Claire Martin - A Modern Art - Irish Times

Singer Claire Martin has such class and authority that sometimes she shows scarcely a hint of vulnerability. Does it matter? On this superb album she deals brilliantly with the wit and sophistication of Colin Lazzerini's mordant So Twentieth Century and Totally, her own and electric bassist Laurence Cottle's Edge Ways, and the 1970s Broadway hit, Everybody Is Turning On. But the contrasting moods of love songs, such as the late Esbjorn Svensson's gospel-flavoured Love Is Real, saxophonist Joshua Redman's Lowercase, and Rebekka Bakken's ambivalent Love of Another are handled with equal poise. It's typically outside-the-box repertoire for Martin, with arrangements (by Cottle) stunningly played by an exceptional band including Gareth Williams (piano/Hammond organ(, Nigel Hitchcock (alto), Mark Nightingale (trombone) and Phil Robson (guitar).