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A Swinging Affair
Claire Martin and Ray Gelato
Belgrade Theatre, Coventry and on tour
****
THIS certainly was a Swinging Affair. Musically it encompassed the great
age of swing from Louis Prima to the Andrews Sisters, with some great
songs and great partnerships honoured. To
start, a really good idea, This could
be the start of Something Big, then
Gershwin’s They all laughed
with some lyrics that were new to me about Iphones! Perfectly
accompanied by the Dave Newton Trio, with famed jazz pianist Newton, on
keyboards, the first set continued with the one I found myself singing
as I left, Something’s Gotta Give’
with Ray Gelato on Sax.
Claire Martin’s tone and range has deepened over the years and I loved
her rendition of the Peggy Lee’s classic ballad,
Love you the best
though, again, I don’t remember the line about kissing George Clooney’s
nose… Her other ballad in the second set was also exemplary; the
gorgeous and lilting Pat Dennis’
Everything happens to me. Ray
Gelato’s voice suited the scat style of I’m in the mood for love and
Claire Martin is no slouch at the scatting either. Their duet of
All I do is Dream of you
was elegant and memorable. They
finished off the first set with A lot of Coffee in Brazil putting us
neatly into the mood for half-time. They
finished the second set with Two of a
Kind which was a great idea and
elegantly ‘swung’. What
did I enjoy the most? Claire Martin’s version of the Billie Holliday
classic Now Baby or Never
followed closely by the one they clearly enjoyed the most,
Orange-colored sky,
which I’ve never heard performed before though I play it often. It’s
infectious rhythms were made for them. What makes
a good performance? I think making it look easy and being comfortable on
stage are vital. Claire Martin’s mic stopped working on a couple of
occasions and, seasoned professional as she is, she said it might have
to be a dance show from now on – but things got better in the end! What might
have spoiled it, and probably did from some members of the audience, was
Ray Gelato pointing out, really quite rudely, on three separate
occasions that the audience was small – Claire Martin ticked him off
elegantly enough but it’s no way to treat an audience. If it were me,
their style would have suited better the intimacy of the new, smaller
auditorium, B2, and leave the cavernous main house, which is hard to
play, to theatre. Jane Howard
03-06-15
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