NewsInterview with Booka Brass Band03/08/2017‘Ben O’Dwyer met up with Booka Brass Band after they were announced for Trinity Ball. Joined by James Doherty (JD), Rónán Scarlett (RS) and Jack Marks (JM). The group discuss the experiences they’ve had so far, juggling college and music and what the future holds for Booka Brass Band.Your sound is very unique in Ireland, how did it all start?JD: Well, we all met through band camp.JM: Yeah, we were all classical players as kids, we all kind of knew each other through music courses, then about two and a half years ago, a number of us were living in Dublin and we started playing some old New Orleans Jazz numbers, then we started jamming and bringing in some pop songs into our sets and then towards the beginning of 2013 we started writing our own original stuff and building on that.’ … Read full interview at UniversityTimes...Read more...We’re jammin’: James Taylor Quartet03/08/2017‘No wonder James Taylor needs a little lie down: he’s about to play his 125th gig at London’s Jazz Cafe. That’s his 125th just in this venue; the grand total would need to take in to account that his band is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, releasing its 20th album, and keeps up a tour diary of up to 100 shows a year. “Yeah, if it’s alright with you, I’ll put my head down,” he says, before the rest of his Funk Orchestra (the expanded version of the James Taylor Quartet) arrive. Oh, and by the way, James is also training to be a psychotherapist, but more on that when he wakes up.’ … Read full article at TheGuardian...Read more...Moving the room with the James Taylor Quartet03/08/2017‘There was some serious attention seeking going on when I called James Taylor at his home studio in Kent. It wasn’t down to him though, but his Cairn terrier, Heidi, after he shut her out of his studio in a bid to answer my questions.“I don’t know why, but she’s quite possessive, quite yappy and jealous. I’m going to have to shut her up.”Don’t be alarmed. His weapon is nothing more than reason. Next, I hear in the distance, “Heidi, I’m doing an interview!” He soon relented though, so I had an audience of two on the phone, a four-legged friend on his lap. Well, he is a fan of Bach, after all.’ …Read full article at WriteWyAtUK...Read more...REVIEW: Dublin City Jazz Orchestra – Crescent Arts Centre03/08/2017‘Seductive, slick and stylish. Just a few of the superlatives to describe the opening night of the Brilliant Corners Jazz Festival, with the Dublin City Jazz Orchestra. Brilliant Corners jazz festival returned to Belfast on Wednesday night for the third consecutive year and those who were privileged enough to be there for its opening verse had a real treat.’ … Read full article on GiggingNI...Read more...Dublin City Jazz Orchestra Article on Improvised Music03/08/2017‘Dublin City Jazz orchestra have wowed audiences with performances at Electric Picnic, Culture Night, Cork Jazz Festival, Kilkenny Arts Festival amongst others, playing big band music from the ‘40s and ‘50s along with some more modern bombastic tunes. There’s nothing quite like a big band, and there’s no big band quite like the Dublin City Jazz Orchestra!’ … Read full article on ImprovisedMusic...Read more...Soweto Kinch interview: “I see this real disconnect between the establishment bubble and what’s happening in society”03/08/2017‘Leon, the cafe franchise whose red-and-gold lettering appears aggressively bright in London’s sharply competitive fast food market, is a recent addition to the new mezzanine area at Euston train station. Yet it already boasts a roaring trade. The small shop unit and terrace are full of laptopped passengers, their computer screens flipped up like digital shields against any careless stares from fellow pilgrims about to exit the capital. Perhaps they need a moment of privacy to hide the shock at what they have actually paid for – the right to sit, eat and email.’ … Read full article on JazzWise...Read more...Photo collages from Jazz on the Streets!02/10/2013Credit to Lynn Quinn....Read more...Lyric FM Promo 201314/09/2013Here’s the promo airing on Lyric FM to advertise the 2013 festival. Promises to be a great weekend. Have a listen! [soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/110366864″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]...Read more...Jazzwise Review of LJF 201212/09/2013When I was first learning about jazz, ‘mid-West’ always meant Chicago but, in Ireland, it’s half-way up the west coast and dominated by the city of Limerick. Hence the cute ‘Western Swing’ title of the first-ever Limerick Jazz Festival, and one of their most enterprising bookings was the quartet of vibist Joe Locke and pianist Geoff Keezer, whose short set was highly compelling. With a new album to promote, filled out by bassist Mike Pope and Terreon Gulley on drums, this performance of its title-track, ‘Signing’, was briefly uploaded to YouTube. A slower Locke piece, ‘Sword Of Whispers’ (inspired by Little Jimmy Scott), lived up to its poetic name. Watching Liane Carroll live is a bit like watching Nina Simone live. However much you thought you knew what she was about, you were continually surprised and eventually caught up in the performance. Where many piano-playing singers (Diana Krall, Blossom Dearie) have their backings tightly arranged and reproduce them by rote, to aid concentration on the vocals, Carroll manages to convey an impression of spontaneity in her piano work too. With a wide-ranging repertoire, from Todd Rundgren (‘Pretending To Care’) to Hoagy Carmichael (‘Stardust’) to Leadbelly (‘Black Betty’). Carroll’s feelgood show was a highspot of the weekend. The festival began and ended with big bands, the experienced Black Magic Band from Galway (100km north of Limerick) featured vocals with sax soloists Peter Joyce (baritone), Steve Hanks (tenor) and Matt Berrill (alto), plus his under-utilised trumpeter brother Peter. Matt was borrowed for an ad-hoc Limerick band assembled by pianist Bryan Meehan and fronted by drummer John Daly, not only an anchor on drums but as chair of the festival committee. Interesting too was a septet playing compositions by guitarist Joe O’Callaghan (previously heard with Ronan Guilfoyle at the London Jazz Festival in 2009), one of whose very varied pieces had Daly on vibes. – Brian PriestleyLink ...Read more...
