This month: Clare Teal
A catch-up with some of jazz’s finest musicians
Singer/broadcaster Clare Teal’s CV reads like the plot of a Hollywood musical. Her first major singing opportunity came in the form of a short-notice festival gig, standing in for Stacey Kent, while her work in radio (she presents Radio 2’s The Swing & Big Band Show) had similarly serendipitous beginnings: ‘My entire career, probably like everybody else’s, is really built on a series of moments and being in the right place at the right time. Michael Parkinson started playing my records, so I started getting more interviews, including one with Russell Davies on Radio 2. Desmond Carrington heard it and said that he’d like to make a series with me, which is how it all started.’
Teal’s earliest inspiration and her enthusiasm for records both came from a pile of 78s in the family loft. ‘Some were my dad’s, some his mum’s – things like Geraldo, the Squadronaires, Joe Loss, but also Count Basie and Glenn Miller. I just loved those records, alongside the music from Dennis Potter’s television serial The Singing Detective. That was the first time I heard Ella Fitzgerald.’ Her respect for the music’s history translates easily into her radio work: ‘What I strive for on the show is quality from all eras, highlighting the fact that for years this was pop music, and that the complexity and quality of the music was staggering.’
She’s relaxed about her gamekeeper/poacher role as both a presenter and a working musician: ‘It costs a small fortune to make a big band record and I respect anyone who does it! It’s all a labour of love, but it’s wonderful to be a part of and to listen to. I also support younger players, trying to play as many new bands as I can and celebrating new writing and arrangements.’
Finally, what of the lockdown? Teal’s recent recording work has been ambitious, featuring the entire Hallé orchestra ‘and a roaring big band. We’ve got all this stuff that we’re mixing and we need to add backing vocals and so on, so we thought, how are we going to finish this? So we’re doing it in our homes. I have a home studio and I do the radio show from here, so now we have two new albums ready to come out. It’s a nice story!’ Roger Thomas
‘It costs a fortune to make a big band record – I respect anyone who does it!’