Continental flavour to the home feast
JAZZ
Sunday November 08 2009
IN THE coming weeks, we can look forward to visits by musicians from the Netherlands, Germany and Norway. Michiel Borstlap (piano), Harry Emery (bass) and Erik Kooger (drums) can be heard in the Pavilion Theatre, Dun Laoghaire, Dublin, next Saturday night.
The Dutch pianist won the Thelonious Monk/BMI Composer's Award in 1996 for his composition, Memory of Enchantment. His dynamic, swinging group should appeal to Pavilion regulars as well as out-and-out jazz fans.
The Improvised Music Company, always on the ball where continental musicians are concerned, presents the concert.
The following night in JJ Smyth's, the IMC brings Ingrid Laubrock back to Ireland for a second visit. The German saxophonist, heard in the Coach House in 2007, is an adventurous player whose freewheeling improvisations on her own tunes show a sense of humour as well as a creative spark. It will be interesting to hear how she combines with Michael Buckley (tenor sax), Ronan Guilfoyle (bass) and Tom Rainey (drums).
Another German musician, Julia Hulmann (piano) is one of the headliners of the Galway Jazz Festival (November 19-22). Hulmann leads a trio with Marc Muellbauer (bass) and Heinrich Kobberling (drums), and they will play at the Druid Lane Theatre on Sunday, November 22.
This previously miniature festival is growing in size and originality from year to year. It opens on Thursday, November 19 with a concert in St Nicholas Church by the Trygve Seim Orchestra from Norway. The 10-piece band has an unusual line-up: tenor sax, bass sax, clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, trombone, tuba, cello, accordion and drums.
Also appearing in Galway are: Rebecca Martin (vocals, guitar) with Larry Grenadier (bass); Metier, just back from an appearance at the London Jazz Festival; a three-guitar group with Hugh Buckley, John Stowell and John Feeley; the Francesco Turrisi Trio a British quintet called Polar Bear; and a local group, Matthew Berrill's Galway Allstars.
Congratulations to Hugh Buckley, Linley Hamilton, Cormac Kenevey, Sean Og, Cian Boylan and Damian Evans, who have all received first-class honours in the Masters in Jazz Performance programme at the Conservatory of Music and Drama, DIT. The programme is directed by Mike Nielsen.
- GRAINE FARREN
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