Cork Jazz Festival unveils further acts for 2025 event

Details of the October event were unveiled at a launch on Wednesday evening

Wed, 03 Sep, 2025 - 22:29

Des O’Driscoll

The Guinness Cork Jazz Festival has unveiled its lineup for October bank holiday event. The 2025 festival will be the 47th incarnation of an event that is still recognised as one of the jazz genres big European occasions, even if the range of music has broadened in recent years.

Previous announcements had revealed headliners such as UK soul pioneers Cymande and US hip-hop group The Pharcyde, while techno legend Jeff Mills will perform a live rendition of his Tomorrow Comes The Harvest project.

While the 2025 roster was always going to struggle to match last year’s billing of both Kamasi Washington and Gregory Porter, festival director Mark Murphy, unveiled an solid list of acts at a launch event in Cyprus Avenue on Wednesday evening.

“Every year, Cork becomes the beating heart of jazz, but the festival has grown into so much more – a celebration of musical innovation and cultural energy,” said Murphy at the launch.

He also spoke of how the festival will host more than 500 musicians across 100 events in a city that will again be packed with a combination of serious music fans and those who just want to have fun.

The annual event – running since 1978 – is a boon for the local economy in Cork.

Among the acts unveiled on Wednesday were:

Lee Fields & The Expressions: The legendary American soul singer, who shares his name with Cork’s riverside leisure area, hasn’t played in Ireland in more than five years.
Nubya Garcia: The British jazz scene has been undergoing a huge revival in recent years thanks to the energy of a new generation of top musicians, and the Camden-born saxophonist has been at the heart of that. As well as being a favourite of such taste-makers as Gilles Peterson, she has also showcased her talents at such events as the BBC Proms.
Stella Performs Ella: Dublin-based singer Stella Bass will star in a tribute night to Ella Fitzgerald, the legendary jazz vocalist who performed at the festival in 1980.
The Congos: The reggae veterans play the Live at Lukes venue with a set that is sure to contain some of the tracks they recorded with Lee Perry at his Black Arc studio.

Meanwhile, festival returnees include Vieux Farka Touré, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, and King Kong Kompany. Local heroes the Sultans of Ping have already sold out their weekend appearance at Cork City Hall.