Phil Robson and Christine Tobin will be performing with the Jazznights Roger Odell Trio: Simon Brown (pno), Dave Olney (bs) & Roger Odell (drs) plus Larraine Odell (voc)
Christine Tobin’s sound is rich, authentic and deeply expressive and was described by the Guardian as “Tobin’s 24 carat voice” while praising her both for the poetry of her compositions and her golden voice. Much of her repertoire is self-penned and Tobin has received many accolades for her skills as a writer and arranger. Romantic and radical, Christine is a musical free spirit who blurs the lines to create her own unique style that is streetwise and eclectic. In 2008 she was named Best 
Vocalist at the BBC Jazz Awards.
Her versatility and musical integrity has ensured that she is a much in demand guest with other bands. She has been invited to record and work with a long list that includes: Billy Childs, BBC Big Band, Mike Gibbs, Django Bates, Kenny Wheeler, Nigel Kennedy, Billy Hart, Julian Arguelles, Tim Garland, Gary Husband, Phil Robson, Liam Noble, Hans Koller and a performance of a Bessie Smith song in the Mike Figgis directed film, ‘Red, White & Blues’, produced by Martin Scorsese.
Phil Robson is a guitarist/composer based in London , UK . He is internationally 
regarded as a highly versatile and creative player who appears in all kinds of diverse settings.
Winner of:
1997 -BT Best soloist of the year award
1998 Perrier Young Jazz award for the best instrumentalist of the year.
2008 – Parliamentary Jazz Awards musician of the year.
Members of The Jazznights Trio & vocalist tonight are:
Roger Odell – drums
Roger was one of the founder members and drummer with the jazz-funk group Shakatak, Roger has toured internationally and recorded numerous CDs, which he continues to do on a regular basis to this day.
Simon Brown – piano
A very respected and popular jazz pianist who is equally known for his arranging skills. He is always in demand to play many gigs with other bands when he is not teaching jazz piano or playing with the Jazznights Trio
Dave Olney – bass
Apart from his superb jazz accompaniments he has been a resident musician on both Parkinson and Strictly Come Dancing. including Rod Stewart, Ronan Keating, Dionne Warwick, Elaine Page. Elton John as well as Sooty & Postman Pat
Larraine Odell – vocals
Larraine possesses a unique smouldering tonal quality and a subtle jazz phrasing style that has elicited great praise from two of her own vocal mentors, Mark Murphy and Sheila Jordan
The Jazznights resident songbird; Larraine Odell opened the first set with a wonderful selection from Close Your Eyes, When Sunny Gets Blue. Love For Sale to a superb samba by Milton Nascimento Nothing Will Be As It Is accentuated a solid beat from Roger Odell. All songs in this set were skilfully arranged by Roger Odell.
Christine Tobin opened with a stunning extended version of "You Go to My Head", a 1938 popular song composed by J. Fred Coots with lyrics by Haven Gillespie. This was followed by great rocky version of the Rodgers & Hart tune: “I didn’t know what Time It Is” featuring solos from Simon Brown and Dave Olney. The Brazilian “Corcovado” (or in English:Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars) by Antonio Carlos Jobim was sublime. To end the first set of the evening a very bight version of Jerome Kern and Johnny Mercer’s “I’m Old Fashioned”
The second set commenced with three numbers from Christine’s new album “Tapestry Unravelled” this is a beautiful and elegant re-working of songs from Carole King’s beloved classic 1971 album Tapestry plus one original number. The first number was “Home Again” which was a masterpiece with Christine’s bluesy voice. The simplicity of “It’s Too Late”, the second of the three songs was sun g with perfect ease and was a real delight. The third number (unfortunately, because we would love to hear the whole album) was “Just Call My Name”
Phil Robson then joined Christine and the Trio with Jerome Kern’s “Yesterdays” – not the Beatles version! Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “Meditation” followed sung and 
played with great feeling. Next wasanother real pleasure to listen to: "Afro Blue" is an afro-cuban jazz standard with a complex, smooth-sounding beat composed by Mongo Santamaría, perhaps best known in its arrangement by John Coltrane. Superb accompaniment from Phil and the trio.
The set finished with Bill Carey and Carl Fischer’s “You’ve Changed” (the tune often remembered from the 1961 recording by Dexter Gordon) provided a superb sensitive solo from Phil Robson. How did the evening go so quickly?
A gig to remember!
For news on future gigs visit www.jazz-nights.com
Moreopinions's Blog at Jazznights 