As a jazz fan, I've been very taken recently with Stacey Kent and saw her on stage here in Paris earlier this year. She is young and has a fine stage presence, relying on her voice alone (her personality is a bonus) to convince and to compel. She appears regularly, I know, in the States (she is a native American but resides in London) and my question is - remembering I'm i Europe - how much exposure does she have in jazz circles in America? She really is highly recommended and I believe she will be back in New York soon.

Hippolips, one for you, I think?

I hate to say it butStacey Kent is relatively unknown in the United States.In fact,until your posting I had never even heard of her.I did check her out on the internet and found a video clip of Stacey being interviewed and also singing short clips of several tunes.You can probably find the same clips on your computer by simply typing in'Stacey Kent" on your favorite internet browser[search engine].
It's not unusual for American jazz musicians to have to go to Europe to be appreciated.For some strange reason,Jazz has never been as fully appreciated in the U.S. as it has in Europe.Many American Jazz musicians such as Duke Ellington,Louie Armstrong,Dexter Gordon and others had to go to Europe to keep their Jazz careers going when popularity dropped off in the U.S.
In fact,a Frenchman,Hughes Panassia[not sure of the correct spelling] was the first one to document the recorded history of Jazz recordings with his book,"Hot Discography".He listed all of the Jazz recordings as of that date,listed the recording artists,including all of the sidemen,tunes recorded and dates on which they were recorded.He also listed the various pseudonyms used by the big name Jazz stars who often recorded for more than one recording label,but who did not want to jeopardize their contracts.
As for present day Jazz female vocalists...virtually all of the best are dead...Billie Holiday,Ella Fitzgerald,Sarah Vaughn,Carmen McCrae,Anita O'Day are long gone.
The lone female Jazz vocalist today who has a large Jazz audience is Diana Krall,who also plays fine piano and tours with a trio or quartet.She doesn't have the range of Sarah or the improvisational talent of Ella or the ability to wring the mood out of every word in a lyric like Billie or Carmen ...but she's good.She also does some tunes that are reminiscent of the early Nat King Cole trio.
Sorry I can't help you much beyond this.Thanks to the various media[newspaper,tv,radio etc.]there is little or no mention of Jazz .The newspaper listings don't even show a category for Jazz but they show categories for Rock and Roll,Country,Hip Hop,Grundge,Heavy Metal,Rap and other crap.Rarely is a Jazz cd recording reviewed by the so called music critics.
The Jazz concerts of today are usually loaded with Rhythm & Blues artists and what is called Contemporary Jazz[you hear it in elevators or fine restaurants] two or three chords and goes on forever.
So much for the sorry state of Jazz in the U.S.at this time.
Hope this helps you somewhat.

hippolips, many thanks for this. It's as thought then and she's not that well known over there. Her Website (staceykent.com) tells me that she recently did a spell at the Algunquin Hotel in New York but most of her itinerary is indeed in the UK. I know of Diana Krall and she too is well-known in the UK and even to a certain extent in France -though it's Stacey who gets my vote. She' has a backing group that includes Jim Tomlinson on tenor sax. A joy to listen too in his own right

Good to know that there are still some jazz lovers around.There's an album out that pretty much sums up the jazz scene.It's entitled 'Ain't but a few of us left".
Thank God for cd's and cassettes...there's little "live'stuff" around worth listening to these days.Like Duke Ellington once wrote "Things ain't what they used to be".
Incidently there is quite a bit of Jazz available for downloading if you can get WinMX on your computer.I've downloaded about 30 or 40 tunes this way within the last week or so.
Good luck with your efforts to find what decent Jazz still exists.

Just a brief follow-up to my original post. Stacey Kent plays Carnegie Hall on May 5th, and Boston the night after. Plus a host of US dates this year.

Thanks for that information, Colin.

OK, I think she's the greatest exponent of vocal phrasing since Sinatra, I know, I'm biased. Yes, I admit it, guilty as charged. But I've just got tickets to see her in France (again) in May, and as I see she's at Blues Alley on Wisconsin in Washington DC on Thursday, Friday and Saturday this week, well, as I can't get there myself, maybe some of you can. You'll love it. Honest.

Colin, you can even find her in East Anglia. I think she did a gig in Haverhill, Suffolk, not so long ago. It seems hard to believe that such a talent is playing halls and Corn Exchanges in places like Bury St Edmunds or Norwich

I have her CD Close Your Eyes. Very nice. I've said it before, the thing that bugs me the most about American music is that no one has ever heard of the great current jazz vocalists. Especially women jazz vocalists.

Norwich again in March (the 9th) and then Spalding in Lincolnshire the day after. Go, and if you don't enjoy the show, Fred, I'll refund you the price of the ticket (tickets even - maximum 2!).

http://www.staceykent.com/

And VelvetVoice - Washington's not that far from Connecticut is it?

Some friends saw her at Ronnie Scott's in Soho, London, last month, and she's done the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Carnegie Hall, the Montreux Jazz Festival and the like. She was in Taiwan this autumn, and in Moscow too, but yes, she doesn't spurn the smaller venues.

When I saw her in Beverley, Yorkshire, at a tiny hall such as only Beverley and Carlisle (and Newmarket) and the like have, my Mum (85 now) said to her as we were leaving with our signed CDs: "See you again love!"

And Stacey, bless her forever, seemed truly and genuinely pleased.

Stacey and husband Jim thoroughly deserve the BBC Jazz Album of the Year Award they've just received.

I saw her again on Friday in the western suburbs of Paris. The best of all five of her concerts I've seen, I reckon. Dave Newton (piano), who toured with her for ten years, now performs with his own trio, and she now sems to have found a quality replacement. As well as sax and double bass there were also drums, which she's taken to including on a regular basis now, it seems, but no Colin Oxley on guitar. Stacey is playing the mythical "Olympia" in the centre of Paris in October, and booking has only just opened so go for it. I got fifth row seats!!