GALWAY city and county will be going jazz mad this weekend with the Galway Jazz Festival in the city and the David Lyttle Trio in Clifden, while next week there will be the Red Hot Jazz Joint in Salthill.
Galway Jazz Festival
The Crane Bar, Sea Road, is known throughout Galway as the place for Irish trad, folk, and roots music shows, but this weekend it’s going to become the city’s main jazz joint.
Amsterdam’s Eric Vloeimans Gatecrash Quartet will play on Saturday at 6.30pm. Trumpeter Vloeimans is one of Holland’s most celebrated musicians and he has four prestigious Dutch Edison Awards to his name.
Jazz Times has praised his playing as “crisp and self assured, embodying Clifford Brown plus many shades of Miles, without being imitative” while All About Jazz called him “highly melodic and accessible” with a “decidedly modernist approach that mixes funk and down-home blues with downtown improv, sometimes within a single tune”.
The quartet also features Jeroen van Vliet (Fender Rhodes ), Jasper van Hulten (drums ), and Clemens van der Feen (bass )
Guy Barker and Hugh Buckley will play on Sunday at 8pm. Irishman Buckley is acclaimed as one of the country’s best jazz guitarists. London trumpeter Guy Barker has shared the stage with Ornette Coleman and Frank Sinatra.
The Guardian has written of the duo: “Riffling at dazzling speed through classic jazz-trumpet styles, there’s a pull between craftsman and artist in Guy Barker, the UK’s best jazz trumpeter.”
Joining them on the night will be Justin Carroll (keys ), Dan Bodwell (bass ), Shane O’Donovan (drums ).
Admission to each gig is €15. Tickets are available from the Town Hall Theatre (091 - 569777 ). See www.galwayjazzfestival.com
David Lyttle 3o
The David Lyttle 3o @ Clifden will play Mullarkey’s at Foyle’s, Clifden, tomorrow at 9pm
Known for his passionate and driving approach to jazz that swings hard, Belfast drummer David Lyttle has performed with Jean Toussaint, Soweto Kinch, Dave Allen, Louis Stewart, and Jacqui Dankworth.
On the night he will be joined by fellow Ulsterman and guitarist, Mark McKnight - who studied at the Skidmore Jazz Institute, NY, and at Berklee College of Music - and Derek Nievergelt, one of New York’s most prominent bassists, who has worked with Herbie Hancock.
“The threesome gel fantastically, playing with flair and lethal precision,” said Culture Northern Ireland. For more information and tickets contact Mullarkey’s on 095 - 25108. See www.davidlyttle.com
The Red Hot Jazz Joint
The Red Hot Jazz Joint at The Office, Salthill, is back on Saturday November 29 at 9pm. DJs Hot Ginger and Dynamite will be spinning new and classic jazz and enticing all toes onto the dance floor. The night will also vintage glamour with live cabaret and Charleston performances from Galway’s Vaudeville Vamps. Admission is €5. See www.myspace.com/redhotjazzjoint
