Search - Martin, Mullen, Melling :: Martin Old Boyfriends

Jazz Deja Vu

C. Dunham | Miami, FL United States | 07/02/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I was a teenager back in the 50's when I fell in love with jazz. It's a lasting romance since I love it as much today. Claire Martin reminds me more of the singers we would go to see in those days than any other singer I've heard in years. When I listen to her I can almost feel my wrinkles disappearing and my gray hair returning to it's natural color. This is the only album of hers I own so far, although that will change. When the girl rocks, she really rocks and her ballads are so tender. She caresses the music with her voice and her intelligence interprets the lyrics so that anyone listening to her would understand exactly how she feels. Watch out Jane and Diana, Claire is here."

Britain's 90's jazz queen in romantic mood

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 07/07/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am no jazz expert, but I just LOVE Claire's music. Claire can sing any type of jazz song, and can swing with the best, as she shows on some of her other albums. For this album, Claire chose to record mainly slow, romantic songs with she does extremely well in her sexy, smoky, alto voice. There are a couple of more upbeat songs to provide a change of pace, just to keep things interesting.Many of these songs are old, but none of them have been covered to death. Some of these songs have previously been recorded by such outstanding ladies as Ella Fitzgerald, Jeri Southern, Sarah Vaughan and Lena Horne. Claire has chosen the songs very well.While the outstanding feature of all Claire's albums is her own singing, she allows her top-quality musicians opportunities to show what they can do. This is an excellent romantic jazz album, which will surely appeal to Diana Krall fans (like me) everywhere."

A Terrific Album

Rick Cornell | Reno, Nv USA | 11/26/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I had heard that Claire Martin was one of the finest, if not the finest, of all British popular singers. I purchased this album with the basic central issue: Does she live up to that sort of hype?



I am now here to report to Middle America: Believe the hype! Claire Martin is a terrific singer!



She has a smoky, yet clear, voice. And her diction and intonation are accurate to a fault. If I could compare her singing voice to a drink, she'd be the smoothest, yet driest, martini you could imagine.



When I saw the title to this c.d., I thought, "Oh, no. Not yet another tribute to Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Ray Charles, etc.etc. etc.?!"



No, not at all. The title and highlight of this album comes from the Tom Waits song. She does the tune with the savoir faire of Waits, but with the sound and musicianship that Mr. Waits generally doesn't have.



The rest of the album is consistently that good. It consists of obscure standards from well-known composers (Arlen's "When the Sun Comes Out"; Jule Styne's "Killing Time"; Romberg's "CLose as Pages in a Book"; Bacharach's "Out of My Continental Mind"), tunes from more contemporary musicians (Bill Charlap's "I Was Telling Him About You"; Dave Frishberg's "Wheelers and Dealers"; Rupert Holmes' tome to dependency and codependency, "Partners in Crime); and a few more besides. The musicians sound great, especially Steve Melling (p.) and Mark Nightengale (trbn.).



All in all, a terrific album, and a most worthy addition to your vocal jazz collection. It's refreshing to hear little-covered material such as this done so well. RC"