THE OPENING acts of this year’s Galway Jazz Festival will be pianist Kenny Werner, Scandinavia’s The Thing, and Japanese avant-garde musician Otomo Yoshihide.
The Grammy nominated New York jazz pianist Kenny Werner will play the Aula Maxima, NUI Galway, on Thursday November 20 at 8pm. He has been described by The New York Times as “a clear virtuoso” while Gramophone has praised his “ability to consistently reach an ecstatic space when he plays”.
Coming at jazz from a very different angle are The Thing & Otomo Yoshihide who play the Nuns Island Studio on Friday November 21 at 8pm.
The Thing - Mats Gustafson (baritone saxophone ), Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (bass ), and Paal Nilssen-Love (drums ) - take the songs of PJ Harvey, Don Cherry, and The White Stripes, and turn them into a maelstrom of free jazz and sonic energy.
Otomo Yoshihide is regarded as a key figure in Japan’s experimental music scene. Using guitar and turntables, Yoshihide explores feedback and sine waves, and staunchly inhabits the margins of electronica, rock, and free jazz.
The Galway Jazz Festival runs from Thursday November 20 to Sunday 23. Tickets for both shows are €15 each from the Town Hall Theatre (091 - 569777 ). See also www.galwayjazzfestival.com
More jazz for Galway
The Galway Jazz Club in De Burgo’s will play host to a show from the David Lyttle Three featuring Derek Nievergelt on Wednesday at 9pm.
The band consists of drummer David Lyttle, Belfast guitar prodigy Mark McKnight, and New York bassist Derek Nievergelt. Nievergelt has worked with Herbie Hancock, Bobby Watson, Greg Osby and Terence Blanchard, with whom he recorded the Grammy-nominated album Let’s Get Lost. Admission is €8/6.
