Quality music that defies classification
Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 10/23/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I first came across Stacy's music by accident when looking for cover versions of one of my all-time favorite singers, Petula Clark. In those days, I had plenty of money so I took a chance and bought the album At the Beginning, which was a most enjoyable jazz-pop album. I didn't know much about jazz then but I liked Stacy's voice and song selection, including her interpretations of the songs that I was familiar with. Since then, I've followed Stacy's career with interest as she has diversified, with country and folk influences being evident in her other albums West on 40 and Cold Enough to Snow. I was beinning to wonder what happened to the jazz element in her music, but I always expected that Stacy would return to it someday, and here is the proof.
This time, Stacy has opted for a style that is again difficult to classify, but might best be described as country-jazz. Willie Nelson became famous partly because of his country-ish interpretations of old jazz classics, most notably on Stardust, an album that featured Blue skies, but Stacy's album is very different from that classic album even though it also featues that song; compare the two versions for yourself. I suspect that Willie would be impressed if he gets to hear Stacy's version.
For this album, Stacy was joine by six musicians, who between them play piano, guitar, mandolin, bass, drums, percussion, harmonica and cello. Apart from Blues skies, the old standards here include My romance, My funny valentine, So in love and I can see clearly now. The last-named song, written and first recorded by reggae singer Johnny Nash, has taken on a life of its own and plenty of other singers, including jazz singers, have recorded it. As with all the songs here, Stacy's performance of it is superb. In amongst the oldies, not all of which are over-familiiar, are a few original songs, including the title track (written by Lew Spence, who heard Stacy's recording of it, but did not live to hear the completed album) and My little world (written by a member of the talented musical Sullivan family).
If you're already familiar with Stacy's music, all you need to know is that it's well up to the expected standard, but it's a little different from Stacy's earlier music although, like those earlier albums, the music here is mostly mellow. If you're new to Stacy's music and you like the idea of an acoustic jazz album with some mandolin and harmonica added into the mix, this could be just what you're looking for."
Track Listings (14) - Disc #1