Star-studded line-up for Cork jazz festival

Cork's Guinness Jazz Festival is expected to pump over €20m into the Cork economy over the four days of the October bank holiday weekend (Oct 24- 27).

Tourism sources are already reporting heavy bookings from home and overseas and ticket sales to date are well above last year's record levels. In addition, hits on the festival website www.corkjazzfestival.com are up by 300%.

The festival line-up is full of big hitters - from Europe's No 1 jazz performer, Jan Garbarek from Norway, to the internationally acclaimed South African jazz pianist, Abdullah Ibrahim; from the legendary US composer/performer Pharoah Sanders to the powerful Afro-beat groove of Nigeria's Tony Allen and his Parisian band.

There will be performances too by US legends such as Charles Lloyd, Jimmy Cobb, Carla Bley, Steve Swallow, Geri Allen, Charles Gayle, Joe Lee Wilson, Kirk Lightsey and guitar genius, Pat Martino.

Some of the hippest, coolest young stars of world jazz will also be in Cork including Danilo Perez, Greg Osby, Cuong Vu, Ronan Guilfoyle, Viktoria Tolstoy, Jean-Michel Pilc, Edward Simon, Matt Garrison, Beady Belle, Julian Arguelles, Andy Sheppard, Bobby Previte, Olga Konkova, Tom Rainey and Charlie Hunter.

Virtually all of the top Irish jazz musicians, North and South, will be featured including Louis Stewart, Honor Heffernan, Jim Doherty, Richie Buckley, Mike Nielsen, Cormac Larkin, Hugh Buckley, Roy Carroll, Len McCarthy, John Donegan, Suzanne Savage, Mary Coughlan, Don Baker and lots more.

As ever, the famous Guinness Festival Club at the Gresham Metropole Hotel is at the heart of the music action with five jazz stages giving fans a choice of world-class talent, day and night. Among the many big names appearing will be Olga Konkova from Moscow, Joe Lee Wilson, King Pleasure, Hendrik Meurkens, Tim Armacost, The Fins, and Danny Moss with Jeanie Lambe

Cork's Opera House will play host to several of the biggest world music attractions including Sharon Shannon, The Waterboys, Tony Allen and Shana Morrison - while the Everyman Palace Theatre presents five major shows throughout the weekend, all bound to be sell-outs.

To cater for the huge expansion in audiences, this year sees the introduction of two new seated venues to the festival roster - the intimate Granary Theatre on The Mardyke, which will feature contemporary, avant garde jazz sounds and the 250 seater ICD/Firkin Crane Theatre in Shandon.

Another first is the introduction of an Artist-in-Residence programme featuring the renowned jazz pianist/educator James Williams from Memphis. He will work with students of the Cork School of Music as well as performing at the Guinness Festival Club.

The 2003 Guinness Jazz Festival will utilise 14 major stages, 120 bands and over 1,000 musicians from 26 countries. There is also a full range of fringe events including a master class by Pat Martino.

To cope with the increasing number of visitors to Cork, the famous Guinness Trail has been expanded and will offer rhythm & blues and roots music, mostly free of charge, in over 70 pubs and clubs throughout the city.

Bill Johnson, Chairman of the Cork Jazz Festival Committee, said: "It will be another weekend to remember as we celebrate 26 years of great music in Ireland's jazz capital".