’s music. It has since been restored and arranged just like the way it was when Lennon was staying there with his Aunt Mimi. This gets me wondering. Do you think Lennon will ever earn a spot in the Poet’s Corner of Westminster Abbey alongside Shakespeare?

That might be asking too much but check out the house if you are ever in the UK. If chances of that are also far-fetched, you might as well just hie off to the the 5th Floor of Shangri-La Mall in EDSA to catch the Beatles Memorabilia Exhibit now going on.

A look at the hit charts

Since this piece starts with UK-based artist Stacey Kent and carries a newsbit from Liverpool, I might as well continue the tour with a look in the hit charts. So here are the top 10 sellers in the UK this week according to the official BBC list. Let us wait and see if most of these releases will make it to local shores.

The singles: Spirit in the Sky by Gareth Gates featuring The Kumars; Scandalous by Mis-Teeq; Being Nobody by Richard X VS Liberty X; U Make Me Wanna by Blue; Move Your Feet by Junior Senior; All I Have by Jennifer Lopez featuring L.L. Cool J; Sunrise by Simply Red; Born to Try by Delta Goodren; In Da Club by 50 Cent; and Somewhere I Belong by Linkin Park.

The albums: Come Away with Me by Norah Jones; A Rush of Blood in the Head by Coldplay; Daniel in Blue Jeans by Daniel O’Donnell; Stripped by Christina Aguilera; Back in the World by Paul McCartney; Ballads, The Love Song Collection by Boyzone; By the Way by the Red Hot Chili Peppers; Neon Nights by Dannii Minogue; Let Go by Avril Lavigne; and Justified by Justin Timberlake.