Callum Au & Claire Ma - Songs and Stories (2020)

Two leading lights of the British jazz scene, composer, arranger and trombonist, Callum Au, and internationally admired singer, Claire Martin, join forces for a new album, 'Songs and Stories' on the Copenhagen-based Stunt label. The album, featuring a total of 82 exceptional musicians from the UK, Europe and USA, is a stunningly arranged selection of jazz standards and American Songbook classics, given compelling, sensitive, modern orchestral and big band treatments, whilst drawing extensive style and influence from the definitive peaks of this genre in past eras. This is Claire Martin's first big band or large orchestral recording and she is thrilled to be working with Callum Au, who she regards as a 'major talent', with many great successes ahead of him. The album features a superb line-up of soloists and lead musicians including: Ryan Quigley, Andy Wood, Freddie Gavita, Nadim Teimoori, Sam Mayne, Louis Dowdeswell, Andy Martin, Matt Skelton and John Mills, plus conductor Mark Nightingale.