Charmed by wit and warmth

5:15pm Friday 16th June 2006

The fact that there were too many empty seats at local lass Clare Teal's first Bradford concert last night was probably something to do with all the flag-waving and horn-tooting going on outside.

She walked on stage as England celebrated a 2-0 victory over Trinidad & Tobago in the World Cup and even one of the country's top jazz singers can't compete with that.

But the modest crowd that turned out was treated to a first-class show blending jazz standards, pop hits and material from Clare's current and new albums.

Not being a jazz fan, I wasn't looking forward to what I feared would be a chaotic mess of vocal gymnastics. "It'll be like Cleo Laine; I won't understand it," I moaned to a colleague.

But to my surprise, I enjoyed it. Clare's lovely voice, smooth as silk, was in perfect harmony with her excellent band.

Numbers like Love Hurts and Night and Day blended with classics from the likes of Sarah Vaughan. And Clare was chatty, warm and witty throughout.

She even threw in a surreal joke about Duke Ellington running a caravan park in Shipley. You had to be there.

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