Recorded at London's Stadium and Air Studios last year and released on the Copenhagen-based Stunt Records, composer, arranger and trombonist Callum Au and renowned vocalist Claire Martin join forces on this outstanding new album. Built on a foundation of jazz standards and American Songbook classics, the engulfing beauty of ‘Pure Imagination’ sets the scene on Martin's first orchestral/big band recording. The musical surface shimmers and sparkles on ‘Let's Get Lost’, while ‘I Get Along Without You Very Well’ perfectly showcases the unfathomable loveliness of Martin's voice in an arrangement that also features a tender muted trombone solo from Andy Wood. ‘Hello, Young Lovers!’ detonates an incendiary thrill, the music coursing with a fierce energy, further lit up by Sam Mayne's alto sax solo. Au's arrangement of ‘I Concentrate on You’ is a tour de force of impassioned eloquence, with singing and playing of beguiling sensuousness and a terrific solo from tenorist Nadim Teimoori. Further treats include Martin's take on ‘I Never Went Away’, composed by her late friend and collaborator, Richard Rodney Bennett, and a luxuriant treatment of ‘The Night We Called It A Day’. Arranging masters such as Johnny Mandel, Vince Mendoza and Nelson Riddle are called to mind at various points, but Au clearly possesses his own 24-carat storytelling gift. A special shout-out must also go to Louis Dowdeswell for performing the heroic triple shift of lead trumpeter, mix engineer and co-producer.