Claire Martin - The Waiting Game - Jazz, The Magazine

The jewel here is Claire Martin. Every note is a joy, and it's all done so well, with such a perfect balance of musicianship and clean recording quality, that it makes the shortcomings of the other albums more apparent. Martin's voice is attractive, and she combines a considerable range with a clean, bright tone. Her material (including one original by herself and pianist Jonathan Gee) is unhackneyed. Even in settings as varied as Jim Mullen's solo guitar on 'If You Could See Me Now' and a full quartet on Thomas Dolby's 'The Key to Your Ferrari' she sounds incapable of putting a foot wrong, singing a tasteless or a bum note, or failing to swing.

Her accompanists (who also include Arnie Somogyi and Clark Tracey) never obtrude, yet their interplay with her is more than just background comping: Mullen and Gee weave beautiful gospel-tinged lines around her version of Leiber and Stoller's 'Some Cats'. It would be hard to disagree with Richard Rodney Bennett's commentthat 'her pitch, musicianship and vocal control were immaculate'.