Guinness Cork Jazz Festival review: Matthew Halsall and co provided a balm for the soul
Matthew Halsall at the Everyman for the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival. Picture John Cronin
And we’re back. Two long, strange years since the last Guinness Cork Jazz Festival when Fred Hersch touched us all with a poignant performance that, rather prophetically, evoked the spirit of human defiance in the face of illness, it’s back to the Everyman for the best weekend of the year.
Opening night at the MacCurtain Street venue featured two gigs: early, it was MåsExödus, a project from Mark Murphy of the Choice Cuts promoters who are involved in programming sections of the festival; while at 10pm, Matthew Halsall promised a glimpse at one of the leading artists in the recent resurgence of jazz in the UK.
For MåsExödus, Dublin guitarist Max Zaska teamed up with Chicago’s Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, and these stylish showmen live up to that name, providing tight grooves that lay a hip-hop vibe under the solos. It’s a richly textured set that ranges widely across funk and soul. It’s also utterly irresistible and joyous.
With everyone on their feet by the end, the performance serves as the perfect start to the weekend, and a reminder of the communal experience we’ve been missing during the pandemic.
For the later show, Manchester trumpeter Matthew Halsall and his sextet were fresh off the plane from Zurich, but their set wasn’t long taking the audience on a hugely-enjoyable sonic journey.
Halsall’s music is a balm for the soul: it evokes the sound world of Alice Coltrane or Pharoah Sanders.
In a live setting, the music has more punch than on studio recordings like Salute to the Sun, from which Halsall draws heavily for this performance, alongside early works from Fletcher Moss Park and Into Forever.
Lovely stuff from Matthew Halsall & co at Everyman for Guinness Cork Jazz Festival. Great gig pic.twitter.com/lES5b7QFbP
— desod (@desodr1) October 23, 2021
Strong bass lines from Gavin Barras keep manners on any chimes or bird sounds. We may be in gentle, almost new-agey territory at times, but there’s always a solid groove pushing things along.
As a band leader Halsall doesn’t dominate, but gives space to his collaborators. He spends much of the gig in vibing away as Livui Gheorghe works the keyboards, or Alice Roberts develops the signature harp sound. When he does give a cameo, Halsall seems to condense the ensemble’s music, channeling it into his bright, round, penetrating tone.
When combined with Matt Cliffe’s saxophone, the pair add unexpected muscle to music that could have had us thinking of waterfalls and bamboo forests. It’s a mix that works perfectly in the live setting, and for the appreciative late-night audience.
Other gigs on the festival's opening night included local jazz stalwarts Paul Dunlea and Cormac McCarthy at Triskel, and the non-jazz duo of Mick Flannery and Susan O'Neill at Cork Opera House. Both of these gigs were also sold-out, and the party atmosphere around the city centre was testament to what we've been missing. It really is great to be back.
