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- Written by: Red Keane
- Parent Category: Jazz Ireland Blog
- Category: Jazz News
Read more: Louis Stewart’s Joyce Notes: A Lost Suite Reborn from the Cork Jazz Festival, 1982
Livia Records continues its remarkable archival journey through the recorded legacy of Louis Stewart with the release of Joyce Notes, a previously unreleased live recording captured at the Cork Jazz Festival on 23rd October 1982
Set for release on 27th March 2026 (CD and digital download), Joyce Notes documents Stewart’s ambitious six-part suite inspired by scenes and characters from James Joyce’s Ulysses. Conceived to coincide with the centenary of Joyce’s birth in 1982, the project emerged from a shared enthusiasm for Joyce between Stewart and Livia Records founder Gerald Davis.
Read more: Louis Stewart’s Joyce Notes: A Lost Suite Reborn from the Cork Jazz Festival, 1982
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- Written by: Red Keane
- Parent Category: Jazz Ireland Blog
- Category: Jazz News
Read more: Kildare Jazz Festival Announces 2026 Emerging Act: Hayley Kavanagh
Jazz Ireland is delighted to share the news that Hayley Kavanagh has been selected as the 2026 Emerging Act at Kildare Jazz Festival.
Presented by Riverbank Arts Centre in partnership with the festival, the Emerging Act Open Call was established to spotlight new voices in Irish jazz and to provide a professional platform within the festival’s main programme. Following a strong response from emerging artists across Ireland, the selection panel chose Hayley in recognition of her originality, musicality and commanding stage presence.
Read more: Kildare Jazz Festival Announces 2026 Emerging Act: Hayley Kavanagh
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- Written by: Red Keane
- Parent Category: Jazz Ireland Blog
- Category: Jazz News
Read more: Open Call for Emerging Artist/Group Performance - Kildare Jazz Festival 2026
Are you an emerging artist interested in performing at one of Ireland’s leading jazz events?
Kildare Jazz Festival warmly invites you to apply for the chance to showcase your talent on the Riverbank stage. The selected Emerging Act will be the opening act to the festival weekend, taking place on the 27 March at 7pm.
What we are looking for:
- Early-career artists or groups (<5 years performance experience as solo artist/group)
- Performers based in Ireland
- Original music and/or original arrangements
If this sounds like you, we invite you to APPLY HERE. – Open Call for Emerging Artist/Group 2026 – Fill in form
What's on Offer:
- A performance slot at Kildare Jazz Festival 2026
- A stipend of €600 (total)
- Full house tech support
- Access to all other Kildare Jazz Festival performances (Friday 27-Sunday 29 March)
Read more: Open Call for Emerging Artist/Group Performance - Kildare Jazz Festival 2026
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- Written by: Red Keane
- Parent Category: Jazz Ireland Blog
- Category: Jazz News
Read more: Bray Jazz Festival Celebrates 25 Years with Landmark Line-Up
Bray International Jazz Festival returns over the May Bank Holiday weekend, May 1st–3rd, marking a significant milestone as the festival celebrates its 25th anniversary. Established in the millennium year, the festival has grown into one of the leading contemporary jazz weekends in the greater Dublin area, attracting over 5,000 concertgoers annually to venues across the North Wicklow town.
This year’s anniversary edition promises a particularly strong international and Irish line-up, with over 40 concerts, recitals and Jazz Trail shows taking place across the weekend.
Read more: Bray Jazz Festival Celebrates 25 Years with Landmark Line-Up
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- Written by: Red Keane
- Parent Category: Jazz Ireland Blog
- Category: Jazz News
Read more: A Celebration of Bernstein, Jazz and Song at Newry Chamber Music Piano Festival
A weekend of jazz piano and song at inaugural Newry Chamber Music Piano Festival
The acclaimed Rob Barron Trio and the award-winning vocalist Georgia Cécile join forces for a celebration of jazz and Leonard Bernstein at the inaugural Newry Chamber Music Piano Festival.
Newry Town Hall will be the venue on Saturday 7 February 2026 at 8pm for Leonard Bernstein Reimagined - the Festival's flagship jazz concert - featuring a first-half dedicated to the peerless West Side Story, and a second half drawing from Candide, On The Town, Wonderful Town, A Quiet Place, and more.
Read more: A Celebration of Bernstein, Jazz and Song at Newry Chamber Music Piano Festival
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- Written by: Red Keane
- Parent Category: Jazz Ireland Blog
- Category: Jazz News
Read more: A Scene Without Its Stage — The Real Cost of Losing The Cooler
On a damp evening in Smithfield, jazz hums from behind an old industrial cold-room door — an unlikely portal into one of Dublin’s most intimate creative spaces. Inside, The Cooler’s 60 seats, warm lights and close-up stage have hosted rehearsals, workshops, album launches and countless nights of improvised music. One concert reviewer described it as “a beautiful, intimate space behind a vast refrigerator door; it feels like finding a secret.”
But that secret will soon fall silent.
The Complex — the building that houses The Cooler, along with artist studios, a gallery and a larger performance space — has been issued an eviction notice effective 14 January 2026. Unless something changes, the jazz club and its surrounding creative community will be removed, with no alternative space offered and no clear path for relocation.
Read more: A Scene Without Its Stage — The Real Cost of Losing The Cooler
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- Written by: Red Keane
- Parent Category: Jazz Ireland Blog
- Category: Jazz News
Read more: Louis Stewart & Brian Dunning – Alone Together
Remastered and Extended Edition • Livia Records • Out November 14th, 2025
Livia Records continues its remarkable restoration of the Louis Stewart catalogue with the reissue of Alone Together, a captivating live duo recording featuring Louis Stewart on guitar and Brian Dunning on flute. Originally recorded over three lunchtime concerts at Dublin’s Peacock Theatre in August 1979, the album captures two of Ireland’s most gifted musicians in perfect musical conversation — inventive, intimate, and alive with the spirit of spontaneous creation.
This new edition has been remixed and remastered from the original quarter-inch tapes, and includes two previously unreleased studio tracks, newly discovered during the digitisation process. The result is a beautifully restored album that celebrates the clarity, warmth and dynamic interplay between the guitar and flute — an inspired pairing that proved as lyrical as it was daring.
