[TR24][OF] Claire Martin - Believin' it - 2019 (Vocal Jazz)

Claire Martin|Martin Sjöstedt|Niklas Fernqvist|Daniel Fredriksson

Linn recording artist Claire Martin has established herself as a tour de force on the UK jazz scene. She has enjoyed worldwide critical acclaim and gained many awards, including winning eight British Jazz Awards, during a career which spans over three decades. In 2018 she was the proud recipient of the BASCA Gold Badge Award for her contribution to jazz.
Claire became a professional singer at nineteen and two years later realized her dream of singing at Ronnie Scott’s legendary jazz club in Soho. Signed to the prestigious Glasgow based Linn Records in 1990, Claire has since released twenty albums with the label, collaborating with musical luminaries including Martin Taylor, John Martyn, Stéphane Grappelli, Kenny Barron, Sir Richard Rodney Bennett and Jim Mullen on many of these recordings.
Claire has performed worldwide with her trio and, until his death in 2012, worked extensively with the celebrated composer and pianist Sir Richard Rodney Bennett in a cabaret duo setting both in England and the US where they played to sell-out houses at venues including the prestigious Algonquin Hotel in New York City. Claire appears as a featured soloist with the Hallé, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, the Royal Northern Sinfonia, the BBC Big Band and the BBC Concert Orchestra.
Claire co-presented BBC Radio 3’s flagship jazz program ‘Jazz Line-Up’ from 2000 to 2017 and interviewed many of her musical heroes such as Pat Metheny and the late Michael Brecker. Her 2009 recording A Modern Art prompted JazzTimes to claim: "She ranks among the four or five finest female jazz vocalists on the planet". At the Queen’s Birthday Honours in June 2011 Claire was delighted to be awarded an OBE for services to Jazz.

Claire Martin is joined by her all-Swedish trio as she celebrates another career milestone: recording her twentieth album for Linn Records.
Making their UK debut at Ronnie Scott’s in 2018, Claire and her trio have played to sell-out audiences in Sweden, London and Madrid. Claire’s fascination with Sweden’s vibrant jazz scene began a decade ago, and via a shared love of songs she has cultivated a unique chemistry with her trio over the past two years.
Uppsala-born pianist/arranger Martin Sjöstedt leads the trio comprising bassist Niklas Fernqvist and drummer Daniel Fredriksson. Sjöstedt, one of Sweden’s most gifted and talked about jazz musicians, has created imaginative new arrangements of contemporary material exclusively for Claire.
Encompassing a century’s worth of tunes, tracks include ‘Broken Wings’ by Mr. Mister and ‘I’m Not in Love’ by 10cc, as well as favourites by Joe Locke, Joni Mitchell, Ivan Lins and Pat Metheny. Claire remembers legendary singer Lena Horne with her own arrangement of ‘Come Runnin’’ and pays tribute to Norway’s Karin Krog with ‘Cherry Tree Song’.