Claire Martin

Jazz Singers Workshop
Led by acclaimed jazz star Claire Martin

Saturday 11th September 2010 Workshop 10.30am – 5.00pm

A practical one-day workshop for budding jazz singers of all abilities. You will learn everything you need about jazz singing, sung voice techniques, performance tips and plus key information to help you ‘get the gig’.

Workshop leaders include Claire Martin, BBC Jazz Awards winner and radio presenter, Verona Chard, experienced jazz singer, actor and lyricist, plus Gareth Williams, jazz pianist, singer and arranger.

For further information please see here

Saturday 11th September 2010 Workshop 10.30am – 5.00pm
Workshop fees. £85 for participants, £35 for observers

Oct 29, MANCHESTER, Royal Northern College of Music

Nov 04, LEEDS, The Venue at Leeds College of Music
Nov 05, BIRMINGHAM, CBSO Centre
Nov 13, BRISTOL, Colston Hall
Nov 18, LONDON, Bloomsbury Ballroom, London Jazz Festival
Nov 20, TUMBRIDGE WELLS, Trinity Theatre,
Nov 21, YORK, National Centre for Early Music

John Wilson conductor
Claire Martin singer
Curtis Stigers singer
Mark McGann narrator and singer

Script by Bob Eaton

7:30pm. Box office: (Box Office): 0151 709 3789. Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra John Lennon Song Book 70th Birthday Saturday 9 October 2010 7:30 pm Liverpool Philharmonic Hall John Wilson conductor Claire Martin singer Curtis Stigers singer Mark McGann narrator and singer A sell out in 2008, we’ve brought this concert back by popular demand on the 70th anniversary of John Lennon’s birthday. Join us for a very special evening of songs – a rare opportunity to hear classics including Imagine, Woman, Norwegian Wood, Jealous Guy, I am the Walrus and others accompanied by a full symphony orchestra and sung by some of the UK’s top vocalists.

These concerts will be Claire’s first venture into the vibrant  jazz scene of Denmark!

Sept 30th Aalborg,  Huset   www.huset.dk

Oct 1st  Odense,  Dexter   www.dexter.dk

Oct 11th Aarhus   Musickhuset  Aarhus  www.musikhusetaarhus..dk

Oct 14th Viborg  www.viborgteater.dk

The Pizza Express Jazz Club,  Dean Street,  Soho.  July 30th 2010.

Claire performs with her trio for 2 shows at the legendary basement jazz club.  This will be

her last performance this summer.

Early booking essential – 08456 027017

“…..Dry,  wry urban songstress,  worldclass and utterly peerless”  TIME OUT LONDON

She ranks among the four or five finest female jazz vocalists on the planet (it wouldn’t be overstatement to ere cognize her as Anita O’Day’s rightful heiress), and on the rare occasion she performs stateside, the crowds are invariably SRO. So it’s hard to fathom why Claire Martin, a household name in her native U.K. and a perennial British poll winner, remains so under appreciated on this side of the Atlantic. Maybe it’s because those visits are so rare, or perharps because her albums aren’t always easy to find. Well, with the advent of iTunes, almost her entire output is just a click away. As a starting point, you’ll be hard pressed to do better than her latest release.

Though Richard Rodgers, notoriously finicky about re-interpretations of his songs would surely be enraged by the Everything I’ve Got Belongs to You which opens A Modern Art, Martin’s impishly funkified treatment is marvelous. The rest of the play list bows to more contemporary compositions, most notably Mark Winkler’s tenderly distressing lowercase and Cy Coleman’s delightfully wry Everybody Today Is Turning On. Lauren Kinhan’s affecting As We Live and Breathe is ideally mated with a sharp, Bossa reinvention of Steely Dan’s Things I Miss the Most.

Equally superb are two self- penned additions. Edge Ways provides brilliant, backhanded condemnation of the chronically self absorbed, while the title track offers delicious appraisal of modern society’s celebrity obsession and the corresponding devaluation of genuine artistry.

PRESS RELEASE

Jazz Singers Workshop

Where:                        The Ropetackle Arts Centre  Shoreham-by-Sea

When:                        Saturday 11th September 2010

Time:                                    10.30am registration for 11am – 5pm

Tutors:

Claire Martin – Multi award winning jazz singer (British Jazz Awards,

BBC Jazz Awards) and Radio 3 presenter.

“the English-born Martin is a singer who should be (must be) heard by  anyone with the slightest interest in jazz vocalizing. At a time when the woods are thick with talented distaff jazz artists, she is a standout, instantly

recognizable as a unique and impressive creative performer”.Los Angeles Times

“worldclass” The Times

Verona Chard – cross over jazz / classical singer. Worked with Humphrey Lyttleton on “Sad Sweet Songs and Crazy Rhythms album”.

“fine singer and renowned tutor” – Time Out                                    “highly talented” – The Evening Standard

“exquisitely performed by a first class singer delightful to see and  hear. A name to watch out for.”

The Stage

“superb…very strongly recommended” – Musical Opinion

Special Guest:       Gareth Williams on piano

Content: Technique, style, presentation, set content, getting the gig.

Cost:                        £90.00 participants / £40.00 observers.

Contact / Application:

Vamp Jazz (Workshop) Ealing House 33 Hanger Lane, London W5 3HJ

020 8997 3355

E-mail:            vampjazz@aol.com

www.clairemartinjazz.com

www.veronachard.com

By Alyn Shipton The Times December 2009

For several years the jazz singers Claire Martin and Ian Shaw have offered an evening of seasonal escapism at the Purcell Room in the run-up to Christmas. This year’s edition of their Early Christmas Stocking was a well-honed mixture of the artfully rehearsed and the brilliantly spontaneous. There was no backing band and no paraphernalia, just the two singers and Shaw’s characteristic, if occasionally eccentric, accompaniment at the piano.

Like all the best jazz concerts, the risk-taking jostled with the firm-footed, so that a pause for an invisible (and inaudible) guitar solo brought a laugh and then appreciative applause as the two re-entered bang on the beat, in pitch and in perfect harmony. Their a capella singing together was a delight, with Martin holding the vocal line as Shaw’s voice dextrously wove above and below her, changing the rhythm, texture and feel, notably on a spirited version of I’ll Never Fall in Love Again. A mixture of jazz standards and love songs gave way to a brief segment of yuletide fare, complete with Christmas hats, before the pair reverted to highlights from their long collaboration. Shaw’s witty additions to the lyrics of Making Whoopee were as downbeat and throwaway as his urbane announcements, which suggested that he could prosper as a stand-up comedian. Meanwhile Martin showed that she remains a supreme and sensitive interpreter of ballads, not least on an excellently measured But Not for Me.

Overall, what the audience had turned up to hear was a good-time selection of jazz songs, with plenty of opportunities to join in. Timid silence greeted Shaw’s first invitation for everyone to sing the chorus of Please Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood, but soon each invitation to take part was enthusiastically taken up. However, Shaw’s party piece, a singalong Latin version of Old MacDonald Had a Farm, taken at breakneck speed, proved too much for even his most devoted fans, dissolving into giggles and riotous applause.

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Claire Martin has won Best Vocalist at the British Jazz Awards 2009! The awards have always celebrated the best in British jazz and this year is no exception. The calibre of the musicians shortlisted indicates the excellence present in jazz in Britain today. Claire’s victory in the Vocal category is a true triumph – also nominated were the outstanding vocalists Val Wiseman, Norma Winstone, Liane Carroll and Clare Teal.

The awards were ultimately decided by public vote – magazine readers, gig goers, radio listeners and musicians all contributed. Claire said “I am thrilled to receive this award and honoured to be listed in the same group as Norma Winstone and Liane Carroll who are my favourite singers! Having your hard work acknowledged is always a bonus.  Thank you to all who voted for me, I’m very grateful.”

Britain’s leading female jazz singer, Claire Martin, released her new album, ‘A Modern Art’, earlier this year to glowing reviews. The Scotsman said “she is still a cut about the competition” whilst Time Out called it “her finest album to date”. Praise indeed for, as the Sunday Times called her, “the most gifted jazz singer this country has produced in 20 years”.

Jazz singer Claire Martin talks to Stuart Nicholson in the September issue of Jazzwise about her new album A Modern Art, which includes songs by Rodgers & Hart, Cy Coleman, Donald Fagen, Michael Franks and the late Esbjörn Svensson.

Claire talks about the concept behind the new album which is explained in the title track A Modern Art penned by Claire and Lawrence Cottle. Jazzwise comments that “With A Modern Art, she goes beyond the Great American Songbook to define herself as a jazz singer in the 21st century”. Claire states her belief that “they do write songs like they used to” and that many contemporary writers deserve wider recognition. Throughout her career Claire has performed songs by John Martyn and Nick Drake and duetted with Noel Gallagher, as well as performing more ‘traditional’ songs by Shirley Horn, Cole Porter and Rodgers & Hammerstein.

In the interview you can read Claire’s thoughts on the tracks and why she chose them, as well as reading about her career from her first album back in 1991 to now, when she has emerged “as a world class artist” (Stuart Nicholson, Jazzwise).

Claire has recently completed a year of degree teaching at Brighton Institute of Modern Music. Although she has a demanding schedule with work and family, this has re-kindled a love of teaching jazz vocals. If you are interested in one to one classes or detail of vocal workshops that Claire is taking then email on: clairemartinjazz@btopenworld.com