FEATURING the annual popular Christchurch Festival of Jazz, Stompin’ On The Quomps, this year’s celebration was elongated and developed to include this sensational concert at the Regent Centre.

Starring the phenomenal jazz vocalist Claire Martin and her two superb guitarists Jim Mullen and Swedish rising star Erik Sonderlind, this is a very high-quality show.

BBC Radio 3 presenter and performer Claire Martin has spent the last 30 years polishing the art and craft of stylish jazz vocals, entertaining fans around the world, and gaining many awards including the British Jazz prizes on seven different occasions, performing at Ronnie Scott’s, and releasing more than 18 recordings.

Opening with Cole Porter’s stylish Get Out Of Here, Claire Martin delighted the Regent with textured vocals and impossibly long notes, while Mullen and Sonderlind shone on sparkling flurries of guitar patterns.

Highlights included Claire Martin’s moving tribute to Ella Fitzgerald’s up-tempo gem Lover Come Back To Me, a powerful intimate duet with guitar star Jim Mullen, and Anita O’Day’s bitingly bittersweet You Turn The Tables On Me.

The climax was the stylish Spanish Perdido, and the standing ovation encore featured some sensational scat-singing by not only Claire Martin, but also creative scat by Jim Mullen and Erik Sonderland. That’s jazz!

Stompin’ On The Quomps runs all day Saturday August 4 on Christchurch Quay featuring dozens of talented live jazz bands and musicians – don’t miss it!

Brendan McCusker