Jazz festival starts out on the right note

IF turning 30 years of age is the new 21, then Cork’s Guinness Jazz Festival has come of age all over again — despite its humble origins in a card-game tournament.

Last night the annual festival threw open its doors to jazz lovers from all over Europe, packing out hotels, pubs and music venues across the city.

While tourists struggled to get to grips with Cork’s idiosyncratic weather, Ireland’s smoking ban and traffic queues everywhere, jazz artists from both sides of the Atlantic struck the right chords.