Beacon Arts Centre, Greenock, Scotland

Tickets from https://www.beaconartscentre.co.uk/events/christine-tobin-phil-robson

Christine Tobin is one of the most distinctive voices on the UK and  European jazz scene. Born in Dublin and originally inspired by  singer-songwriters including Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen, she moved  to London where she immersed herself in the Great American Songbook  before first coming to national attention with the Celtic-jazz group  Lammas. Encouraged by pianist Simon Purcell to write lyrics for his  compositions, Christine began developing her own songwriting and  composing and has released a series of twelve albums under her own name,  including her critically acclaimed Sailing to Byzantium, which featured  her settings of poems by W B Yeats and a guest appearance by Irish film  actor – and Christine’s former drama teacher at school, Gabriel Byrne. Christine  was awarded the BBC Jazz Award for Best Vocalist in 2008 and Jazz  Vocalist of the Year at the Parliamentary Jazz Awards in 2014. Her  Leonard Cohen tribute, A Thousand Kisses Deep won a Herald Angel award  at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2013 and two years later she and her  long-time musical partner, guitarist Phil Robson moved to New York. Christine  and Phil made a considerable impact in New York, where Phil had  previously worked with saxophonist Dave Liebman, drummer Billy Hart and  bassist James Genus.  The winner of the Best Jazz Musician Of The Year  title at the Parliamentary Jazz Awards in 2009, Phil has also been a  long-time member of the award-winning jazz group Partisans and has  appeared with Barbra Streisand, Dame Cleo Laine and former James Brown  saxophonist Maceo Parker. Now back living in Ireland, Christine and  Phil have recently toured Christine’s rapturously received latest album,  Returning Weather, and continue to work as a duo with a consummate  mutual understanding and strong audience engagement, performing original  songs and impeccable arrangements of jazz standards.