The annual autumnal pilgrimage of jazz enthusiasts and aficionados begins today (Wednesday 23 October) as over 1,000 gifted musicians and 100,000 attendees flock to the People’s Republic for the internationally renowned Guinness Cork Jazz Festival. Emer O’Connor looks forward to what lies in store over the coming days.
Pioneering pianist and composer of modern soul and hip-hop, Brian Jackson, kick-starts festivities at the Cork Opera House tonight, showcasing We Almost Lost Detroit—The Music of Gil Scott-Heron. His ensemble features Chicago-raised and Detroit-based DJ producer Theo Parrish, the seven sons of trailblazing trumpeter Phil Cohran, the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, and their mother, radical performance artist Aquilla Sadalla.
We Almost Lost Detroit was written in 1966 by Scott-Heron and Jackson in response to the partial meltdown of the enormous Enrico Fermi Nuclear Generating Station on Lake Erie, halfway between Detroit and Toledo, Ohio, which, if it had not been contained, could have destroyed both cities.
‘It stands out on a highway, like a creature from another time. It inspires the babies’ questions, “What’s that?” For their mothers as they ride. But no one stopped to think about the babies or how they would survive, and we almost lost Detroit this time.’
A very special 4 hours watching Brian Jackson, Theo Parrish & Hypnotic Brass rehearse in Cyprus Ave, ahead of their @CorkOperaHouse Guinness Cork Jazz festival opener tonight! You are in for a treat! @ChoiceCuts 🎺 pic.twitter.com/duC4Y5wlus
— Stevie G (@StevieGrainger) October 23, 2024
Elsewhere, music lovers can catch the brilliance of Brian Jackson as he joins forces with passionate Ukrainian harpist Alina Bzhezhinska and BBC Jazz Album of the Year winner, multi-instrumentalist Tony Kofi from Ghana.
Together they present Celebrating Alice Coltrane at the stunning Triskel Arts Centre at 8pm on both Thursday and Friday night.
If you’ve still got the goo after that, you can trip the light fantastic from 11pm at the southern capital’s most dynamic music venue, Cyprus Avenue, for some quality disco, soul, and house grooves from Theo Parrish.
The sexy sons of Chicago, the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, known for their infamously sweaty live shows that combine jazz with hip-hop, ska, and reggae in an arresting stage assault, are also headlining the 500-person capacity Cyprus Avenue venue on Saturday and Sunday night from 7pm—frilly knickers at the ready!
The Cork jazz universe is ever-expanding, inviting Californian vocal titan and double Grammy winner Gregory Porter to twice fill the 1,000-person Cork Opera House on Thursday and Friday. Yet festival organisers are also keen to cast an eye on young stars, including London BRIT school graduate and self-released, 40-million-streams sensation Maya Delilah, whose impressive songwriting and highly skilled guitar harmonies in Moonflower and Look at the State of Me Now are sure to impress the audience at St Luke’s Church on Friday 24th.
Rising Cuban-Irish star Qbanna will join this celestial journey from 7.30pm in Summerhill, hopefully spotlighting her latest six-track EP Elisa, due for release soon. Check out Qbanna’s raw and intimate video of her powerfully self-produced new song Demons in the Liffey.
The 46th Guinness Cork Jazz Festival seems to have it all, from exhilarating performers at the cusp of interstellar careers, such as Irish-Nigerian vocal powerhouse Toshín (supporting Gregory Porter on his Irish tour), to stalwarts of the scene like avant-garde composer and master percussionist Marilyn Mazur. Mazur’s Special 4 ensemble features the incredible Jakob Buchanan on flugelhorn, pianist Makiko Hirabayashi, and Klavs Hovman on double bass.
Mazur’s collective will soak up all acoustic possibilities in the highly atmospheric surrounds of the Triskel Arts Centre during Saturday’s matinée show.
Later that evening, in Cork’s 650-seater purpose-built Victorian Everyman Theatre, the crown prince of Afrobeat, Seun Kuti, will lead Egypt 80 with his highly innovative, invigorating, and politically charged music. The son of pioneer Fela Kuti will take to the stage from 9.45pm and return to the auditorium at the same time on Sunday.
The shiny disco ball atop this shimmering Cork jazz lineup are the Afro-pop ambassadors from Mali, Amadou & Mariam, whose career now spans 50 rotations of the sun. The exuberant duo, both born in Bamako, met in 1977 when they performed with the Eclipse Orchestra at the Institut des Jeunes Aveugles (Institute for the Blind—Amadou Bagayoko was blinded at the age of 16 and Mariam Doumia from the age of 5).
The virtuoso guitarist and joyful soulful singers married in 1980, toured the globe with their danceable rhythms and electronic elements, and are set to perform at midnight on Saturday at the Cork Opera House.
And all this before hip hop legends De La Soul bring the house down on Sunday night, at the same venue. 🙂
The Guinness Cork Jazz Festival is one of the longest-running and most prestigious festivals in the world. The brainchild of the Metropole Hotel’s James Mountjoy, it was set up to offer a focal point for the October bank holiday weekend, established one year prior. Now, the festival spreads across 80 eclectic venues—from concert halls to open-air spaces, cosy pubs to cool clubs, and even out to sea. The city is stoked for what’s sure to be an electrifying weekend!
More information can be found here. Words by Emer O’Connor.
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