Saturday 16
Darren Beckett Trio
Arthurs, Dublin, 8.30pm, €15, arthurspub.ie
also Sunday: Cobbles, Newry, 5.30pm, cobblesnewry.com
Belfast-born drummer Darren Beckett is one of this island’s most exalted musical exports, with recording credits that include producer Daniel Lanois, Lauryn Hill of the Fugees and jazz diva Madeleine Peyroux, not to mention an ongoing creative collaboration with Killers frontman Brandon Flowers. Beckett recently relocated to the UK after many years in New York, and he has struck up a rapport with Brighton pianist and fellow session monster Oli Howe, based on a mutual interest in mixing the classic piano trio tradition with R&B and hip-hop beats. Rounding out a heavyweight trio is first call Dublin bassist Dave Redmond, with legendary Belfast blues guitarist Ronnie Greer added for the Newry date on Sunday. Cormac Larkin
Clang Sayne
Black Gate, Galway, 8pm, €10, blackgate.ie
also Sunday: Fumbally Stables, Dublin, 7.30pm, €12, thefumballystables.ie
& Monday: The Roundy, Cork, 9pm, €10, facebook.com/theroundy
Wexford singer and composer Laura Hyland defies easy classification and that’s just the way she likes it. Her ear-opening Clang Sayne quartet borrows liberally from folk, free jazz, sound art and literature, crafting a refined, enigmatic soundscape that is fresh and un-clichéd. For this three-date tour, support comes from solo electronica artist Anna Mullarkey (Galway), experimental trio Vanishing Lakes (Dublin) and Wicklow multi-instrumentalist Anna Mieke Bishop (Cork). CL
Wednesday 20
Conor Guilfoyle Jazz Octet
Bagots Hutton, Dublin, 8.30pm, €12/8, bagotshutton.com
Drummer Conor Guilfoyle is Ireland’s Art Blakey, an energetic, strong-willed band leader with a unerring sense of the groove and a long history of encouraging up and coming jazz talent – his superb Afro-Cuban bands have been hothouses for several generations of local and international talent. Now he has put together a promising new eight-piece ensemble to explore the “cool” orchestral jazz of Gerry Mulligan, Gil Evans, et al. Guilfoyle’s group of Newpark graduates includes trumpeter Bill Blackmore, saxophonists Yuzuha O’Halloran, Peter Dobai and Kelan Walshe, trombonist Colm O’ Hara, pianist Darragh Hennessy and bassist Barry Rycraft. Dancers welcome. CL
Friday 22
Bebop, Broadway, Bond and Beyond
Bagots Hutton, Dublin, 8.30pm, €15, dublinjazz.ie
Vocalist Stella Bass and her musical director, pianist Phil Ware, presented this rattlebag of jazz standards, broadway tunes and the odd James Bond theme in London earlier this year with guitarist Hugh Buckley and the top UK rhythm team of bassist Dave Green and drummer Steve Brown. Aficionados of hard swinging jazz will be salivating at the prospect of Green and Brown – whose performing credits include legends of the music like Sonny Rollins, Junior Mance and Coleman Hawkins – arriving in Dublin this week for the return fixture. CL
