THERE'S something deeply satisfying about knowing that even if you belong to a section of music lovers described as "a minority", there are people out there looking after your interests.

Being a jazz nut myself, it is difficult to accept I am a member of a "minority group", but easy to recognise that in Southport Melodic Jazz Club, I do indeed have a friend.

Throughout the year the SMJC puts on concerts of real quality at its regular venue, The Royal Clifton Hotel, where, on Sunday, May 21, at 8.00pm, singer Clare Foster will appear with the Brazilian-influenced jazz group "Clarindade".

Clare's CV indicates that not only is she hugely-talented but also a very determined and focused young woman. Born in England, she left drama school in 1986 with a distinction in Drama and Performing Arts and headed off to New York to study jazz singing under Judy Niemack and Barry Harris. She worked there until 1990.

Back in London she went to the Guildhall School, obtaining an Advanced Certificate in Jazz and Studio Music and spent the 1990s gigging in London and touring Europe and the Far East with small groups and big bands, including the Glenn Miller Orchestra.

Her debut recording in 1993, "Clare Foster sings Wayne Shorter" was issued in Holland, since when seven more albums have followed. The late 1990s saw her return to New York, including gigs at Birdland, then residencies in Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa, Canada.

Her association with "Clarindade" began in 2001 with a couple of National Jazz Services tours. Her last solo album, "The Music And I", was recorded in 2003, after which she took a break to start a family. She is now back on the road with Clarindade, performing the music of the great Brazilian composers, combining subtle rhythms with jazz improvisation. The repertoire includes some of her own compositions and she sings in both Portuguese and English.

Reviewing "The Music and I" on his BBC Radio " programme, no less an authority than Humphrey Lyttleton, paid generous praise to Clare. Tickets for her concert, priced at £13 (SMJC members £12, students £8, under 16s with an adult free) can be obtained from 01704 541790.

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