The last time I saw Claire Martin perform live (or as she put it in her introduction to the endearingly upbeat Young And Foolish, within “touchable distance”), was in the spring of 2019 when backed by the BBC Big Band she raised the roof of the Queen’s Hall in Edinburgh with a storming set in celebration of jazz divas.

Her live streamed gig at the 606 Club on the closing night of the EFG London Jazz Festival may have been significantly different in terms of venue, band and repertoire, but the quality was of an equally high standard. As you would expect from an artist who in 2011 was awarded an OBE for services to music. For OBE read: one bewitching entertainer.

Accompanied by Steve Watts on bass, Matt Home on drums and her “sister in music” Nikki Iles on piano – whose big band won Jazz Ensemble of the Year at the 2020 Parliamentary Jazz Awards – Martin’s 75-minute set was largely drawn from a brace of albums recorded by Tony Bennett and pianist Bill Evans in the mid- to late-70s: the first being the Ronseal-inspired The Tony Bennett/Bill Evans Album; the second, the more imaginatively entitled Together Again.

A lyric from which raises an important question in these troubled times: “Where’s the real stuff in life to cling to?” The answer, of course, is love. More specifically, “someone to love”. A recurring theme in what was a largely subdued but accomplished set; the tone established by the opening instrumental B Minor Waltz (For Ellaine) dedicated to Evans’ long-term partner who is said to have thrown herself under a subway train after being told he was going to marry another woman.

The second number of the evening, and Martin’s first, was thankfully more upbeat. Though its title was obviously not a sentiment shared by Ellaine – Lucky To Be Me – which was given added zest by Martin’s deep and husky vocals. As was Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me) from Anthony Newley’s under-rated musical The Roar Of The Greasepaint – The Smell Of The Crowd which commenced with an exquisite piano solo by Iles.

After a “little meander” into Evans’ masterful reworking of Paul Simon’s I Do It For Your Love which Martin covered in her 1995 album offBEAT, the quality of the selections, performances and arrangements (several by Iles) were consistently impressive. A phrase which cannot be used to describe Martin’s tongue-tied response after opening for Tony Bennett at the Glasgow International Jazz Festival: “You smell nice, Tony!”

Closing with “the last song I’m singing for the rest of the year, I think”, Martin chose the Frankie Laine and Carl Fischer standard We’ll Be Together Again which thanks to the 606 Club’s decision to restream all ten of their EFG London Jazz Festival gigs will be soon – just not within “touchable distance”.

Peter Callaghan
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