Stacey Kent

Stacey Kent has always been an engaging vocalist who comes on like a jazzier, more dynamic Blossom Dearie. Instead of getting more conservative for her first album on the famed Blue Note label, Kent broadens both her material and her approach. Morning Train finds her singing lyrics by the novelist Kazuo Ishiguro and covering Serge Gainsbourg songs, as well as singing a few traditional standards such as "So Many Stars." Special mention to Kent's usual collaborator, saxophonist Jim Tomlinson, who also arranged the music and cowrote the set's new numbers with Ishiguro.