Claire Martin

Claire Martin
Aarhus Denmark 2011

Claire Martin OBE (born September 6, 1967 in Wimbledon , London , England ) is a British jazz singer .

Live and act

Martin knew Judy Garland's songs as a child ; other influences were the songbook albums Ella Fitzgeralds . She studied singing and acting in New York City and London . Her career as a professional singer began with an engagement on the passenger ship Queen Elizabeth 2 , where she sang in the theater bar for two years. In 1991 she founded her own jazz quartet, with which she recorded for the Scottish label Linn Records . Her companions were Jim Mullen , Jonathan Gee , Clark Tracey and the bass player Arnie Somogyi . Her debut album, The Waiting Game , was named "Album of the Year" by The Times . In the same year she performed at the Glasgow International Jazz Festival . 1995 followed a performance in London's Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club ; In 1997 she released the album Make This City Ours , on which she was accompanied by musicians such as Antonio Hart , Gerard Presencer , Peter Washington and Gregory Hutchinson .

Martin also sang with Mick Hutton's band , with Ray Gelato's Giants Of Jive and in the field of free music with John Stevens . She has also worked on recordings for Geoff Gascoyne , Stephane Grappelli , Martin Taylor and Bobby Wellins . She also appeared as a co-host on the radio show Jazz Line Up on BBC Radio 3 .

Martin has received numerous awards such as the British Jazz Award and the BBC Jazz Award for best vocalist.

Ian Carr , Digby Fairweather , Brian Priestley : Rough Guide Jazz. The ultimate guide to jazz music. 1700 artists and bands from the beginning until today. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 1999, ISBN 3-476-01584-X .
Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings . 8th edition. Penguin, London 2006, ISBN 0-14-102327-9 .