Christine Tobin
( BBC Jazz Award 2008 for Best Vocalist)
Secret Life of a Girl
BDV 2875
Bye Bye (lyrics Eva Salzman /music C Tobin)
Camille (Tobin)
Corner Of An Eye (Tobin)
Dreamland (Tobin)
No Love No Thrill (Tobin)
Everybody Knows (Leonard Cohen)
Minx (Tobin)
Secret Life of a Girl (Tobin)
Poses (Rufus Wainwright)
with Liam Noble (piano), Kate Shortt (cello), Phil Robson (guitar), Dave Whitford (double bass), Thebe Lipere (percussion) and Simon Lea (drums)
"She should be on a global stage rubbing shoulders with fellow troubadours like Cave, Mitchell and Cohen...It's a tribute to the quality of Tobin's writing that there are no weak spots in this excellent collection"
John L Walters The Guardian ****
"Sexy, gutsy, bluesy and beautiful."
Lionel Shriver, author of ‘We Need To Talk About Kevin' on Secret Life of a Girl
"This girl's life can't stay secret much longer."
Rob Adams, Scottish Herald album of the week
"A well rounded album, the warmth and authenticity of Tobin's voice making her one of the standout vocalists on the UK jazz scene"
Stuart Nicholson, Jazzwise May 2008 issue ****
"A class act."
Ivan Hewett The Daily Telegraph
"This imaginative set may be the one that finally pushes her towards wider recognition."
John Bungey The Times ***
"Why isn't Christine Tobin a household name?...an album of cherishable ambition and total distinction."
London Metro
"Visceral yet sensuous, Tobin disturbs even as she entices."
Mike Butler (Manchester Metro)
"...Arresting new album." *****
Ray Comiskey, Irish Times
"...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, All About Jazz
The seventh release from this great Irish singer has received lavish critical praise, many critics claiming it as her best yet - ‘Secret Life of a Girl' sees Tobin weave tales of childhood innocence into those of multicultural London, refracted through a fascinating prism of characters. Her part fantasy, part biographical album tells of journeys from tough urban landscapes to seaside retreats, of tree houses, pebbly beaches and noble steeds.
Says Tobin: “The idea of ‘the journey', both in the physical world and in the transformation from youth to maturity, is the theme expressed in my songs through stories of different female characters. Camille is the carefree ten-year old girl who lives happily in a world where the lines between reality and fantasy blur. ‘Secret Life of a Girl' is about the trials, treasures and thrills found on the brink of change. Whilst in contrast ‘Corner Of An Eye' is inspired by the short stories of Annie Proulx, rocking horses and the notion that the horse symbolises all that is good and true in human nature.”
Dublin-born singer/songwriter Christine Tobin has been living in London since 1987. Her work is firmly rooted in a tradition that emphasizes storytelling and breaks through many musical genres to create a heady potion that is uniquely Christine. Her innovative and expressive style has led the Guardian to call her the Björk of Euro jazz.
Her music has been described as authentic, streetwise, radical and romantic. John L. Walters of the Guardian says she possesses a "24-carat voice" and Jazzwise hail her as "probably the most adventurous jazz singer of her generation in this country, with the ideas and willingness to push back the boundaries and explore new territory with each new album." In 2004 Christine was nominated for Best Vocalist at the BBC Jazz Awards, and her vivid interpretations of Bessie Smith were featured in film director Mike Figgis' Red White and Blues documentary film in the Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues series.
This immediate crossover album should see this girl being a secret no more.
Christine Tobin end of UK Spring Tour
3rd July: London Lauderdale House
13 th July Chelsea 606 Club
19th July: Manchester Jazz Festival
25th: Margate Jazz Festival
1 August: The Crypt, Camberwell
12 September: Pizza Express, Soho
Additional CD review quotes and Reviews
"One of the great mysteries of the U.K. scene is why Christine Tobin has not broken through to a wider audience. This album leaves the back door open for fans of P.J. Harvey or Joan as Policewoman to get into her music." Jazzwise May 2008
"Poised halfway between jazz chanteuse and singer-songwriter, the Dublin-born vocalist with the tough-tender tones has become a fixture of the British jazz circuit. This imaginative set may be the one that finally pushes her towards wider recognition Tobin takes on the persona of various female characters, from dreamy ten-year-old to hard-bitten harlot. There's spare, sympathetic backing from a small band led by her guitarist husband Phil Robson. It's the simpler songs that work best – the swampy stomp of Bye Bye , the floaty Camille and the spare, soulful title track. The tricksy rhythms of Minx and No Love No Thrill are harder work, but her words and music are not outclassed by covers of Leonard Cohen and Rufus Wainwright."
John Bungey (The Times) ***
"Dublin-born singer Christine Tobin is a jewel of the London jazz scene, streets ahead of the pack, but she deserves better. She should be on a global stage, rubbing shoulders with fellow troubadours like Cave, Mitchell and Cohen. And while her current 15-date tour should help broaden her UK fan base, this is an album that could break through to a bigger, international audience. Tobin's eloquent songs are framed by masterful arrangements and beautifully recorded to make the most of the content. There's no self-indulgence: it's all about the songs. Dave Whitford's sonorous bass and Phil Robson's self-effacing guitar are the perfect match for Tobin's rich, dark-hued vocals. Highlights include the swampy Bye Bye; the Corner of an Eye, with its archaic "spring reverb"; and a delicious cover of Cohen and Robinson's Everybody Knows. Yet it's a tribute to the quality of Tobin's writing that there are no weak spots in this excellent collection. (John L Walters, The Guardian) ****
The title of the new album from Irish-born jazz singer-songwriter Christine Tobin suggests a set of fluffy confessions from a Bridget Jones-like character. But Tobin doesn't do fluffy or girly. The songs on this, her seventh album, may have a very feminine emotional intimacy, but there's an unsentimental toughness in them too. You might think it would impossible to avoid sentimentality in a song about a young girl's inner life that begins “I am Camille, and I am 10 years old.” But Tobin pulls it off. The excellent sextet backing Tobin provide the ideal frame for her lovely, many-hued voice – discreet and yet characterful. A class act.
Ivan Hewett The Telegraph
Tobin at home with her own songs as well as the classics
"The tendency for jazz singers to take on the added responsibility of song-writing can lead to disappointment.
After all, the great songs that have formed the basis of their art for the last 50 years and more were the results of some of the most brilliant writers in the music's history and have been further filtered and honed by the passing of time.
One singer who has turned performing her own songs into a virtue rather than a vice is Christine Tobin, and she will be road-testing her latest ones at the Polish Club on Saturday.
Tobin has a marvellously straight and natural way of singing - there are none of the tricks and mannerisms usually found in jazz singers, and little self-consciousness. Just a great range, a slight Irish lilt, and a dedication to communicating a story, a tune, an emotion.
She has pursued her own path consistently, not only writing striking lyrics and strong melodies, but also picking jazz standards and more recent songs, especially those of Leonard Cohen, with great canniness.
Her latest album, Secret Life Of A Girl (out now on the Babel label) is her strongest yet, all originals with the exception of Rufus Wainwright's Poses and Cohen and Sharon Robinson's Everybody Knows." (Jun 2 2008. Peter Bacon - Jazz Diary (Birmingham Post)
"Christine's own lyrics often echo Cohen's style of poetry. "I will let you flatter me/ Stroke my silken hair/ And when you tousle with my shyness/ Make you believe I really care" - sounds like Leonard to me."
Lionel Shriver in Jazzwise Magazine May 2008
"Christine Tobin has merited wide recognition since her days with 1990s Celtic/jazzers Lammas, and her latest album makes the case for this more clearly than ever. A songwriter as well as a daring, sexy-timbred jazz singer, Tobin assumes various characters here, from a ten year old to a junkyard blues philosopher, a Brechtian cowgirl gamefully patting her horse's rump, and a snappy beat poet seductress. Add top covers of Leonard Cohen's Everybody Knows and Rufus Wainwright's Poses and arrangements that mirror her every mood, and this girl's life can't stay secret much longer."
(Rob Adams, Herald)
Poised halfway between jazz chanteuse and singer-songwriter, the Dublin-born vocalist with the tough-tender tones has become a fixture of the British jazz circuit. This imaginative set may be the one that finally pushes her towards wider recognition Tobin takes on the persona of various female characters, from dreamy ten-year-old to hard-bitten harlot. There's spare, sympathetic backing from a small band led by her guitarist husband Phil Robson.
It's the simpler songs that work best – the swampy stomp of Bye Bye , the floaty Camille and the spare, soulful title track. The tricksy rhythms of Minx and No Love No Thrill are harder work, but her words and music are not outclassed by covers of Leonard Cohen and Rufus Wainwright.
(John Bungey, The Times)
A fascinating performer, somewhat remote from the jazz mainstream, but entirely in the spirit of the music (Penguin Guide to Jazz)
TOBIN’S SONGWRITING SKILLS PUT HER MORE IN THE CLASS OF CARMEN LUNDY AND PATRICIA BARBER. BUT THE BEST SONGS ON THE ALBUM PUT HER IN A CLASS OF HER OWN (THE GUARDIAN)
ABOVE ALL THE VOICE IS A KILLER (FROOTS)
Got to Christine's My Space here
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