Sunday, November 19
Edel Meade
Arthurs, Dublin. 4pm, €10. arthurspub.ie
Inventive Dublin singer Edel Meade performs songs from her new album, Blue Fantasia, with a strong quartet that includes Belfast pianist Scott Flanagan and the sure-footed rhythm pairing of bassist Dave Redmond and drummer Dominic Mullan. Note the early start time.
Wednesday, November 22
Sylvie Courvoisier
NCH, Dublin. 7.30pm, €18/15. note.ie
Swiss-born pianist Sylvie Courvoisier draws on many strands in her performances, from jazz and improv to classical and the contemporary avant garde. Based in New York for the past two decades, she has worked with composer John Zorn, saxophonists Evan Parker and Tim Berne (see Friday) and regularly performs with her own trio, and in duo with her husband, violinist Mark Feldman. An innovative pianist who does not confine her attentions to the piano's keys, her solo performances are thorough explorations of the sonic possibilities of the entire instrument.
Meilana Gillard Trio
Arthurs, Dublin. 9pm, €10. arthurspub.ie
Meilana Gillard – Ohio-born, New York-trained and now Belfast-based – is a gutsy tenor sax player in the classic mold with a horn-full of ideas and the chutzpah to get them across. Her arrival on the Irish scene in 2012 added a welcome new voice to the island's jazz babel, and her trio album, Dream Within a Dream, released earlier this year on Belfast indy label Lyte Records, was a remarkably confident and fresh-sounding addition to the saxophone trio cannon. She brings to Dublin the same well-oiled trio, with bassist Neil O Loclainn and drummer David Lyttle.
Bowie to Buckley: a World aPärt
Sugar Club, Dublin. 8.30pm, €17. thesugarclub.com
The global music community continues to mourn the passing of David Bowie, but how many tributes involve a jazz guitarist, a long-standing member of Bowie's band from Clontarf, four cellos and the music of Arvo Pärt? Dublin favourite Hugh Buckley is the driving force behind this imaginative tribute to the Thin White Duke, with performances from the guitarist's front-rank quintet including saxophonist Michael Buckley and pianist Phil Ware, Dublin-born Bowie side man Gerry Leonard and the massed cellos of Cello Ireland. Just for one day. This performance was rescheduled due to Storm Ophelia.
Friday, November 24
ECM Weekend: Tim Berne & David Torn, Duo Gazzana, Cyminology
Triskel, Cork, also Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th. triskelartscentre.ie
For almost 50 years now, Edition of Contemporary Music – the legendary Munich label founded by auteur producer Manfred Eicher – has been an important sanctuary for creative music in Europe, an ivory tower where creativity, innovation and originality have been sheltered from the stiff winds of commerce. Still independent, still defiantly artist-centered, and still directed by Eicher, ECM is almost a genre unto itself and for many open-minded listeners, those three magic letters will be enough inducement to attend Triskel's annual micro-festival. Now in its third year, the weekend opens on Friday evening with three ECM films, including Eicher's own film adaptation of the Max Frisch novella Holozän. Italian violin and piano duo, Duo Gazzana, give a lunchtime performance on Saturday 25th and Berlin quartet Cyminology will deliver their blend of improv and Persian poetry on Sunday 26th. The weekend's headline show on Saturday night, and something of a coup for Triskel artistic director Tony Sheehan, is a rare live collaboration between two lions of the New York avant garde, saxophonist Tim Berne and guitarist and producer David Torn.
