Three time Grammy winner, Cécile McLorin Salvant is an unlikely diva, in her billowy harlequin smock of fuschia, turquoise and lime and her retro spectacles; yet she instantly commands attention. With phrasing both unprecedented, yet at once newly definitive, she made the Michel Legrand’s standard ‘Once Upon A Summertime’ (Valse des Lilas) utterly her own.

Her rapport with fellow Francophone, Paris-born, American jazz pianist Dan Tepfer was patent and together they enjoyed poking gentle fun at their French friends, with a number of singularly Gallic chansons, including Poulenc’s setting of Apollinaire’s ‘Hôtel’ – “Je ne veux pas travailler, je veux fumer! ”.

Tepfer then introduced his friend, and fellow Parisian pianist, Thomas Enhco, and together they embarked upon an energetic, and pleasingly protracted, series of “Improvisations on the French Song Book”. The pair, who apparently go rock climbing and kite-surfing together, were clearly enjoying their duel on two Steinways, and a number of very familiar melodies emerged regularly if fleetingly from their inspired and very instinctive extemporization.

Cécile returned for another series of classic chansons, including a memorable and warmly received version of ‘La Vie en Rose’, sweetly yet firmly putting away any lingering memories of Edith Piaf.

The energy stepped up significantly in the second half, after the 100 minute interval for a relaxed ‘souper’ in the sunlit grounds of The Grange. The affable Gavin Sutherland announced the world première of a song cycle, based on the three extant poems of Haïtian writer, Virginie Sampeur (1839-1919), written by Dan Tepfer, especially for Cécile.

From the opening urgent pizzicato to waves of soaring sonorities, the string section of the peerless Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra accompanied these three pieces, which all examined the vagaries of love, in true Francophone tradition, now lamenting ‘douleur sans mesure’ and ‘le deuil’, only to later proclaim murderous defiance: “Si vous étiez mort….”

Sutherland introduced Ravel’s G major Piano Concerto (1931) as ‘a jolly romp’ with its many echoes of the jazz and the spirituals that Ravel heard during his lengthy 1928 tour of America and of the Basque folk themes which were his original inspiration. In the hands of the dexterous Dan Tepfer, the three compact movements proved themselves to be significantly ahead of their time and the compressed, almost martial, final Presto brought the initially restrained Grange audience to its feet for the first time.

Fittingly, Cécile returned for a final collection of classics from the French Song Book, with full orchestra and both pianists. Yet again, she confirmed her status at perhaps the pre-eminent ‘chansonnière de nos jours’with singular and emotive versions of Brel’s “Ne me quitte pas” and Piaf’s “Mon Dieu” which clearly resonated with the previously imperturbable patrons of the Grange.

McLorin Salvant has been universally lauded since winning the Thelonius Monk Prize in 2010. She has numerous accolades, including her three Grammy awards and the Glenn Gould Protégé Prize; she is also a very talented visual artist. I particularly enjoyed her joyous rendition of “Dou Dou”, her own composition in Haïtian Kreyòl (Creole).

However, for this reviewer, the revelation of the evening was the versatile Dan Tepfer, who gave such a thoughtful and illuminating interpretation of the Ravel concerto. His own composition, the exquisite and heartbreaking song cycle of the Virginie Sampeur poems, is sure to find a very appreciative audience.

The eclectic programme, with its judicious mix of old and new, the easy affinities between all three solo performers and the sterling support of the BSO all made for an unusual, yet highly effective and celebratory evening which had all the hallmarks of a very successful ‘Salon Français’.

A French Salon was produced by Piers Playfair (23Arts Initiative) and Frankie Parham (Mascarade Opera). Additional arrangements by Philippe Maniez.

The post Cécile McLorin Savant in ‘A French Salon’ at The Grange, Hampshire first appeared on UK Jazz News.

The genial Nobel and Booker laureate confessed his initial trepidation as he introduced a triumphant and utterly unique evening of crossover and collaboration with the acclaimed American-born singer, who delivered a polished, yet relaxed, set of songs by ‘Ish’ and Kent’s husband, Jim Tomlinson. The trio was completed by the masterful Art Hirahara on piano and keyboards.

The Nagasaki-born, British writer talked warmly about his collaboration with the couple, which began back in 2002, after Ishiguro selected one of Stacey’s tracks for his Desert Island Discs appearance on BBC Radio 4.

The Queen Elizabeth Hall event marked the publication, by Faber & Faber, of “The Summer We Crossed Europe in the Rain”, a handsomely produced volume of the lyrics, accompanied by the striking and sumptuous illustrations of Italian artist, Bianca Bagnarelli. Bagnarelli, an award winning fumettista cartoonist, was also introduced, to enthusiastic applause.

An exotic, and slightly subversive, tone was instantly conjured by the opening number: “Tango in Macao”, with its evocations of rusty ceiling fans, dark alleys and broken hearted gangsters, set to Tomlinson’s disquieting saxophone and the piano’s meticulous echoing of the Latin dance rhythms.

“Postcard lovers”, next, amplified the nostalgic, overtly cinematic, feel with the deceptively simple interplay of flute and keyboard underlining Ishiguro’s wistful lyrics, contemplating a putative relationship, foiled by both distance and time.

In “Waiter, Oh Waiter”, the lyrics take a decidedly playful turn, with yet another displaced traveller, agonizing over the mysteries of a foreign menu, accompanied by an exuberant bossa nova, nicely balanced between Hirahara and Tomlinson.

Journeys, both temporal and spatial, along with destinations and places, both familiar and far-flung, loom large in these compositions. Often, quite literally, as in “Bullet Train”.

This is another deeply reflective, first person ponder, which seems to contain the bones of an entire Ishiguro novel in a series of deftly drawn vignettes. Bolstering this narrative of “Nowheresville, Japan”, the precise syncopation of Tomlinson’s melodies viscerally recalled the motion of the Shinkansen express, “Tokyo to Nagoya, Nagoya to Berlin”.

Ishiguro himself talked of the challenges of adequately describing these frequently thorny, amorous predicaments, acknowledging that Kent herself had implored him to retain ‘some sliver of hope’ in even the saddest of scenarios.

The second half of the evening opened with a perceptive interview, conducted by broadcaster and journalist, Samira Ahmed, who coaxed a number of beguiling aperçus from the distinguished writer. They debated the nature of collaboration and the distinctions, apparent and covert, between writing words for music and novels or screenplays. For Ishiguro, song lyrics are most definitely not a poem.

In a relaxed and unaffected colloquy, Ish, as his friends all call him, revealed how he often comes up with possible titles by thumbing through cookbooks with his wife, Lorna. The author also acknowledged the major influence on his work of his mixed cultural heritage, growing up Japanese in the very English Home Counties.

For Ish, this was clearly a privileged, almost magical, collaboration and a return, of sorts, to the fevered song writing which, he admitted, marked the start, aged 15, of his own writing career. He credits these early songs, as a kind of ‘delirious, stream of consciousness’ apprenticeship for his later, prize-winning, longer and decidedly ‘less purple, more pared down’ work.

The trio of performers returned to the stage for a valedictory version of “The Ice Hotel”, an early Tomlinson-Ishiguro composition, first recorded in 2007. This was interpreted, with her customarily understated, yet highly emotional intelligence, by Kent. With an enormous, palatial snowscape by Bianca Bagnarelli projected overhead, it made for an eloquent conclusion to a captivating evening.

Stacey Kent plays six nights at Ronnie Scott’s 7-12 May 2024 – BOOKINGS

(*) Photos reproduced from Ted Hodgkinson’s Twitter feed with his permission

The post An Evening with Kazuo Ishiguro & Stacey Kent at the Queen Elizabeth Hall first appeared on UK Jazz News.