The idea of Irish-born artists moving to London for fame and fortune is perhaps an outmoded cliché.  But examples still exist, such as singer Christine Tobin who relocated there in the late 1980s, after just scratching the surface of the Dublin jazz scene.  Expanding her reputation and her repertoire, she has leaned away from a conventional jazz approach towards reinterpreting writers such as Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell.  Perhaps it’s not entirely a coincidence that these renowned Canadians had to follow their own national cliché and move to the USA to find fulfilment.

Not that Tobin sounds like Mitchell or even Cohen, although her voice occasionally displays an enviable lower register. In fact, hers is a highly flexible instrument throughout its range, blessed with accurate pitch – not always a given for vocalists – and a variety of tone employed apparently effortlessly. The listener remains unaware of the technical expertise involved because it’s all at the service of the lyrics, whether borrowed from the Canadians or, on this occasion, Bob Dylan (‘Shelter From The Storm’) and Brian Wilson (‘God Only Knows’).  Tobin’s breadth of interest and of musicianship comes together most notably in her own, idiosyncratic compositions, with their wayward chord-sequences and arresting subject-matter using either her own words or, in the case of ‘Horses’, a poem by Paul Muldoon.

Taking a number of tunes slightly slower than their album versions was a sign of great confidence in herself and her band. On her first return visit in ages, she carried a trio of guitarist Phil Robson (Tobin’s partner), bassist Dave Whitford and percussionist Thebi Lipere.  This slimmed-down setting, a challenge in itself, was intensified by the fact that Lipere (a South African who also migrated to London to be given his due) played hand-drums exclusively, except for a penultimate number in 7/4 time, in which he used brushes.  His manual dexterity was earlier displayed on two Tobin originals, ‘Black and Blue’ and ‘Intellectual Engineer’, the latter distantly recalling the pulse of a slip-jig.

It’s amusing to be reminded that England nearly pigeonholed Tobin as a jazz-influenced traditional Irish music specialist on the basis of a couple of Irish-language items on her early albums and those of the jazz-folk crossover group Lammas.  There may still be unconscious echoes in her present work, for instance her subtly reharmonised ‘Everybody Knows’, which has a guitar-and-voice interlude suggesting a new art-form of ‘jazz diddling’ (or maybe ‘Irish scat’).  But far more impressive is the ability to take a wide variety of material and transform it into a personal statement that keeps her audience rooted to the spot.