Search - Claire Martin :: Offbeat: Live at Ronnie Scott's Club

Live album from Britain's finest jazz lady

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 08/16/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The tracks for this album were recorded over six days at Ronnie Scott's club in August 1995. Claire's three regular musicians were Gareth Williams (piano), Arnie Somogyi (bass) and Clark Tracey (drums), augmented by Martin Taylor (guitar on Some other time), Anthony Kerr (vibes on Monk's new tune and Wishful thinking) and Mark Nightingale (trombone on I'll close my eyes, Comes love and Something real). Claire sang and played guitar.Apart from her smoky alto voice, Claire's music is particularly appealing because of her ability to record songs from a wide variety of different sources, generally but not always avoiding the obvious songs, yet always managing to adapt them to suit her own style. So it is with this album, featuring songs previously written or recorded by June Christy (Off beat), Carmen McRae (Would you believe), Laura Nyro (Buy and sell), Phoebe Snow (Something real), Paul Simon (I do it for your love) and Stevie Wonder (Make sure you're sure. The Great American Songbook is represented by Some other time (Leonard Bernstein) and Lost in his arms (Irving Berlin). There are also a couple of original songs - Worth the wait and Wishful thinking.I did not find this album as immediately appealing as some of Claire's other albums, but it grew on me the more I played it and now I love it. Note that this album is also one of three CD's in the Linn Box - the others are The waiting game and Devil may care - buying the set is cheaper than buying all three separately."