Claire Martin and Joe Stilgoe – April in Paris – Crazy Coqs

Claire Martin and Joe Stilgoe perform April in Paris at the Crazy Coqs, London

Claire Martin and Joe Stilgoe perform April in Paris at the Crazy Coqs, London, until 19 April.

When they played at the Crazy Coqs last year these two highly talented artists were an outstanding success. They now return with their new show which celebrates that most romantic of cities – Paris – the City of Light.

With a programme that lives up to its promise to be ‘magnifique’, the audience is treated to a whirl of French glitz, glamour and nostalgia with more than a soupçon of witty humour. The songs of Gershwin and Porter rub shoulders with those of Charles Trenet, Jaques Brel and Michel Legrand, together with passing nods at some contemporary writers.

Martin has held her place at the top of the jazz tree for many years and her performance shows why. Her interpretations are clever, inventive but never distortive. She is able to glide effortless from swinging a number to caressing it and, at times, she drops from a tone of pure mellifluousness to a timbre that is evocative of a gin and cigarettes habitué. Her rendition of ‘I Love Paris’ has an exotic edge to it while ‘What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life’ – a song that she sang at the memorial service for Jean Simmons – is delivered with a beautiful elegance. As a non-jazz number she chooses Joni Mitchell’s ‘Free Man in Paris’.

Joe Stilgoe is a revelation. Not only is he a talented jazz pianist providing excellent and varied accompaniment to Martin, but he is a singer and entertainer in his own right. Despite his self-deprecating remarks about his ability to speak French, he gives knockout versions of ‘Boum!’ and ‘If You go Away’. He reverts to English for ‘La Vie en Rose’ which he embellishes with some superb simulated jazz trumpet. His talent for songwriting is proven with ‘Lost For Words’, a ballad he wrote for Martin.

Their ease with each other enables them to get the best out of their duets. In ‘They All Laughed’, Stilgoe even manages to add some humorous contemporary lyrics. But the hit of the evening comes from the pen of Dave Frishberg whose ‘Another Song About Paris’ is a hilarious satire on all the songs written about the French capital and its associated clichés.

For me the evening brought back fond memories of my first visit to Paris in the early sixties. I was back in a basement jazz club – all that was missing was the smell of Gauloises!

Barrie Jerram

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