Christine Tobin

“A Thousand Kisses Deep”

(Trail Belle Records TBR03)

Christine Tobin is one of the UK’s most respected jazz singers, a frequent prize winner whose latest accolades include best vocalist at the 2014 Parliamentary Jazz Awards and a Herald Angel Award from the 2013 Edinburgh Festival. 

Since moving to the UK from her native Ireland Tobin has established herself as one of the country’s most adventurous jazz singers, a talented songwriter in her own right and a brilliant and fearless interpreter of other people’s material.

She first came to prominence as vocalist for the jazz/folk crossover group Lammas, led by saxophonist Tim Garland, before developing a solo career which saw seven critically acclaimed albums being released under her own name on the Babel label between 1995 and 2008. A move to her own Trail Belle Records imprint first produced “Tapestry Unravelled”, her re-interpretation of Carole King’s classic 1970 album “Tapestry” in a pared down duo format with pianist Liam Noble. Next came the widely acclaimed “Sailing To Byzantium”, Tobin’s musical settings of the poet William Butler Yeats (1865-1939).

Throughout her career Tobin has harboured a particular affinity for the music and words of Leonard Cohen, frequently including Cohen songs in her live sets. “A Thousand Kisses Deep” is an album comprised entirely of her interpretations of Cohen material, not only her homage to the great man but also a convincing piece of work in its own right as Tobin puts her own stamp on the material via her imaginative vocal interpretations and colourful instrumental arrangements.

The “Thousand Kisses” project has been a tremendous success with Tobin performing the material to sell out audiences on a mammoth UK tour that has embraced everything from rural village halls to a prestigious appearance at the 2013 London Jazz Festival. The tour is still ongoing and will include a performance at the 2014 Brecon Jazz Festival. Check http://www.christine-tobin.com for news of forthcoming live events.

I saw Tobin give a spellbinding performance of Cohen material (plus a soup?on of Joni Mitchell, Bobbie Gentry,John Martyn and the Great American Songbook) at Black Mountain Jazz in Abergavenny in November 2013, a performance reviewed elsewhere on this site. Tobin was joined by the two musicians who have formed the core of the Thousand Kisses project, guitarist Phil Robson and double bassist Dave Whitford. Both are fully attuned to Tobin’s artistic vision and their sensitive and sympathetic accompaniment is crucial to the success of the music. Constants on tour these two also form the musical backbone of the album with extra colours being provided by percussionist Adriano Adewale, accordionist Huw Warren, pianist Gwilym Simcock and trumpeter Nick Smart. Simcock is also the arranger of one piece and Phil Robson also plays a crucial part in the arranging process.

The programme embraces every period of Cohen’s career commences with Robson’s arrangement of “Famous Blue Raincoat” with Warren’s accordion and Adewale’s percussion supplementing the core trio. Cohen’s songs lend themselves well to interpretations by the female voice and readers may recall Jennifer Warnes’ critically acclaimed 1980’s album of Cohen tunes which featured this song as the title track. Tobin’s version may be more obviously jazzy but there’s no doubting her interpretive skills and story telling expertise.

A warm and intimate “Hey That’s No Way To Say Goodbye” features confessional vocals and cleanly picked acoustic guitar plus a delightful solo from Whitford.  Adewale tastefully adds charmingly exotic details via a variety of small percussive devices.

The percussionist also adds to Tobin’s arrangement of “Tower Of Song”, which features yearning, blues inflected vocal alongside a wonderfully fluent Robson guitar solo. The end of the piece features a subtle tribute to Miles Davis and Joe Zawinul as Tobin makes clever allusions to the classic “In A Silent Way”.

Robson’s arrangement of"Take This Waltz” features the core trio plus Warren’s accordion, the latter adding an appropriately “Viennese” flavour. With its “aye, aye, aye” refrain the song has been a particularly popular item at Tobin’s live performances with the singer inviting audiences to join in with the chorus.

“Suzanne” is one of Cohen’s best known songs but Tobin manages to breathe new life into it via an innovative and surprisingly upbeat arrangement (credited to Tobin and Robson) that draws on the rhythms and timbres of West African music. Adewale’s percussion leads things off and the arrangement also includes Warren’s accordion and Robson’s hi-life style guitar. There’s also an effective scat vocal episode from Tobin. Forget your preconceptions about Cohen’s music being miserable, in Tobin’s hands this is positively joyous, one of the most radical interpretations on the entire album.

Guest pianist Gwilym Simcock is responsible for the intimate arrangement of “Anthem” which teams his piano with Tobin’s voice to great effect. Sparse but beautiful the arrangement brings out the beauty and gravity of Cohen’s words while highlighting Tobin’s interpretive and technical abilities and Simcock’s sublime piano touch. It’s highly emotive and hugely effective and together with the startling remake of “Suzanne” is one of the highlights of the album.

From “Songs From A Room” “You Know Who I Am” is arguably one of Cohen’s lesser known songs but its lyrical imagery is typically enigmatic and evocative. Tobin’s arrangement features her own soulful vocals, Adewale’s percussion and Robson’s exquisite Spanish style acoustic guitar. 

The title track is a 21st century Cohen song that was used in the soundtrack of the 2002 Neil Jordan film “The Good Thief”. The world weary lyrics reveal Cohen’s poetic muse to be undimmed and the Robson/Tobin arrangement finds Phil utilising a blend of overdubbed electric and acoustic guitars. Whitford’s occasional bass solos represent some of the album’s instrumental highlights and he impresses again here.

Cohen is at his most cynical and direct on “Everybody Knows” and Tobin sings his barbed words with real feeling before embarking on a scat excursion in an arrangement that also features Warren and Adewale.

Whitford’s double bass and Adewale’s percussion drive an intensely heavy and rhythmic “Story Of Isaac”. Tobin’s dramatic vocal and Robson’s heavily distorted guitar lend an additional air of menace to Cohen’s already disturbing imagery.

Finally we hear “Dance Me To The End Of Love”, a song memorably covered by Madeleine Peyroux. Tobin’s elegant, jazzy album version sees the core trio augmented by the trumpet of Nick Smart whose playing brings real warmth and sparkle to the proceedings.

Engineered by Curtis Schwartz and produced by Tobin and Robson “A Thousand Kisses Deep” is an immaculately crafted labour of love that honours Cohen’s oeuvre while simultaneously revealing Tobin to be a singer of rare sensitivity. It’s an album that should help to bring one of our best “jazz” singers to the attention of a wider audience, especially if the full houses that have greeted Tobin throughout the tour are anything to go by. I use the inverted commas around the word “jazz” because Tobin is a singer who is able to transcend genres, even if jazz is at the heart of what she does. Hardcore jazz fans have always known that she’s a genuine talent, hopefully this will be the album that will place her more firmly on the musical map overall. 

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