Here’s an attractive and creative mix of styles delivered by vocalist Claire Martin who teams up with a first rate jazz tea of Joe Stilgoe-Gareth Williams/p, Jeremy Brown-Laurence Cottle/b and Ben Reynolds/dr as well as the rich and flexible Montpellier Cello Quartet. With everyone together you get a mix of rich strings on “My Ship” as well as kinetic rhythms as on “Catch Me If you Can.” The trio does some soft and sleek jazz on “Early to Bed” while “Round Midnight” glows with a full moon. Most intriguing is a take of David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold The World” that combines ominous strings with an underlying current of doom with the trio. On “She’s Leaving Home” Martin takes the Beatles piece and melds gentle and melancholy bowed strings with reflective vocal nuance. Impressive and emotional.
Linn Records