He's topped the charts on every continent and plays everywhere from the iconic Ronnie Scott's to major jazz festivals of the world but returning to Christchurch last night Curtis Stigers declared: "It's good to be home!"

It was in part his introduction to the show opener, Randy Newman' s 'I'll Be Home' but it was clear the former 90's pop star felt very comfortable and in his element in the relatively intimate Regent Theatre setting.

And what a treat it was for us the audience to be up close and personal to such an engaging, charming, charismatic performer and extraordinary talent who switched from pop to jazz in middle age and has been sitting nicely in the style since the turn of the millennium.

The multi- platinum selling singer, saxophonist, producer and songwriter was joined by his stunning band of New York musicians Matthew Fries on Piano, Cliff Schmitt on Bass and Paul Wells on Drums.

Together they wowed the packed venue with their combined musicianship working through classic material, hits and songs from his latest album 'Hooray For Love' - a collection of upbeat love song covers and his own excellent title track.

Of course he included the early 90's hits, 'I Wonder Why’ and ‘You´re all that Matters to Me’ which have become soul classics over the years but they had a distinct jazzy, bluesy twist.

There was a raw, emotional delivery to some of his more heart- felt songs like the second Randy Newman track, ' Living Without You' with it's theme of lost love'.

A stand out song of the evening though was Tom Wait's ' San Diego Serenade' with it's sizzling sax solos and emotional full - pelt vocals.

His rendition of Tony Bennett's ' But Beautiful' was a master class in Jazz performance.

Since 2001 Curtis has been seriously pursuing a career as a first class jazz singer with 7 albums out and whilst I am certainly not part of the jazzeratti I loved every moment of a repertoire that ranged from Billy Joel's 'She's Got a Way' to Bob Dylan's 'Wonder Boys'.

An encore and two standing ovations told Curtis he is welcome back any time and he seems happy to oblige: " Man this is a cute town - you just want to pinch it on the cheek you're so cute! ... We should do this every Tuesday... Maybe next summer!"

It sounds like it's a date!