Freight Train - Christine Tobin Liam Noble Paul Clarvis

Event information

Update: Christine Tobin will now be performing instead of Cathy Jordan. She is also superb! See christinetobin.org.

“A masterclass in songcraft. One of the most gifted and original singer/songwriters in today’s jazz world.” BBC Music Magazine

“Tobin has followed a studiously personal path as a singer and songwriter that has won her the kind of accolades bestowed on only a few. This rare and thoroughly personal artist is, a one-off.”
The Irish Times

“What sets her apart is her intensity and the sheer beauty of her voice, a deep soulful thing that she seems to summon from somewhere deep inside…”. Time Out Magazine

Tobin’s vocals, veering from acrobatic to sultry, are tailored perfectly for the material, her evocations of time and place precise. Classy and lovely.” The Observer ****

“There’s a thrilling, dark timbre to Tobin’s voice that moves you like no other singer." The Guardian

“…..songs with emotional impact, melodic hooks and ecstatic refrains. …. by turns yearning, bucolic, elegiac, apocalyptic and deliciously romantic, and draws on the folk and European art song traditions as much as Tobin’s jazz background.” Herald Scotland, Sunday Herald
“The voice is a killer” fRoots Magazine

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Here’s an unexpected trio producing delightful results. Singer Cathy Jordan is a leading light on the Irish folk scene who met drummer Paul Clarvis at a festival, and they decided to collaborate. Liam Noble on piano perfectly completes the trio. They performed here a year ago and were PHENOMENAL!

Noble contributes characteristically exploratory piano, ranging from spare but oblique obligato to rhapsodic intros as the mood takes him, with some electronic additions on the studio tracks. Clarvis, as ever, generates impetus with minimal effort, even at impossibly slow tempos. Together they furnish warm support for the vocals, challengingly exposed in this setting. Jordan delivers the songs straight, in a light but beautifully accurate voice that handles jazz rhythm as if she has always leant that way.

Overall, it sounds as if these three have a thoroughly good time playing together: and so does the listener.

Guardian Review here

cathy jordan was born in county roscommon is a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, playing guitar, bodhran, bones and bouzouki. she has been the lead vocalist for the traditional irish music band dervish since 1991, and is a solo performer as well. jordan is also a member of the group the unwanted. her first solo album, entitled all the way home, was released in january, 2012. at the end of 2019 dervish received a prestigious lifetime achievement award from the bbc, a fitting tribute to the band after over 30 years of recording and performing all over the world. described by the bbc as “an icon of irish music”

her love for traditional singing was instilled at an early age, especially by her father. cathy began singing publicly at all kind of feiseanna and concerts as a child. in later years she took to performing a wide range of material as a solo performer in the midlands. in the summer of 1990 cathy met informally with dervish and was shortly afterwards asked to join the band. paul first heard cathy sing 5 years ago in pub in sligo…and was immediately drawn to the directness of her voice , with a dynamic range from a whisper to louder than concorde…the following year , they played a gig together at the wonderful sligo jazz festival … paul was looking for an opportunity to involve her in other projects , and the request from west midlands jazz in lockdown seemed like the perfect opportunity

liam and paul first met playing and touring in moondog’s band…collaborating in many joint projects since then – including with mose allison
liam noble
after studying music at the university of oxford and the postgraduate course at guildhall school of music and dram, noble became the regular pianist with stan sulzmann (in both duo and quartet settings) on john taylor’s recommendation. he went on to work in the bands of anita wardell, harry beckett, tim whitehead and john stevens as well as recording and touring with cult minimalist composer moondog.
three years after leaving the guildhall, noble recorded the solo piano album of compositions and interpretations of tunes by ornette coleman, annette peacock and richard rodgers. in 1997, he joined the bobby wellins quartet, he is also a member of the christine tobin band and the randy brecker english sextet and a duo project with paul clarvis playing music from west side story combines well-known material with a “stream of consciousness” improvisatory angle.

in april 2002, a commission from birmingham jazz resulted in a song cycle based on japanese death poetry featuring the contrasting voices of kelsey michael (vocalist with the high llammas) and christine tobin, with dave wickens and chris biscoe. noble plays keyboards and samples throughout, marking a new foray into electronica inspired by artists such as aphex twin and arto lindsay. he is also a regular member of the julian siegel group and appears on siegel’s much acclaimed recent album close up (mactwo).

in this day and age of jazz retreads, it’s refreshing to encounter a genuinely original voice

paul clarvis
the original enfield sound started playing drums at school…has collaborated with some of the world’s best composers and performers from birtwistle and john adams to stevie wonder and mick jagger…combined with a professorship of drum set, latin american & ethic percussion at the royal academy of music…he was the late leonard bernstein’s preferred percussionist in london and featured as a soloist on the last night of the proms in a concerto for saxophone and drum kit by sir harrison birtwistle…paul also helped rick smith with the drum arrangement for the london olympic 2012 opening & now the regular percussion player in the bbc strictly come dancing show.

as one of the most requested session musicians, his playing can be heard on hundreds of films…moreover, the list of collaborators he has worked with is a veritable ‘who’s who’ in the music world — from mick jagger, nina simone, stevie wonder, steve swallow, harrison birtwistle, sir john dankworth to paul mccartney, john taylor and moondog…

as a jazz musician his list of credits is just as long…with chris batchelor on pigfoot & zoetic, henry lowther in still waters, mark lewandowski, Josephine davies & satori, alan barnes, Gordon beck, tim garland, jon Lloyd, sam rivers, andy sheppard, stan Sulzmann, he also formed orquestra mahatma

a very talented percussionist, clarvis displays remarkable technical gifts, which he allies to enthusiasm and flair. his declared favourite musicians include several artists from the long tradition of jazz drummers although he himself is thoroughly contemporary in feel and style. this awareness of the past helps bring depth to clarvis’ jazz playing.

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