“Almost in Your Arms is a ravishing album — adroit, surefooted and masterful.” Claire Martin’s new album, with her Swedish trio of Martin Sjöstedt (piano/arranger), Niklas Fernqvist (bass) and Daniel Fredriksson (drums), is released on Stunt Records on 27 September.
If there’s jazz royalty in Britain, Claire Martin OBE is definitely ermine clad. Her choice of material is diverse and exemplary and she shines in all kinds of settings, from duo to big band. Her legacy as a live performer and a recording artist is essentially a treasure trove (her work with Richard Rodney Bennett being a personal favourite). And, just in case anyone was inclined to start taking her for granted, she’s conclusively put paid to that by recording a new album that knocks it right out of the ballpark.
Her fourth release on the Danish Stunt Records, Almost in Your Arms is something of a Scandinavian extravaganza, being built around the nucleus of Claire’s touring trio of outstanding Swedish musicians. Martin Sjöstedt plays piano and keyboards and is also responsible for the lion’s share of the world-class arrangements on the album. Niklas Fernqvist is on bass and Daniel Fredriksson on drums.
They’re supplemented by another leading Swedish player, Karl-Martin Almqvist on saxophone with the album’s producer, James McMillan, playing trumpet, flugelhorn, percussion and additional keyboards and arranging two of the tracks (Apparently, I’m Fine and September Song). Joe Locke is on vibraphone. Guitarist Mark Jaimes fashions a dreamy, floating soundscape on one track, Do You Ever Wonder, which is also a showcase for Fernqvist’s bass. And Nikki Iles takes a break from excelling as a pianist to play accordion on Apparently, I’m Fine.
And let’s not forget the star and headliner. From the opening instants of I Feel a Song Coming On, Claire Martin is absolutely in control and at the top of her game,the smooth, husky voice taking the super high speed material in her stride, offering effortless nuanced expression while clearly enjoying herself.
The really remarkable thing about this album is the way the quality of the musicians meshes with the calibre of the songs, which have been curated with immaculate — and exhilaratingly catholic — taste. The first big surprise is This One’s from the Heart, written by Tom Waits for an ill fated Francis Ford Coppola film, and originally sung by Waits as a duet with Crystal Gayle. Here it is a duet by Claire and Charlie Wood, an American singer who once toured as Albert King’s keyboard player. The song is given a slinky film noir mood, beautifully evoked by Sjöstedt’s lonely raindrop piano and Fernqvist’s tenderly judicious drums, with Almqvist’s saxophone providing a third voice to intone this lovely ballad.
Carole King’s Bitter with the Sweet gets a groovy, loping, bluesy interpretation, again revealing Sjöstedt’s virtuosity, ably supported by James McMillan’s horn which is by turns sardonic and punchy. Rufus Wainwright’s The Art Teacher is a lucid and lyrical little tale of love that never was, emphatically underscored by Karl-Martin Almqvist with saxophone lines like charcoal streaks.
Train in the Desert is one of two songs cowritten by Claire’s friend Mark Winkler, and it’s a remarkable James M. Cain odyssey of passion and revenge with Sjöstedt and Fernqvist conjuring the hypnotic rhythm of a railway journey. Joe Locke’s vibraphone adds to the feel of a technicolour dreamscape, as does his brief snatch of narration.
But the hairs on the back of the neck really go up for a yearningly beautiful version of This House is Empty Now by Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello. It’s worth the price of the CD for this track alone, with Claire Martin’s vocals swooping, floating, swinging and offering the millisecond precision which bring out all the nuances of this gorgeous, aching contemporary milestone of music and lyrics. (“Does the extinguished candle care about the darkness?”) The rendition here is effortlessly light-touch with Sjöstedt, Fernqvist and Fredriksson following the singer like her shadow.
Tying for first place, though, is a number which could hardly be more different. I’d not heard of Ty Jeffries before, but on the strength of Water and Salt he’s one for the songwriting hall of fame. This track is fantastically, intoxicatingly hip and witty, given full value by MacMillan’s horn, Fernqvist’s plucked bass, Sjöstedt’s bluesy, strolling piano and Claire Martin’s superbly measured vocal, all doing justice to these modern-classic lyrics. “You spun a web, you elegant spider/ Now love is dead, like a wasp in a saucer of cider.”
I can’t stop listening to this CD, and why would I want to? It’s goosebump time in south London, folks…
Almost in Your Arms is a ravishing album — adroit, surefooted and masterful. Jazz vocals — and songs — don’t come any better than this.
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ALBUM LAUNCH TOUR DATES
29 Sep Brighton Jazz Festival – Horatios Bar at Brighton Palace Pier
1 Oct Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club
2 Oct Bristol Beacon
3 Oct 2024 Turner Sims Concert Hall Southampton
4 Oct Peggy’s Skylight Nottingham
5 Oct The Stoller Hall, Manchester
6 Oct The National Centre for Early Music, York
One Response
This is a phenomenal album. Admittedly, I would say that… but it really is.