Matthew Halsall: Cork jazz festival headliner born of Manchester's club scene

As part of a rich revival of jazz music in the UK, it was at DJ nights by the likes of Mr Scruff that Matthew Halsall began a path of discovery that led to Alice Coltrane and others 

Matthew Halsall plays the Everyman as part of Guinness Cork Jazz Festival. 

If there’s one thing an education in transcendental meditation prepares you for it’s a global lockdown. 

“It was one of those strange things: it was incredibly peaceful. Everyone got a little bit of mindfulness,” says Matthew Halsall, an acclaimed trumpeter, arranger, bandleader and founder of Manchester-based jazz label Gondwana Records. “You had to go and walk for half an hour every day. I must have discovered every green space within a three-mile radius of my house.”