SINGING at Eastleigh’s Concorde is like coming home for Clare Teal.

It was from the Stoneham Lane club that she laid the tracks for a star studded career which turned her into a household name.

One of the nation’s most successful jazz singers in decades she has also become a star of the airwaves with her twice weekly Radio Two show.

She was back at what she regards as very much her spiritual home as she got The Concorde into the Christmas groove.

Her Festive Fiesta is in its fifth year and it coincides with the release of her new Christmas album Jing, Jing-A-Ling.

She had come hotfoot from the Royal Albert Hall where she had been sharing stage with the cast of Downton Abbey in Christmas with The Stars.

And she was still very much in the festive mood as she took to The Concorde stage, launching into Irving Berlin’s White Christmas which Bing Crosby turned into a 50 million worldwide seller.

Clare attacks every number with such breath taking speed and style that it was not long before we were drifting into Dream A Little Dream of Me.

With the help of a ukulele the Yorkshire born singer took the audience on a musical sleigh ride to Hawaii. This real cracker of a show was put together by Clare’s highly talented pianist and musical director Grant Windsor.

Great support also from bass player Simon Little and Ben Reynolds on drums who performed some brilliant close harmonies in this Christmas international jazz night special.

It was a full house and fans from the Isle of Wight made a special trip across the Solent to watch a very polished performance which lit the blue touch paper for the club’s Christmas party season.

There was even a singalong with The Twelve Days Of Christmas and a member of the audience nearly stole the show with his rousing chorus of Three French Hens.

Clare opened the second set with It’s The Most Wonderful Time of The Year – a nostalgic reminder of those Andy Williams’ yuletide songfests that filled our Christmas TV screens in the sixties and seventies.

And Clare’s Christmas collection included Have Yourself and Merry Little Christmas which made its debut in a Judy Garland film in 1944.

All I Want for Christmas Is You – a big hit for Mariah Carey – was the signal for the audience to get into the hand clapping mood.

Clare Teal puts a smile in every song with enough amps to light up all the Christmas Trees in the land.