Cork Jazz Festival review: Brian Jackson pays tribute to Gil Scott-Heron at event's impressive first gig
Brian Jackson at Cork Opera House for the first gig of the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival. Picture: Darragh Kane
One of the issues for attendees at the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival has always been pacing. Veterans knew not to go so hard on Friday night, as they’d be flagging by Sunday. But now, the 2024 event has further complicated matters by kicking off on a Wednesday.
In truth, it makes sense for the festival to extend its range beyond those core days of a crazy-busy, booked-out, multi-gig weekend. And the decent crowd who turned out to see Brian Jackson and his ensemble at Cork Opera House provided evidence that the longer festival could be a real goer.
The event title of ‘We Almost Lost Detroit’ came from a song by Jackson and Gil Scott-Heron, with tonight serving as a tribute of sorts from the 72-year-old to his late great collaborator. House music stalwart Theo Parrish and elements of the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble added to the drummer and bass player Jackson had brought with him to Cork.
Fittingly for the week that’s in it, he plunged straight in with ‘Lady Day and John Coltrane’, the homage to jazz greats Coltrane and Billie Holliday from Scott-Heron’s debut album Over the course of the 95-minute gig we were treated to several more tunes from that 1971 record, including ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televised’. Jackson updated the spoken-word classic with lines such as “The revolution will not be streamed, downloaded, tik-tocked…”
In between tunes, Jackson regaled with anecdotes about the music and his time with Scott-Heron, the troubled genius who died in 2011, aged 62. He spoke of how the duo’s arguably greatest album, is marking 50 years, and how he was going to keep singing those socially-conscious songs until they were no longer relevant. Of course, back in 1974, America had a prick for a president, was struggling with racial issues, and was involved overseas in the mass-slaughter of brown people. Plus ça change, as they say in Ballyphehane.
This was the impressive ensemble’s first time all playing live together, and at times it felt a little under-rehearsed. But again, the occasional looseness and resultant improvisation were perhaps appropriate for a jazz festival. And while nobody could recreate Scott-Heron’s unique tones, Jackson’s vocals were well able to carry those tunes, not least when backed up by Aquilla Sadalla, the Hypnotics’ mother who is performing with the sibling group in Cork.
Jackson and co rounded out the night with an extended version of ‘The Bottle’, one of the greatest tunes of the 1970s. It sounds as magnificent as ever.
An added bonus was the civilised finishing time and the fact that we were out the Opera House door by 9.45pm. That’ll help with the pacing for the big weekend ahead.
