Ross Lorraine: More from the Heart review – refreshing summer jazz songs

Although he started writing songs as a teenager, Ross Lorraine has spent most of his life doing other things. A classically trained composer, he became a music therapist before working alongside Harrison Birtwistle , exploring improvisational idioms, writing music for theatre, playing jazz piano and scoring modern tangos.

More recently he remembered he’s been a songwriter all along, and in 2022 delivered Heart of Mine , a critically acclaimed collection of jazz-centric numbers sung by half a dozen UK singers. More from the Heart repeats the same trick, with verve. Vocalist Claire Martin again produces, with lead duties shared between Joanna Eden, Iain Mackenzie, Charlie Wood, Irene Serra, Noemi Nuti and Christine Tobin, alongside a classy sextet led by pianist Nikki Iles.

Ross brings a tidy assortment of influences to his writing. What You Got and You Never Knew Me boast finger-snapping cool, their wit delivered with insouciance by Mackenzie and Serra respectively. At the other end of the spectrum comes the mournful retrospection of Scissors Paper Stone and the tender Sleep My Darling , both featuring the cello of Joe Giddey. Opener Down On My Knees begins modestly but builds into a hefty ballad just calling for a rock band. The songs are clipped and cliche-free; a refreshing summer draft.