Claire Martin - A Modern Art - BBC Music Magazine

Claire Martin has recently been wowing audiences at New York's Oak Room, that bastion of the supper club cabaret tradition. Many of the whipsmart, witty and often acerbic numbers in this new set would have gone down well with the original Oak Room habituees, Dorothy Parker and her Vicious Circle. But there are 21st-century influences in among the sophisticated songbook era set pieces, such as the simple and moving tribute to the late Esbjörn Svensson, ‘Love Is Real'. Martin's delivery is artful across the genres. It's perilous to try to sing along because it isn't meant to swing and Ms Martin isn't always taking these numbers on an obvious route. Peerless accompaniment comes from an octet that features rising piano star Gareth Williams.