The enviable success of singer Clare Teal over the past couple of years or so can't be denied.

She'd workead hard in the areas she's wanted to work in, which includes much of her own song-writing, as well as familiar material. This apprenticeship included working her passage around the UK jazz circuit of venues small and large.

It stood her in good stead for the moment when major record labels like Sony and Universal were ready to move off their junk food diet of chart music's false creations and work with young acts who showed acoustic naturalness and musicianship.

As a result, Clare Teal has achieved very big record sales, concert appearances at home and abroad, radio and TV spots.

I'm not absolutely convinced that she can be called (or needs to be called) a jazz singer. She's worked on a stage presentation after some shaky early moments and she surrounds herself with good jazz musicians. She's also soaked up a lot of the right influences, she communicates well and she knows how to make the atmosphere intimate in a large place.

Her press release tells us that she's been able to sing in tune since the age of three. That's good, so are her other traditional virtues such as a clear voice tone and good diction.

Where press writers let her down is with some over-exaggerated hype, and by quoting newspapers which clearly don't know what they're talking about, such as the Daily Mail.

Nonetheless, her appearance at Dartford's Mick Jagger Centre on March 18 is very likely to sell out. She has a feeling of success about her and that always makes for eager anticipation in the crowd.

Box office 01322 291100.