28/10/17
At the top of her game, Claire Martin OBE has spent 30 years honing a career that's seen her working with the best including Stephane Grappelli, and even Noel Gallagher. She talks to Outline about her love of jazz and her impending performance at Norwich Cathedral.
Are you looking forward to playing at Norwich Cathedral?
Yes, I am! I think the acoustic will be really good for an intimate duo setting and I really like Norwich.
Have you performed in Norwich before?
Yes, I have played there about a dozen times, over the years but not in the Cathedral.
Can you tell us a bit more about who will be performing with?
Well, I wish I could but I’ve only ever met him once! He has been recommended to me by my dear friend and music supporter and promoter Maureen Baker and is a local lad. His name is Nick Fitch and he's just 21 years old and plays like someone twice his age! He's really on his way to having a special music career. He played with another singer called Tina May recently and she was also singing his praises. So, we'll be doing our first gig EVER at the Cathedral.
I understand you have a new album due out in January?
Well, I’m going to NY to record my new record in January which is a duet album with the great pianist Kenny Barron so I’m hoping it will be out late summer. I feel incredibly lucky to be working with Kenny for the second time. He's one of the greatest musicians I’ve ever had the privilege of working with.
You are considered one of the best jazz singers around, how does that make you feel?
Ha! Well I’m incredibly flattered of course, but I never think I’ve got to the top of my game really as there is so much to learn in music and jazz especially is a (wonderful) mountain you never conquer! As an artist I look at people like Tony Bennett still singing brilliantly at 90 and think I’m still a whipper snapper!
When did you discover you had a talent for singing?
I was at a stage school doing singing and dancing from the age of 5 to 15 and loved singing best of all. I also loved tap dancing, but singing ended being my real focus and main strength. I kind of ‘fell’ into the jazz scene because I had been bought up in a house with jazz loving parents and so knew quite a lot of the standard songs when I auditioned for my first professional singing job aged 19. It was then that I started to understand and be attracted to the idea of improvisation within the songs and as someone who is bored easily, I liked the challenge of trying to make every version different from the last.
You have performed with many jazz luminaries – anyone particularly stand out?
I loved my partnership with the great Sir Richard Rodney Bennett who really was a genius. He was my mentor and became one of my closest friends. I can’t tell you how much we laughed during our ten-year duet act. He was the best. My recording with Stephane Grappelli was also a highlight for me.
My ‘dabble’ with a more pop approach was when I recorded with Noel Gallagher from Oasis. We were meant to meet at the studio to record together but I got stuck in the worst traffic jam in Brixton and by the time I got there he’d recorded his bit and gone. He left me a plectrum as a present, which I then proceeded to lose within about an hour. I think it was a sign that I should stick to jazz…
And finally, who was the best guest you ever had on the Jazz Line-Up for Radio 3?
Ah… that’s pretty tough as I met some real heroes. I think it will have to be Andre Previn as he had the best anecdotes and was so incredibly charming and of course I was in awe of his talent. He was the real deal and so kind and funny.
Claire plays on November 10th 19.30 - 21.45 at The Refectory Cafe. Tickets are expected to go quickly.
Photo by Lisa Wormsley.