Claire has performed all over the world with her trio and – until his death in 2012 – worked extensively with the celebrated composer and pianist Sir Richard Rodney Bennett in an intimate cabaret duo setting both in England and in America where they played to sell out crowds at venues including the prestigious Algonquin Hotel in New York City. Claire is also a featured soloist with the Halle Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the RTE Concert Orchestra, the Royal Northern Sinfonia, the BBC Big Band and the BBC Concert Orchestra. Claire co-presented BBC Radio 3’s flag ship jazz program ‘Jazz Line Up’ for seventeen years and during that time interviewed many of her musical heroes such as Pat Metheny and the late Michael Brecker. Her 2009 CD A Modern Art prompted Jazz Times USA to claim: “She ranks among the four or five finest female jazz vocalists on the planet”.  

Claire was thrilled to win both the 2009 and 2010 ‘Best Vocalist’ category at the British Jazz Awards and toured extensively throughout the UK, Scandinavia, Russia and China, appearing with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and her world-class trio. 2011 proved to be an extraordinary year for Claire who made her debut at Lincoln Center in New York with Grammy® nominated pianist Bill Charlap and went on to perform for the third time at the famous Algonquin Hotel for a three week residency with Sir Richard Rodney Bennett. Their CD Witchcraft gained much critical acclaim and was “unequivocally recommended” by Jazzwise magazine. At the Queen’s Birthday Honours in June, Claire was delighted to be awarded an OBE for her Services to Jazz.

In August 2011 Claire recorded with legendary jazz pianist Kenny Barron and an all-star American line up for her fifteenth album for Linn Records. Too Much in Love to Care received 5-star reviews and prompted the US magazine Jazz Journal to state that she is “one of the finest jazz singers in the world today”. This album went on to win the ‘Best New Recording’ award at the 2012 British Jazz Awards. 2013 was spent touring the new material in the UK and Europe and embarking on a new show The Two of Us with conductor John Wilson, Joe Stilgoe, Mark McGann and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, celebrating the music of Paul McCartney and John Lennon.

In 2014 Claire embarked on a new and unique musical adventure with the Brighton based Montpellier Cello Quartet. With new arrangements especially written for her by Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, Mark Anthony Turnage and Django Bates, this new chamber jazz ensemble toured the UK promote a new album on Linn Records called Time and Place. The album was warmly received and Clive Davis of The Times cited Claire as “our finest jazz singer”.

2017 will be spent touring and promoting her brand new project with the legendary singer/saxophonist Ray Gelato as well as appearing with the singer-pianist Joe Stilgoe, the award-winning vocalist Liane Carroll and the nine-piece outfit which features the Tippett Quartet called Hollywood Romance. Her next album will be an intimate duo recording with Kenny Barron and is planned for January 2018 to be released late Spring.

Claire Martin lives in Brighton with her husband and daughter.