Rhythm Method: By the Bye

If there has been a changing of the guard on the Irish jazz scene over the past decade, the members of Rhythm Method have been in the vanguard, and here’s a confident debut album to prove it.

Bassist Cormac O’Brien and guitarist Shane Latimer are musical catalysts – on and off the stage – and with a quintet that also includes trumpeter Bill Blackmore, keyboardist Daragh O’Kelly and drummer Shane O’Donvoan, they concoct their own brew from the ingredients first explored by Miles Davis in the late 1960s, and more recent- ly by trumpeter Dave Douglas.

It’s all about a funky, muscular ensemble sound, with O’Brien‘s hypnotic bass patterns and O’Donovan’s boiling rhythmic intensity setting up fine inter- actions with Kelly, Latimer and Blackmore.

Encouraging noises from the new jazz establishment.

Cormac Larkin

Cormac Larkin

Cormac Larkin, a contributor to The Irish Times, is a musician, writer and director