CLAIRE Martin's Hollywood Romance will open Winchester Jazz Festival at Theatre Royal Winchester on Thursday.

Hollywood Romance features a ten-piece band including the Tippett Quartet, Matt Skelton, James Pearson and Callum Au.

Celebrate the art of popular song from the golden age of Hollywood!

Claire Martin is at the peak of an illustrious international career as a jazz singer. Her 15th album for Linn records, Too Much in Love to Care, received 5-star reviews, Jazz Journal saying that she is ‘one of the finest jazz singers in the world today’. The album went on to win the Best New Recording award at the British Jazz Awards.

Winchester's inaugural jazz festival takes place in venues across the city centre. Audiences can expect four days of performances by major UK jazz and swing acts such as well as some of the best local musicians.

Other picks during the event, which runs until Sunday September 25, are The J Fashole-Luke Trio and Arabella Sprot, both on the final day.

Jonathan Fashole-Luke is a multi instrumentalist who is in high demand particularly for live piano performances. He has performed live all over Europe at Jazz Festivals and has jammed with international jazz legends, as well as playing Ronnie Scott's, the Royal Albert Hall and Glastonbury and performing on Later With Jools Holland. He is accompanied at the Railway Inn by the extraordinary talents of Jamie McAllister on bass guitar and Ben Kill on drums.

British saxophonist Arabella Sprot was originally a Winchester girl before a double scholarship to Birmingham Music Conservatoire led to her move to Berlin.

She has performed internationally, including at Montreux Jazz Festival and is set to release a new record in 2017 with her new Berlin-based project, Earshot. This gig will feature a very special line up of nationally renowned hammond organ player John-Paul Gard and drummer Matt Brown, well-known for his integral role in the band Dakhla. The trio will play some popular and lesser known jazz standards, as well as a few of Arabella’s own compositions at The Railway Inn.

Find out more at winchesterjazzfestival.com.