One of the finest Jazz singers that this country is proud to call its own has returned after a couple of years with her British inspired 10th record Hey Ho. The 38 year old has combined a mixture of popular songs from past and present, spanning across thirteen decades with a couple tracks written by the lady herself to give her fans a mixture of music that shows off her style on many levels.

The theme running throughout the album is its British heritage, and with the title of the record Hey Ho, a lyric from the first track ‘If Love Were All’ (by Noël Coward), only British songs would work. It was a vast process selecting the right tracks as Clare and her producer Grant Windsor came up with nearly a thousand songs to whittle down. A task that seemed to be a challenge but now two years after first planning and with the album released, it’s fair to say the selection of tracks chosen have been adjusted to Jazz transition so well that it makes you forget half of them were not intended to be performed in this manner. It brings out a more reflective, mature yet confident and self-assured Clare than we've seen from previous albums. Even her most successful album Don’t Talk in 2004 doesn’t match up to the star who only seems to improve like a fine wine.

From slow to up-beat, Clare manages to adjust her voice to the right mood in every song she plunges herself into. The Snow Patrol calling card ‘Chasing Cars’ is the most recent hit from this collection and it still grabs the same classic-style imagination from the oldest track in the album ‘The Sally Gardens’, a poem by William Butler Yates. The range of genres the songs come from are extraordinary as Moloko’s Dance track ‘Sing It Back’ getting re-vamped and striped down to just a piano, drums, percussion, an electric bass and a flute rather than a computerized tune to suit Clare Teal’s style in nothing short of what the BBC British Jazz Singer of the year is capable of.

One of the highlights from the record has to be Clare’s vocals on the Annie Lennox track ‘Why’. A voice that you cannot help but fall in love with is matched up to what is a beautiful song. Another will be her single ‘One More (Baby Be Good To Me)’ as it shows that Clare is also a very talented songwriter with an remarkable voice rather than just the latter.

MOBO gives this record 4 M’s out of 5.

As well as this album, Clare has joined forces with Sir Terry Wogan to launch this years young songwriters competition in association with TOGS and Barnardo's. Working with school across the UK, the competition will encourage prospective young stars to become more creative, with a final prize of a professional studio recording and a single release of the winning the song. Clare will be on the judging panel along with Eamonn Holmes, Nick Mason (Pink Floyd) and Bill Zucker. 

Check out the website: http://www.young-songwriters.co.uk/index.html

Clare Teal's 10th record Hey Ho is out now.

Words by: Dean Woodhouse

For more Clare Teal information visit: http://www.clareteal.co.uk/

For bookings: management@clareteal.co.uk