Stacey Kent @The Playhouse

It is almost nine years since I last saw Stacey Kent perform at Norwich's Playhouse, but I sense that many of tonight's audience were probably at that 2006 show, as well as probably several of the intervening  visits. Like many artists, she makes a point of reminding us how much she loves our Fine City, but in this case you sense the sincerity of the comment, and certainly the loyalty and love from her Norwich fanbase is real enough.

Tonight's show still draws heavily from The Great American Songbook, with numbers from South Pacific and My Fair Lady as well as standards like That's All and A Time For Love, but the influence of sambas and bossa nova now steals a larger slice of the setlist. Now singing in Portuguese as well as French and English, Kent's vocals remain as flexible as warmed caramel, her intuitive phrasing is a delight, and the impeccable enunciation never falters for a moment. She makes the Stan Getz standard Só Danço Samba her own very early into the set before enthralling us later with Marcos Valle classics Samba de Verão and Os Grilos, the latter featuring some amazing stick work from drummer Josh Morrison.

Husband Jim Tomlinson is one of the most impressive contemporary saxophonists and flautists that I have experienced live, his fluid velvety style  never once becomes screechy or fuzzy, even for a single note. His own compositions, often co-written with novelist Kazuo Ishiguro, include the title track from The Changing Lights, and illustrate his own not inconsiderable writing talents.