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 Claire Martin Born in Wimbledon, South London, in 1967 Claire Martin was born to sing. Growing up in a house full of music, she loved Judy Garland and learned all her songs by the time she was 12. But it was hearing Ella Fitzgerald’s legendary “Song Books” that changed her life inspiring her to go to Stage School and then to study singing in London and New York. A further seminal moment came at 18 when she saw the great improvising singer Betty Carter at Ronnie Scott’s. It confirmed what she already felt - she had to be a jazz singer. Like many singers Martin paid her dues and learnt her craft by embarking on the QE2, singing in the Theatre Bar for two years Back on dry land and just 21, Martin formed her first quartet (featuring guitar-great Jim Mullen). Her break came when renowned Scottish jazz label Linn signed her in 1991, the start of a creative relationship that is still going strong today. Rightly acclaimed as the outstanding voice of her generation, Martin’s 1992 debut “The Waiting Game” (Linn AKD 018) scored rave reviews and was chosen as a Times Album of the Year. Interestingly, the liner notes were written by Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, co-star of Martin’s 2005 album (a beautiful collection of outstanding songs featuring just the two of them). Martin achieved one of her ambitions later that year, opening for Tony Bennett at the Glasgow International Jazz Festival. By the mid-nineties Martin had received the Rising Star and Best Vocalist awards at the British Jazz Awards while receiving rave reviews on her American debut with four sell-out shows in Washington DC. Another ambition was fulfilled with the recording of a live album at Ronnie Scott’s in 1995, an album that moved the New York Times to comment "In an era when young jazz singers tend to sound far too much like their idols, there is no mistaking the voice of Claire Martin who combines a cool, burnished tone with the ear of a bornmusician". Increasingly popular across the pond, Martin recorded her fifth album "Make This City Ours" (Linn AKD 066) in New York reaching number 1 in the prestigious Gavin Charts and staying there for two weeks - the only European singer to achieve this. Future albums saw Martin collaborate with guitarist/producer Paul Stacey and she even had Noel Gallagher join her on a rendition of the Beatles classic "Help". Later that year she met Paul McCartney and delivered the re-working by hand. Her second album with Stacey featured a duet with cult singer/songwriter John Martyn, who has become a close friend. Martin continued to gather awards, winning the Best Vocalist category for the fourth time at the 2002 British Jazz Awards and going onto win Best Vocalist at the BBC Jazz Awards in 2003 (when she performed a duet with a certain Mr Cullum, who won the Rising Star Award that year). Subsequent albums “Too Darn Hot” (Linn AKD 243) and “Secret Love” (Linn 246) further galvanised Martin’s jazz credentials investigating an imaginative range of standards from the Great American Songbook as well as more contemporary material like Elvis Costello. This was followed in 2005 by the critically-acclaimed duo release with composer and pianist Richard Rodney Bennett. Using material from their long-running shows, this intimate recording saw them offer takes on some rare repertoire from great writers like Sigman, Coward and Arlen. It prompted one Jazz Times reviewer to comment “For my money she's not only the finest female British jazz singer of her generation but possibly of all time.” In 2007, Martin released an album dedicated to the songs and spirit of the late Shirley Horn, often called the singer’s singer. Hailed by most critics as her finest recording to date, “He Never Mentioned Love” (Linn AKD 295) captures her in intimate mode, paying tribute to her greatest musical influence. It led to widespread acclaim, with Observer Music Monthly hailing Martin as “the complete jazz singer she's always threatened to be.” 2007 also saw Martin make her debut at the world famous Oak Room at the Alqonguin Hotel in New York. Her two week stint was a huge success with Tony Bennett dropping into hear his fave Brit singer on the opening night and Martin’s trademark cocktail of standards, sass, swing and lesser known gems had the new York critic’s purring with one New York paper purring “A world-class performer, offering proof-positive that jazz can be sung in a British accent”. Already invited back for a yearly residency at the Oak Room, Martin will also appear at this year’s Women In Jazz Festival at Jazz At Lincoln Center, when her Ian Shaw headline Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola for three nights from September 18th. But it’s not just America, Martin and her band regularly tour the Far East, Europe and Australia, as well as festivals in Germany, France, The Netherlands, Norway, Denmark and Canada. Her quartet was the first ever jazz group to perform in Vietnam. She stll performs with Girl Talk (alongside Mari Wilson and Barb Jungr) and in duet with her close friend, Ian Shaw. She can also be found performing with the Halle Orchestra and the Laurence Cottle Big Band, with whom she shared the bill with James Brown, at a festival in Thailand. Somehow she also finds time to work as a broadcaster, working as co-presenter of "Jazz Line Up" on BBC Radio 3 interviewing the likes of the late Michael Brecker, Andre Previn, and the occasional terrified young singer. Claire Martin lives in Brighton with her daughter. Watch the 'Meet Claire Martin' video |
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