Claire Martin - He Never Mentioned Love - Jazzwise

Ubiquity is a problem in the relatively small jazz scene here in the United Kingdom. Having a world class jazz singer at a jazz club near you a couple of times a year can mean getting taken a bit for granted. But perhaps not after "He Never Mentioned Love". While Claire Martin has covered a lot of ground on previous albums, she never quite demonstrated a convincing emotional range. This is not unusual among jazz singers, it was a problem for Ella Fitzgerald, a certified jazz great, for example, and was not resolved until she was into her forties and had recorded the "Gershwin" album on Decca or "Let No Man Write My Epitaph" on Verve. Here, Claire Martin ticks that final box and moves closer to becoming the complete jazz singer she's always threatened to be. Listen to her storytelling skill on L.A. Breakdown, the gentle ache of You're Nearer or how she weightlessly manoeuvres through Everything Must Change.