The South Coast Jazz Festival closed in great style with the glorious sound of a 17-piece big band doing full justice to Duke’s compositions and providing exhilarating backing to Claire Martin’s superb vocals.

The evening could not have started better when the band launched into a full blooded Rockin’ in Rhythm. All the trademark sounds of Ellington were realised – dirty growls, shrieks and squeals were sent soaring into the stratosphere.

By contrast Jay Craig’s baritone sax led on the gentle Stay Awake – one of Ellington’s interpretations of the score from Mary Poppins.

The evening was a mixture of the familiar and lesser known gems, some of which had never reached the recording studio.

Colin Skinner on sax gave a saccharine free version of People while Pete Long showed his clarinet skills on the novelty number The Air Conditioned Jungle.

Claire Martin had no intention of imitating Miss Fitzgerald. Instead she chose to be inspired by her and chose numbers on the album Ella Sings From The Ellington Songbook.

Just when one thought that Martin had peaked by delivering a number at full throttle she went on to raise the bar with subsequent ones.

Five stars