Clarion Seven Muses - Claire Martin & Richard Rodney Bennett

Born in London in 1967, Claire Martin has been hailed as ‘the best British jazz singer for a generation’ by Mojo Magazine, and as ‘the most exciting jazz star to soar to my attention in a decade’ by Rex Reed in the New York Observer. She has sung with Stephane Grappelli, John Martyn and Noel Gallagher as well as orchestras such as the Hallé, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and RTE. In 1997 she became the first European artist to reach Number 1 in the USA’s Gavin charts; her long list of illustrious fans also includes jazz legend Tony Bennett. In addition to her busy performing career, Claire presents BBC Radio 3’s weekly programme ‘Jazz Line Up’, as well as being an avid enthusiast of both shopping and yoga. When Lights are Low is the eleventh album Claire has recorded for Linn Records.

Equally renowned in the worlds of jazz, film and classical music, Sir Richard Rodney Bennett's list of credits includes numerous films such as Far from the Madding Crowd, Murder on the Orient Express and Four Weddings and a Funeral, and over two hundred works for the concert hall, for organisations such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic and the BBC Proms. As a jazz performer he has collaborated with artists such as Cleo Laine, Annie Ross and Marion Montgomery at prestigious venues including New York’s Algonquin Hotel and London’s Pizza on the Park. One of the highlights of 2006 – Richard's seventieth birthday year – was the premiere by the Philharmonia Orchestra of Reflections on a Scottish Folk Song written at the request of HRH The Prince of Wales in memory of The Queen Mother.

www.clairemartinjazz.com