Cork to hit high note as festival swings into action

FIFTY thousand visitors and more than 1,000 musicians from 35 countries performing in 80 venues.

The Guinness Cork Jazz Festival has come a long way over the past three decades and this year you don’t even have to be a jazz fanatic to enjoy it.

“It promises to be a fantastic weekend,” says publicist Jean Kearney.

“There’s an incredible mix of musicians, a great pub trail and lots of street music as well. And, as visitors from abroad often remark, Cork is friendly, fun and so compact that it is easy to get around and hear a great variety of music in lots of venues.”

Purists will delight in the return of legends such as Richard Galliano, Jan Garbarek, Randy Brecker and Bill Evans, with Galliano joined at the Everyman Palace theatre by the French jazz fusion superstar, Jean-Luc Ponty who will be performing movie soundtrack pieces from ‘The Godfather’ and ‘La Dolce Vita’.

Non jazzers get the chance to bop with the likes of former Blur and current Gorillaz singer Damon Albarn and Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Michael Peter Balzary — better known as Flea — who rockers might not realise was once a jazz trumpet prodigy.

Albarn & Flea — featuring under the hypnotic title of Honest John’s Chop-up — will open the festival on Friday in the company of Afrobeat legend Tony Allen, Malian singer Fatoumata Diawara, the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble from Chicago and Detroit techno/house alchemist Theo Parrish.

Australian musician/comedian Tim Minchin will appear at Cork Opera House which, with seating for 1,200, is the biggest venue for the festival.

Also appearing at the Opera House are the Harlem Gospel Choir and Icelandic group Amiina while the Savoy will host Pee Wee Ellis and His Funk Assemble and hip-hop legend Grandmaster Flash.

Playing the Everyman will be saxophonist Tia Fulle who is a member of the all-female band that toured with Beyoncé in 2007. She will appear in Cork with her own quartet. On Saturday, movie legend Clint Eastwood’s son, Kyle, brings his quintet to the Everyman. He features in concert on a great double bill with the Bill Evans’ Soulgrass band and special guest Randy Brecker.

The Triskel Christchurch is a new venue this year and Bobby Watson All-Stars, Linley Hamilton Quartet, Stanley Jordan and Classical Cool — the Jerry Creedon Ensemble, will play there, among others. The Triskel Auditorium will feature alooka, WoWos New York Sextet and ReDiviDeR.

This year features some of the best street bands in Europe. They include the OhnO Jazzband and The Dixieland Crackerjacks from the Netherlands, Beat ‘n Blow, an energetic nine piece parade band from Berlin, and the 470 Big Band from Wales, making a welcome return to Cork.

* guinnessjazzfestival.com