Jazz festivals are like buses; you wait ages for one and then three turn up together. Today sees the Bray Jazz Festival opening, with most headline interest on Dublin singer Christine Tobin and pianist Liam Noble doing songs from Carole King’s celebrated 1970s Tapestry album, and the great US guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel’s band. But the event boasts a fascinating mix of concerts throughout the three days.
Next Wednesday sees the ground-breaking 12 Points Festival back in Dublin after its Stavanger sojourn last year.Its significance in showcasing emerging European talent is now acknowledged by EU funding. The four-day programme is even stronger than last year’s. An enormously diverse spread, stylistically and geographically, ranges from Berlin’s Lisbeth Quartett and Rome’s Neko, more or less within the tradition, through the innovations of Porto’s Susana Silva Quintet, Gothenburg’s Isabel Sörling Group, Dublin’s RedivideR and Helsinki’s Elifantree, to Amsterdam’s free improv Ambush Party and the sounds of MeTaL-O-PHoNe from Paris and Trondheim’s PELbO on the outer limits.
Two superb examples of contemporary jazz piano trio, in London’s Phronesis (pictured) and Geneva’s Colin Vallon Trio, and the genre-blending Acropolis Quintet from Slovenia, complete a festival of rare diversity.
The Derry Jazz and Big Band Festival is already under way and runs until next Sunday. And finally, the Ballydehob Jazz Festival starts today and promises to bring some zing to the holiday weekend.
