In Love Again - The Music of Richard Rodgers

Cast/Singer
Stacey Kent (Vocals), Simon Thorpe (Bass), Colin Oxley (Guitar), Jim Tomlinson (Flute, Sax Tenor)
Songs
  1. Shall We Dance? (Hammerstein/Rodgers) - 3:42
  2. Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered lyrics (Hart/Rodgers) - 5:05
  3. My Heart Stood Still Lyrics (Hart/Rodgers) - 2:57
  4. It Never Entered My Mind (Hart/Rodgers) - 4:39
  5. I Wish I Were in Love Again (Hart/Rodgers) - 4:06
  6. Thou Swell(Hart/Rodgers) - 4:52
  7. It Might as Well Be Spring (Hammerstein/Rodgers) - 4:39
  8. Nobody's HeartLyrics (Belongs to Me) (Hart/Rodgers) - 3:48
  9. I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My... (Hammerstein/Rodgers) - 4:35
  10. This Can't Be Love Lyrics (Hart/Rodgers) - 3:07
  11. Easy to Remember (Hart/Rodgers) - 4:57
  12. Manhattan Lyrics - 4:22
  13. Bali Ha'i (Hammerstein/Rodgers) - 3:00
Realise date: January 28, 2003
Label: Candid Records

Buy it Now from Amazon!!

Overview
 Review    Stacey Kent is back, with her regular combo, for an engaging tribute to Richard Rodgers. In addition to routinely covered songs like "It Never Entered My Mind " and "Bewitched," the Britain-based vocalist looks to the South Pacific book and comes up with two items seldom performed in a jazz context -- "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair" and "Bali Ha'i." Happily, these are two of the best cuts; the former, with its burlesque-ish 6/8 middle section, works amazingly well. The sound of the disc is strong, highlighting the nicely varied arrangements and the innate charm of Kent's puckish voice. There are a few downsides: a sluggish "Thou Swell," an aimless bossa nova reading of "It Might as Well Be Spring," and a general overabundance of ballads. But swinging tracks like "This Can't Be Love [Lyrics]" and "My Heart Stood Still [Lyrics]" (the latter spiced with tasty chord substitutions) make up for the lukewarm spots.



Recorded in conjunction with the 2002 Richard Rodgers centennial celebration, In Love Again is another winning album for Stacey Kent. The songs Rodgers wrote with Lorenz Hart always suit themselves naturally to jazz, so Kent covers nine of them here, including the great standards "Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered" and "It Never Entered My Mind ." There are also three of Rodgers's songs with Oscar Hammerstein II: the easy-swinging opener "Shall We Dance?," "Bali Ha'i," and "It Might as Well Be Spring," the jazziest Rodgers & Hammerstein song (no matter what John Coltrane says). Kent's crack band returns, with guitarist Colin Oxley's sensitive lines recalling Joe Pass's work with Ella Fitzgerald, and Jim Tomlinson supporting his wife on tenor sax and flute.



The current trend with CD's to print the lyrics of all the songs in the sleeve, is a mystery to me. Stacey Kent has excellent diction, so we don't need them on that score. 'Sing along with Stacey', I don't think so!

Let this not detract from the music however, I heard one of Jim Tomlinson's records playing in a record store in Coventry the other day and thought it was Stan Getz! I can think of no higher praise. Dave Newton is without doubt a world-class pianist and Colin Oxley is a major league Guitar player. The Bass & Drums of Simon Thorpe and Jasper Kviberg respectively fit in well with the overall concept. Most vocalists agree that some of the people they sing with are more empathetic to the vocalist than others.
Stacey Kent is fortunate to work with such a talented group of musician's, but then she did marry one of them, Tenor player Jim Thomlinson.

Lets turn our attention to the 'tunes' for a moment, Richard Rogers was one of the all time great 'tune smiths' and there can be no doubt about that. Every tune on the album is both a classic and well suited to the jazz performance.

That just leaves SK herself, in just a few years she has moved from being an unknown, to being a well-established and extremely popular singer and BBC radio presenter, with the BBC Big Band Special programme. There is really nothing I can add; she has already made it!