Music

The best jazz gigs of the week

New York-based Irish guitarist Simon Jermyn plays at Dublin’s MVP and Kevin Lawlor Quartet come to Wexford

New York-based Irish guitarist Simon Jermyn joins bassist Ronan Guilfoyle and drummer Mathew Jacobson at MVP, Dublin on Monday

Cormac Larkin's face
Cormac Larkin
Sat Aug 24 2019 - 05:00

Saturday 24 

Kevin Lawlor Quartet 
Sky & the Ground, Wexford 
Without drummer Kevin Lawlor, Wexford jazz fans would be on pretty short rations, but the dynamic Lawlor keeps the jazz supply regular in the southeast. Joining him in the atmospheric Sky & the Ground are pianist Patrick Molitor, bassist Jack-Rufus Kelly and rising saxophonist Kelan Walsh.

Sunday 25  Hypnotic Brass Ensemble

Sugar Club, Dublin 
Hypnotic Brass Ensemble have played with Macy Gray and Gorillaz, but the best way to experience the Chicago eight-piece's mash-up of hip-hop, jazz and funk is to hear them do their own, very polished thing. Raised on music by their trumpet-playing father Phil Cohran – who played with the great eccentric of Chicago music, Sun Ra – the eight brothers have basically been rehearsing since childhood and releasing records since 2004. There's a reason why this is by no means their first appearance at the Sugar Club.

Shane Kelly Lester 
Workman's Club, Dublin 
The Dublin Jazz Co-Op series, in the Workman's Club's atmospheric Vintage Rooms overlooking the Liffey, is the sort of regular showcase that deserves support from anyone who wants to hear the fresh sounds bubbling up in the city's creative music scene. Guitarist and songwriter Shane Kelly Lester stretches the series' curatorial envelope in new directions this week, bringing a jazz training and delicate acoustic guitar to his own soft-spoken, intensely personal songs.

Monday 26

Jermyn Guilfoyle Jacobson 
MVP, Dublin 
Irish guitarist Simon Jermyn has been based in New York for the past decade and opportunities to hear him on home soil are rare. A musician of rare creativity and generosity, he has risen to the upper echelons of the competitive Brooklyn scene, playing in star New York drummer Jim Black's bands and leading his own projects, like the excellent Trot a Mouse which includes saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock and drummer Tom Rainey. Jermyn is home for a visit this week and for this one-off performance – one that is likely to explore the rugged uplands of spontaneous improvisation – he will be joined by two of strongest and most dynamic musicians on the domestic scene, inventive drummer Matthew Jacobson and venerable bassist and composer Ronan Guilfoyle. Not to be missed.

READ MORE

Thursday 29

JazzGate: The Music of The Beatles 
Black Gate, Galway
Galway guitarist Aengus Hackett's weekly series, dedicated to the music of jazz icons, turns this week to the songs of Messrs Lennon and McCartney. Nearly 50 years after making their last recording, The Beatles remain the gold standard in rock'n'roll and for their genius as composers and musical innovators, John, Paul, George, and even Ringo, are rightly revered by jazz musicians. Galway-based Breton saxophonist Bertrand Huve joins Hackett, bassist Dan Bodwell and drummer Barry Duffy, bringing their own improvisational analysis to some of the most iconic music of the 20th century.

Saturday 31

Paul Dunlea & Cormac McCarthy 
Triskel Arts Centre, Cork 
Over the course of the last five years or so, trombonist Paul Dunlea has become a major force in jazz, not just in his native Cork but internationally. Recently returned from a European tour with Michael Bublé's band, Dunlea is a talented composer and arranger for several fine ensembles, organiser of the Tuesday night jam sessions at Cork's Crane Lane Theatre, and, not least, a forceful and creative performer on one of the rarest and most demanding instruments in jazz. For the latest in Triskel's Summer Jazz Series, he joins his longtime collaborator, Cork pianist Cormac McCarthy, one of the few Irish jazz musicians to engage fruitfully with Irish traditional music.