This is your first interview since you completed your new album. How has the recording gone?

"We've been hidden away in a little spot in Sussex, in a little place called Ardingly, where I've recorded all my albums. It's a fantastic studio with a great sound and a great engineer; it's a family affair, and why change a good thing? We'll turn in the masters in May and the album will be released in early September."


How do feel about signing for the celebrated Blue Note/EMI label in Paris for a worldwide recording deal?

"When we met up with them in France, one of the things they pointed out was how they liked my sound. It was wonderful that they'd come to see me perform so often in England, France and America, and they said this sound is what we'd like you to retain. It wasn't them saying, hey, we're Blue Note, we will rebuild you'.

"It's the label I dreamed of as a kid. Signing with Blue Note, I feel like Steffi Graf must have felt the first time she stepped on to court to play Martina Navratilova."


This album finds your collaborating with Booker and Whitbread Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro, who has written lyrics for four tracks. What brought about this partnership?

"Kazuo chose my recording of They Can't Take That Away From Me as one of his Desert Island Discs in 2002 and he wrote the liner notes for my In Love Again album. It's an honour to be embraced by someone who wants to build something around you.

"He wrote these lyrics for me and Jim Stacey's husband, saxophonist and producer Jim Tomlinson and I wrote the music through the winter, and I can't tell you how elated I am.

"And yes, I do feel stretched as a musician; the songs are so new, but so timeless; they're so tightly arranged and yet loose, and the vocals just float across the top."


You also cover What A Wonderful World, a song forever associated with Louis Armstrong.

"It was Jim's idea, and nobody knows me better than he does. He said I heard you sing it in my head, and though it's Louis' song, it's your song too'. He could hear me mixing optimism and fragility in my voice, the two elements that are in that song.

"I've never worried about taking on a popular song. Once you sing it, is your song; it's my emotion, my voice and I sing it my way. "


Will the new material feature in tomorrow's concert?

"No, it's definitely not a tour for playing the new songs. There are other songs in the repertoire that I'll do. I never know what we'll play each night as we believe in spontaneity and react accordingly, and we'll always do requests."


Stacey Kent and Jim Tomlinson play York Theatre Royal, tomorrow, 8pm. Tickets: £5 to £18 on 01904 623568 or online at www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk