Back in 1977, while the rest of the world was busy discovering punk rock and the rings of Uranus, I made a couple of discoveries of my own; a long-lost uncle and, thanks to him, a whole new world of music.  We had just 2 records in our house, so our first visit to Uncle Denis was quite a shock to the system… in his living room, there was an entire wall of floor-to-ceiling shelves stuffed with LPs, and almost all of them were jazz recordings.  Denis couldn’t believe that I hadn’t heard any jazz before, and he had no doubt about the best way to get me started.  “You’ve got to listen to this!” he said, putting on Django Reinhardt et le Quintet du Hot Club de France.  30 seconds in, and I was hooked.

Read more: Talking Jazz with Lily de Sylva

Irish jazz singer and composer / lyricist Emilie Conway with pianist Darragh Hennessy were invited to perform at the American Writers Museum, Chicago, The Village Trip, a new Greenwich Village festival, the American Irish Historical Society, in May to mark the centenary of writer Maeve Brennan, culminating in a performance in Greenwich Village's legendary Cornelia Street Cafe. On September 12 the Emilie Conway Quartet perform "You Won't Forget Me" Words & Music Celebrating Maeve Brennan with readings by Cathy Belton at the National Concert Hall.

Here Emilie records her impressions of the American trip ......

Read more: Talking Jazz with Emilie Conway

It might seem strange to have an English person, however well-intentioned and jazz-oriented I may be, writing Jazz Ireland’s first “think-piece”.  But I am assured that other contributors will follow in the fullness of time, such as bassist and researcher Damian Evans.  Well, actually he’s Australian, I know, but you get the point.  And it would be good to be told here of other existing Irish jazz blogs, such as the stimulating comments from Ronan Guilfoyle, and others that we may not know about so far.

Read more: Talking Jazz with Brian Priestley