Stacey Kent’s voice works best in the register between a whisper and a full phrase, where lyric and melody are still negotiating with each other. A Time for Love, her 2026 album with Jim Tomlinson on reeds and Art Hirahara on piano, stays in that register for ten songs.
About the Show
Kent brings A Time for Love to Caffè Lena’s Peak Jazz Series on Saturday, October 10. The album, released digitally April 3 and on CD and vinyl April 24, draws from the Great American Songbook (The Shadow of Your Smile, the title track), French chanson (La Javanaise), and Brazilian and pop traditions (Carinhoso, God Only Knows). Marlbank called it “a gently understated addition to Stacey Kent’s discography”; Presto Music described the album as “filled with charm aplenty and infused with her signature warmth.”
Kent’s career has covered considerable musical ground since her 1997 debut on Candid Records. Her Blue Note debut, Breakfast on the Morning Tram (2007), earned a Grammy nomination and went platinum; her 2001 recording Dreamsville won a BBC Jazz Award for Jazz Vocalist of the Year. Since 2006, she has collaborated with Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro and composer Jim Tomlinson on original compositions, a partnership that brought literary attention to the craft of the song lyric. She performs in English, French, and Portuguese, and has taken her work to audiences in nearly 60 countries. The Wall Street Journal put it plainly: “She has charm to burn… and sings like nobody’s business.”
The Caffè Lena appearance comes early in a fall/winter 2026–2027 tour that spans 31 dates across 23 cities (including a December stop at Salle Pleyel in Paris) through April 2027.
Venue & Logistics
Caffè Lena’s 110-seat listening room on Phila Street in Saratoga Springs, in the capital region, suits this kind of program. For a vocalist who works in the understated register Kent favors, the room’s scale gives every phrase room to land. The house rules reinforce it: no photography, cell phones silenced. Doors open at 4:30 p.m.; the show runs from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.
Tickets
General admission is $75.92, inclusive of fees. Members pay $70.49; children and students pay $37.96. A livestream is available through Caffè Lena TV for $5, with 100% of proceeds going to the artists. The Peak Jazz Series is supported by Joseph & Luann Conlon in memory of Joel Moss. Buy tickets