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Details: Written by: Red Keane; Parent Category: Jazz Ireland Blog; Category: Jazz News; Created: 19 August 2025

Limerick Jazz Festival 2025 Brings World-Class Music to the City

The countdown is on for one of Ireland’s most vibrant music gatherings as the Limerick Jazz Festival returns from Wednesday 24th to Sunday 28th September 2025. Now in its fourteenth year, the festival continues to bring the very best of Irish and international talent to the city, filling venues with rhythm, melody, and improvisation.

This year’s programme is notable for its strong focus on the voice, with an impressive line-up of singers headlining the bill. At the Belltable, renowned UK vocalist Ian Shaw will present When Bowie Met Joni: The Songs of David Bowie and Joni Mitchell, a performance that promises both nostalgia and reinvention. Also from the UK, Brigitte Beraha will appear at the People’s Museum of Limerick, joined by acclaimed guitarist Ant Law for an intimate evening of music. Closer to home, Dolan’s Pub will host an exciting series of concerts featuring Irish singers including Deborah Swiney (Memphis), long-time festival friend Nigel Mooney, Emilie Conway, and Dublin’s Cormac Kenevey.

Details: Written by: Werner Lewon; Parent Category: Jazz Ireland Blog; Category: All Other Jazz; Created: 18 August 2025

Tales from the far Side 14.08.25 Irish Jazz-In the spirit of Louis Stewart

On this edition I explore Jazz created on this island and I feature one of its iconic and pioneering figures the late great guitarist Louis Stewart, some of his groundbreaking work remastered and rereleased by the Livia Record Label, which also is very active at the contemporary Irish Jazz Scene. You can hear music by "Louis the First" Louis Stewart as well as artists who are working in his spirit, you can hear music by Michael Buckley + Ebb & Flow, Ronan Guilfoyles' Bemusement Aecade, the John Donegan Irish Septet, Tommy Halferty's Whirlpool Group and others

Details: Written by: Red Keane; Parent Category: Jazz Ireland Blog; Category: Jazz News; Created: 14 August 2025

Katharine Timoney Set to Release New EP in September, Live Show in Dublin This October

Exciting news for jazz-soul fans! Katharine Timoney—hailed as ‘One To Watch’ by BBC Introducing, Jazz FM UK, and Belfast Live—has a new EP titled All This Time, scheduled for release September 15, 2025. The release marks another step in Timoney’s journey of blending gospel, R&B, soul, and vocal jazz into a rich, genre-defying sound. The record features contributions from Ben Castle (saxophone), Mark Edwards (piano & Hammond), Arnie Somogyi (bass), and Darren Beckett (drums).

Her EP, Life Came into Colour (2022), earned significant praise—including Track of the Week nods and several weeks on Jazz FM UK’s A-List—and won the 2022 UK Songwriting Contest (Jazz category) with its title track.

Fresh from standout festival performances—Cheltenham Jazz Festival, Cork Guinness Jazz Festival, Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival—Timoney is gearing up for her first headline autumn tour. Among the highlights: October 16, 2025, she brings her full band to Arthur’s Blues & Jazz Club in Dublin—an intimate yet unforgettable performance not to be missed.

Details: Written by: Werner Lewon; Parent Category: Jazz Ireland Blog; Category: All Other Jazz; Created: 11 August 2025

Tales from the far Side 07.08.25 Tales from the far Side Remembering Russell Malone

On this edition I remember the impeccable Jazz Guitar virtuoso Russell Malone who sadly died last year in August 2024 at the age of only 60 but his music thankfully will lives on and will touch the hearts of many Jazz fans in the years to come.

Details: Parent Category: Jazz Ireland Blog; Category: The Hot Box; Created: 08 August 2025

Welcome to the 142nd edition of The Hot Box with Donald Helme. This episode is a real treat, dedicated entirely to the music of the legendary Gil Evans. We’re marking the release of what may be the final volume of unearthed Evans material, lovingly brought to light by arranger and bandleader Ryan Truesdell.

Truesdell has spent years digging into the Evans archive, bringing this extraordinary music to life through his acclaimed ensemble, The Gil Evans Project. Alongside selections from the latest release, we’ll also revisit highlights from the earlier albums. And we’ll hear about the live sessions that once brought this music to the stage at New York’s much-missed Jazz Standard, where it was performed annually in all its glory.

The first track of the show is introduced with a snippet from the liner notes written by Ryan Truesdell.

Details: Written by: Werner Lewon; Parent Category: Jazz Ireland Blog; Category: All Other Jazz; Created: 04 August 2025

Tales from the far Side 31.07.25 A Jazz Journey - Travelling through the Magic

On this edition I take you on another exciting and colourful journey into the magic of Jazz with all sorts of "Journeys" in our mind and hearts with music by Keith Jarrett's European Quartet with Jan Garbarek, Michael Brecker, Stanley Turrentine, Benny Golson, Mulgrew Miller, Helge Lien+Knut Hem, Bobby Watson, John Hicks and others.

Details: Written by: Daniel Rorke; Parent Category: Jazz Ireland Blog; Category: Album Reviews; Created: 28 July 2025

Charlie Moon: Guitar & Voice
Darragh Hennessy: Organ
Dominic Mullan: Drums
Michael Buckley: Tenor Saxophone

A residency is a great thing for a jazz ensemble. In fact, I would go so far as to say that it is a vital thing, not only for the musicians involved, but also for the scene writ large. Organ Freeman’s weekly hit at The Big Romance every Sunday in Parnell Street has evolved into a hang for many musicians that strengthens the community and brings everyone together to exchange witticisms and merriment. I have always considered jazz to be an oral tradition, or perhaps more realistically have aspects analogous to oral traditions insofar that it requires exchange in person and on the bandstand. You can’t learn it from a book, you have to be in the same room as the music.

I once read an interview with Spike Wilner, the piano player from New York and the manager of Smalls Jazz Club, where he was talking about young musicians who sometimes ask him about how to “break into the scene”. His advice was simple: be on the scene. If you don’t hang, you won’t be called. It is indeed simple. Therefore, for the healthy development of the Dublin scene places like The Big Romance and Frankie Ryans, gigs that are less concerts and more sessions with lots of musicians lurking around, are vital. Don’t look to the universities, least of all this one, because they can’t and don’t replace this. If I ever inherit lots of money from a lost aunty in Leitrim, this sort of place is what I would buy.

Limerick Jazz Festival 2025 Brings World-Class Music to the City

Tales from the far Side 14.08.25 Irish Jazz-In the spirit of Louis Stewart

Katharine Timoney Set to Release New EP in September, Live Show in Dublin This October

Tales from the far Side 07.08.25 Tales from the far Side Remembering Russell Malone

The Hot Box #142 - Ryan Truesdell and Gil Evans

Tales from the far Side 31.07.25 A Jazz Journey - Travelling through the Magic

Album Review: Organ Freeman - Busywork