IRELAND: Francesco Turrisi-Northern Migrations(2018)

"Northern Migrations" features original solo piano compositions and improvisations by Francesco Turrisi and the 10 year journey of Italian pianist from the heart of the Mediterranean to the North of Europe. The migratory desire is as old as mankind itself. And it has been the embodiment of cultural diversity and enrichment. Northern Migration has been a recurrent theme in Turrisi’s life and it's the source of inspiration for this solo project. Francesco's family migrated from an impoverished Sicily in the 1970's to the more industrially developed north of Italy in search of work and a better life. After growing up in the city of Turin, Turrisi himself then migrated north, at the age of 19, to study music at the Royal conservatory of The Hague in the Netherlands. After completing his studies in jazz and baroque music, he went further north towards Ireland, ultimately settling in Dublin. His music has been described as ‘lyrical piano art music’, and it’s informed by a confluence of many diverse idioms. Francesco’s music is layered with a multitude of different stylistic references, reflecting his myriad musical experiences and his life journey. Early baroque ostinato bass lines, evocative Mediterranean modal melodies, minimalistic grooves, renaissance counterpoint woven into a core of jazz improvisation all co-exist organically in Turrisi's music, creating a unique, and hard to define musical language. credits released April 2, 2018 Francesco Turrisi - piano, accordion (6), frame drum (9) All songs by Francesco Turrisi unless otherwise noted. Additional Roland Juno by Ben Rawlins (6)

IRELAND: BRILLIANT CORNERS 2017 – a festival of jazz in Belfast 7-11 MARCH

Hello and welcome to Brilliant Corners #5

There are five candles on the Brilliant Comers birthday cake this year! Where does time go?

We’re back with another incredible line-up featuring some of the most varied, exciting, and interesting music around.

This year we pay homage to Charles Mingus with I Am Three, get experimental with Sirene 1009 and FAINT+, showcase local talent with Hands, Organ Failure, and Joseph Leighton, go full prog-rock with Belgian guitar trio Dans Dans and Norwegian guitar-bass-drum blasters Hedvig Mollestad Trio, before going out with a bang courtesy of Robocobra Quartet and Strobes.

There’ll be films too, with the Belfast Film Festival once again screening some not to be missed flicks at the Bean Bag Cinema.

If you have been before, you’ll know what to expect: amazing, surprising, life-changing music. If you haven’t, we hope you’ll come along and experience Belfast’s only jazz festival in all its bijou glory!

http://www.brilliantcornersbelfast.com/

Maureen Aku Disu - One Human Race (2012)

Maureen Aku Disu who is currently a final year Bsc student in University of Dublin; a student nurse in St James Hospital Dublin, migrated to Ireland from Africa as a young girl. She struggled against a lot of obstacles (especially financially) to put herself through university. Born to African Parents who never knew that a country called Ireland existed but named her Maureen (an Irish name) without knowing anything about the name, never did anyone know that she was going to end up in the country where her name originates from.

Song writing is something she says makes her feel powerful when she feels powerless. She says “I write when I’m happy and I write when I’m sad but I find that I write more when I’m angry.” In this single “One Human Race”, Maureen sings about an issue which she said she finds very frustrating. “Racism” 

She says,
“The differences in our skin colour should be something celebrated but should not be a source of division among us.” 
“I used to think that racism was only something you see in movies of the history of America but sadly, it’s still alive and well in a lot of countries.” 
“Racism destroys lives, why can’t people see the damage it causes?”
“I wish I was colourless, I wish every human being has no colour”
“Racism is pure ignorance and foolishness”
I am a very strong person, but I must confess that there’s been times when the racism I’ve experienced has made me cry"
cdbaby

Christine Tobin - Sailing to Byzantium (Trail Belle Records 2012)

The new CD "Sailing To Byzantium" (release date July 2012) includes special guest, renowned actor Gabriel Byrne reading three of the poems. Byrne’s presence on the album is of special significance to Christine as he was her teacher back in Dublin when she attended secondary school. Gabriel was the school’s Spanish teacher, but he also led drama classes after hours for students who showed a keen interest. His collaboration with Tobin on this recording follows a direct link to an inspirational time in her formative years when she attended, what was then, one of Dublin’s most unique schools. Yeats’s poems came into her life around this time too, when her first boyfriend used to read her When You Are Old, and a moonstruck Tobin imagined “the pilgrim soul” lay somewhere within. Christine Tobin website

Hot House Big Band-Wind Machine(2012)

This is the début album from the band described by Buddy Greco, legendary pianist/singer and original member of Frank Sinatra’s Rat Pack as “Probably the best band I’ve heard in the last 20 years!”; it features “Wind Machine” by The Count Basie Orchestra.
The Hot House Big Band, over the course of two evenings last January, recorded
their début album ‘Wind Machine’ live at Beechpark Studios, Dublin.
The seventeen-piece band, led by Dublin saxophonist and clarinettist Mark Wilde,
features some of Ireland’s finest jazz musicians and vocalists.

Of the album, band leader Mark Wilde says “The songs that we recorded are some of
our favourites from the bandstand. But a lot is happening now in the world of big
band music and we have also chosen them to appeal to the appetite of the new
audience for these exciting developments; at the same time, our intention is not to
loose or dilute the style and pizzazz beloved of traditional big band fans.”

“Probably the best band I’ve heard in the last 20 years!”
Buddy Greco, Legendary pianist/singer and original member of Frank Sinatra’s Rat Pack.

The band pushes the boundaries of the big band genre with their use of complex
harmonies and tight interactions. Frequently fast-paced, their music has a
particularly hot and exciting feel. Special care has been taken with the beautiful and
multi-faceted arrangements so that the band effectively reproduces the classic Big
Band sound. The album includes traditional and contemporary arrangements by
Sammy Nestico, Bill Byers and Les Hooper as well as three specially commissioned
arrangements by local maestros Dave Gold and Brendan Breslin and by Australian
arranger, Matt Amy.

“Great job! Very Impressive!!”
Les Hooper, 7 time Grammy nominated, Emmy and Clio award winning LA composer.

Although the band features a stellar line up of musicians on the Dublin scene,
including Big Jim Farrelly, Derek ‘Doc’ O’Connor and Danny Healy, the music is not
solos driven. “What we want is to generate that massive Big Band sound, we want
to keep the ensemble playing to the fore” says Mark. That having been said, if its
solos you want, this band offers plenty of high-wire excitement from the best Ireland
has to give. For the vocal numbers, the band is joined by John Graham, Sinead
Conway and Charles Cavanagh.

“The best band in Dublin right now.”
Shay Healy, Irish songwriter, broadcaster and journalist.

The dedication of the band members to achieving the highest standard of
musicianship is enhanced by their adventurous approach. Their inclusion of up-andcoming
best-around-town young talent combines with the cream of experienced jazz
musicians from Ireland and far beyond which ensures The Hothouse Big Band’s
rightful claim to the title of Ireland’s most exciting Big Band. Any Monday night
(except Bank Holidays) in The Mercantile in Dublin, you can experience an
adventurous and distinctive band which promises that no two gigs are ever the same
and find yourself at the centre of a new Jazz revolution.
cdbaby

Imelda May -Mayhem ( Decca 2011)

If there's an overlap between burlesque and rockabilly, Dubliner Imelda May Clabby embodies it. Visually, she's all skintight leopard-print and red lips; musically, she throws her considerable energies into a sharp mix of rockabilly, jazz and surf guitars. And, in her hands, rockabilly is a living, vital genre with nothing retro about it. She wrote virtually every song here (apart from a cover of Tainted Love, which has been rejigged as a feverish waltz for guitar, drums and voice), and sings them with heart and minxy humour. Whether the lurid cast of characters in the lyrics is real or imaginary – one is a "psycho" on medication, another lands "in a cell with grey pants and bruises" and then there's the "sneaky freak" who spies on her husband – doesn't matter. What does is that she brings them to passionate, reverb-drenched life on an album that positions her as one of 2010's more interesting finds.Caroline Sullivan / guardian.co.uk

IRELAND: Thought-Fox - Music Network's Young Musicwide Award in 2010 - gigs

Tue Oct 25 : at the Dublin Castle
Weds, Oct 26 at the Linenhall Arts Centre, Castlebar

"Stylistically, Kinsella stands in the excitingly undefined space between the airy yet shadowy blues modernism of Abbey Lincoln and the daring flexibility of form of Annette Peacock…"

Kevin Le Gendre

"A star in its ascendancy"

BBC Radio Scotland on Tom Gibbs

"His huge tone and immaculate, accurate technique powered the front-liners and he also showed formidable talents as a soloist"

Nottingham Post on Michael Coady

"Edge of your seat stuff"

London Jazz on Simon Roth

Thought-Fox 

IRELAND: Galway Jazz Festival, Sept 30-Oct, 2011

http://www.galwayjazzfest.com
Friday 30th September
Deviant & Sebi C - 10pm
Jazz Club at Meyrick Hotel - 11pm
Saturday 1st October
Neofobic & Colm O’Hara - 8pm
Sax + Polyphony - 10pm
Jazz Club at Meyrick Hotel - 11pm
Sunday 2nd October
Soft Day - 5pm
Rick Margitza Quartet - 8pm

IRELAND: Belfast Festival

 Bourne  / Davis  / Kane at Black Box on 15 October

Carlos Bica Azul, Jim Black & Frank Möbus

Jan Garbarek &  Hilliard Ensemble, / 21 Oct
Tinariwen (Mandela Hall, 25 Oct
French Orchestre National de Jazz  / 26-27 Oct

IRELAND: CLOUGHTOBERFEST 2011 The cream of gypsy jazz musicians in Ireland

28th - 30th October Cloughjordan Tipperary Ireland

Friday 28th @ 8pm
The Hot Club of Dublin, LocoSwing and very special guest Robin Nolan.

Saturday 29th @ 2pm
Andreas Varady Trio

Saturday 29th @ 8pm
Lollo Meier Quartet

Sunday 30th @ 2pm
Samuel C Lees

Cloughtoberfest is a Silverwood Ireland production www.silverwoodireland.com

Ireland: Dramatic fusion to bring international tango festival to close with a flourish

Jazz legends to play the NCH

TWO living legends of British jazz -- Acker Bilk and his Paramount Jazzband and The Big Chris Barber Band -- play the National Concert Hall on Saturday, September 3, at 8pm. For tickets, call (01) 4170000 or www.nch.ie.

Dixieland stars in benefit session

DES Hopkins and his Band present An Evening of Dixieland Jazz at the Village Inn, Clane, Co Kildare, on Monday, September 5.

The session, to aid the Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association, will feature Chris Barber, trumpet star Mike 'Magic' Henry, and some members of the Barber and Bilk bands who will remain in Ireland after their NCH show.

For tickets, call (086) 2679532 or visit www.dhentertainment.ie/deshopkinsdixieland.