Christine Tobin Band - Aililiu

Size: 128,3 MB
Time: 55:36
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2006
Styles: Jazz Vocals, Folk Jazz, Bossa Nova
Art: Front

01. Siul Arun - Circular Knotwork (10:29)
02. Lavender's Blue ( 8:33)
03. The Priest ( 4:44)
04. Aililiu Na Gamhna ( 2:26)
05. The Cargo Cafe ( 5:33)
06. Promised Land ( 5:35)
07. Those Who Love The Lord ( 4:48)
08. E So Tinha De Ser Com Voce ( 7:44)
09. Lord Gregory ( 5:39)

As anyone who has heard the folk/jazz group Lammas will know, Christine Tobin, a Dublin-born singer now resident in London, is as adept at raising gooseflesh with plaintive folk laments as she is at negotiating the hairpin bends of jazz improvisation. Leading her own band, however, she draws her material from an even wider variety of sources: Brazilian music (represented on this CD by a Jobim song impeccably performed in Portuguese), young UK jazz musicians to whose tunes she writes unusually cogent lyrics, and early influences on her style and approach such as Joni Mitchell – the latter’s ‘The Priest’ (from Ladies of the Canyon) is a highlight of the album. But Tobin is no mere musical magpie; she has clearly assimilated into her own style the music from all these apparently disparate fields. The strength, control and purity of her voice, and the telling contributions of her regular band – particularly the ever adventurous Huw Warren – ensure that the album is a satisfying artistic whole. An inspiring debut from a singer to watch. Chris Parker

Performer:
Tobin (vocals); Huw Warren (p, acc); Steve Watts (b); Roy Dodds (d), plus guests: Steve Buckley (whistle); Ben Davis (cello); John Parricelli, Phil Robson (g); Mike Pickering (d)

Aililiu

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Christine Tobin - Yell Of The Gazelle / You Draw The Line

Album: Yell Of The Gazelle
Size: 140,0 MB
Time: 61:08
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1996
Styles: Jazz Vocals
Art: Front

01. Evergreen (7:14)
02. Retrato Em Branco E Preto (5:49)
03. You Know Who I Am (5:26)
04. Happy House (5:46)
05. Cuirt Bhaile Nua (2:56)
06. A Chair In The Sky (6:50)
07. Angel Eyes (3:46)
08. The Black Shoes (5:49)
09. Behind The Wall (6:39)
10. Night (4:28)
11. The Generous Lover (6:20)

The material on this, Dublin-born singer Christine Tobin’s second album under her own name, comes from largely the same sources drawn on by her debut: Irish traditional music, jazz standards, modern folk, plus the odd original and a tune by Antonio Carlos Jobim. There are definite signs, though, of increased maturity and sophistication, both in the poise with which Tobin approaches familiar fare – her daringly accelerated version of the usually slow-burning ‘Angel Eyes’ is a particular delight – and in the intelligent adventurousness of her own writing. Like one of her chief inspirations, Joni Mitchell (whose collaboration with Charles Mingus, ‘A Chair in the Sky’, is featured here), Tobin has a talent both for writing complex but cogent melodies and supplying appropriate words and resettings for existing jazz tunes – here exemplified by a broodingly intense version of John Abercrombie’s ‘Night’, particularly well suited to her smooth, smoky voice. Her reworking, with Huw Warren, of Leonard Cohen’s ‘You Know Who I Am’, transformed from a slow waltz to a slightly sinister, dark shuffle embellished with bursts of freeish jazz, is also highly effective, and the album as a whole more than fulfils Tobin’s considerable promise. CP

Yell Of The Gazelle

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Album: You Draw The Line
Size: 116,3 MB
Time: 50:48
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2003
Styles: Jazz Vocals
Art: Front

01. Tower Of Song (6:35)
02. Stone Cold (3:54)
03. Go Tell (5:00)
04. Night Talking (4:06)
05. You Draw The Line (6:06)
06. Concepta (6:04)
07. All I Really Want To Do (7:07)
08. The Intellectual Engineer (5:24)
09. Hell Hath No Fury (6:28)

Accompanied by a late-night quartet of piano, guitar, double bass and drums, Christine bends her flexible, warm voice around seven of her own compositions and songs by Leonard Cohen ("Tower Of Song") and Bob Dylan ("All I Really Want To Do").

The mood is mellow, redolent of candlelight in a smokey basement club at midnight. But her songs are anything but comfortable, titles such as "Hell Hath No Fury", "The Intellectual Engineer", "Stone Cold" and the title track revealing a turmoil within.

You Draw The Line

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Christine Tobin - House of Women

Styles: Vocal
Year: 1998
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:38
Size: 129,7 MB
Art: Front

(4:59)  1. House of Women
(4:34)  2. Story of Isaac
(7:14)  3. The Invisible Thread
(4:56)  4. Acts of Obscenity
(7:12)  5. Echoes
(4:46)  6. Seneca
(4:12)  7. Lovin' Kind
(3:27)  8. Love-Lies-Bleeding
(3:38)  9. Ooh! Salamander
(7:06) 10. Morro Velho
(4:32) 11. Hey Joe

Born Dublin, Eire. After singing in Dublin, Tobin went to London where she studied at the Guildhall School of Music, taking the jazz course. Tobin is now a regular on the UK jazz scene, working with musicians such as Jean Toussaint, Billy Childs, Kenny Wheeler, and Django Bates, and has established regular slots at Ronnie Scott’s and the South Bank’s Purcell Room. She also tours Europe regularly, appearing at festivals in Austria, Germany, Bulgaria, Spain and Hungary. Her repertoire is wide-ranging, rooted in jazz but drawing on Irish folk, world, and Latin influences. Tobin’s recorded output for the Babel label has focused on her own melodically-complex compositions, although the highlight remains her languorous and husky vocals. Deep Song concentrated on interpretations of jazz standards such as ‘Little Girl Blue’, ‘I Can’t Get Started’, and ‘How Deep Is The Ocean’. 

~ Bio  http://www.allmusic.com/artist/christine-tobin-mn0000905178

House of Women

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Christine Tobin - Secret Life of a Girl

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2008
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 48:58
Size: 113,6 MB
Art: Front

(4:13)  1. Bye Bye
(4:34)  2. Camille
(7:20)  3. Corner of an Eye
(3:58)  4. Dreamland
(5:29)  5. No Love No Thrill
(7:13)  6. Everybody Knows
(6:11)  7. Minx
(3:43)  8. Secret Life of a Girl
(6:14)  9. Poses

Three years and a lifetime in gestation, Secret Life of a Girl is an album London-based singer/songwriter Christine Tobin spoke about when she gave an interview to AAJ in autumn 2005. At the time, Tobin was touring in support of Romance and Revolution (Babel, 2004), the sixth own-name disc she'd recorded since 1995 and, like its predecessors, a soulful and intelligently programmed mixture of originals and covers.  Secret Life of a Girl continues that tradition. There are just two covers this time, Leonard Cohen's world weary "Everybody Knows" and Rufus Wainwright's playful "Poses." The other seven tracks are Tobin originals, one with lyrics by the poet Eva Salzman, whose writing Tobin also featured on Romance and Revolution's "Muse of Blues."  Just as Tobin described it in her interview, Secret Life of a Girl is a collection of songs featuring female characters, some younger, some older. "Camille" gets inside the head of a 10 year old girl and her imagined secret world. 

"No Love No Thrill" describes the feelings of a grown woman who has unhappily concluded a relationship with an older man. In "Minx" a woman reveals the carapaces and emotional disguises she employs to get by. "Secret Life of a Girl" deals in more metaphorical language with these and other ideas. The other tunes are not so gender specific, but dealing as they do with issues and situations which effect the lives of women as much as they do men each sits well within the general concept. "Corner of an Eye" is a brilliantly woven collection of epigrams telling of life's struggles. "Dreamland" is a meditation on secret memories. Tobin's lyrics, a mixture of metaphor and real life experience, are genuinely poetic and give her songwriting a depth and richness which repeated listening enhances rather than diminishes. Tobin is well served, as before, by a superb band of seasoned regular accompanists, including guitarist Phil Robson, pianist Liam Noble, bassist Dave Whitford and percussionist Thebe Lipere. Cellist Kate Shortt and drummer Simon Lea are the newest recruits, with whom Tobin started working live in 2005. Robson's lyrical electric guitar, an attractive blend of jazz and rock influences, is a feature of several tracks. 

Noble's percussive prepared piano on "Bye Bye" and solo on "Minx" are compelling contributions from a fast emerging keyboard master. This is another rewarding collection of deep-song from a singer/songwriter who combines literate compositions with a tangible sense of the jazz life, with all its attendant passions, joys and tribulations. Chris May   

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=29443#.UqJnuOJc_vt

Personnel: Christine Tobin: voice; Phil Robson: guitars; Liam Noble: piano and prepared piano; Kate Shortt: cello; Dave Whitford: double bass; Thebe Lipere: percussion; Simon Lea: drums; Alex Bonney: programming (8).

Secret Life of a Girl

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