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- Written by: Red Keane
- Parent Category: Jazz Ireland Blog
- Category: Jazz News
Read more: Mullingar Blues and Jazz Festival Launches This Weekend
Mullingar is getting ready to swing, groove, and celebrate as the very first Mullingar Blues and Jazz Festival takes place this weekend, September 26th–28th, 2025. For three days, the town will be filled with the soulful sounds of blues and jazz, uniting musicians, audiences, and locals in a celebration of music, community, and culture right in the heart of Westmeath.
The driving force behind the festival is Raimonda Masiulytė-Ramchurn, a professional jazz singer and creative powerhouse who has worked tirelessly to bring this new event to life.
Read more: Mullingar Blues and Jazz Festival Launches This Weekend
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- Written by: Red Keane
- Parent Category: Jazz Ireland Blog
- Category: Jazz News
Read more: Congratulations to Sligo Jazz Project on their Jazz Forward Award
We are delighted to share the news that Sligo Jazz Project (SJP), under the vision and leadership of Eddie Lee and his team, has been named a 2025 Jazz Forward Award recipient by All About Jazz, the world’s largest jazz website.
The Jazz Forward Awards honour innovation, discovery, and impact in jazz globally, recognising organisations, businesses, and individuals who exemplify key trends in jazz today — including global collaboration, digital innovation, educational inclusion, and community-rooted sustainability. These awards shine a light on those who are doing the often-unseen but vital work of cultivating new audiences, nurturing artistic growth, and building the infrastructure that keeps jazz thriving.
Read more: Congratulations to Sligo Jazz Project on their Jazz Forward Award
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- Written by: Red Keane
- Parent Category: Jazz Ireland Blog
- Category: Jazz News
Peruvian-Irish guitarist and composer Rodrigo Almonte returns this autumn with his new album Sounds of the Blue Book, a powerful and moving suite inspired by Roger Casement’s 1910 Amazonian report, The Blue Book.
Casement’s investigation into the brutal exploitation of Indigenous communities during the rubber boom in Peru marked a turning point in international human rights advocacy. Over a century later, Almonte reimagines this story through music—blending jazz, improvisation, and Peruvian and Irish traditions into a hauntingly lyrical soundscape.
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- Written by: Red Keane
- Parent Category: Jazz Ireland Blog
- Category: Jazz News
Read more: Emilie Conway – Single Release: In Walked Piet from the Mondrian and Music Project
Award-winning Dublin-based vocalist, composer, and lyricist Emilie Conway is celebrated for her innovative approach to jazz and her ability to weave music, poetry, and visual art into unified performance.
Her upcoming single, In Walked Piet (release date: 26 September), draws inspiration from Thelonious Monk’s jazz classic In Walked Bud — Monk’s nod to pianist Bud Powell, a contrafact of Blue Skies with Ella Fitzgerald's unforgettable solo — and from the vibrant abstractions of Dutch painter Piet Mondrian, whose fascination with jazz and boogie-woogie profoundly shaped his art. Conway’s piece reimagines this lineage, creating a dialogue between these two innovators: Monk’s harmonic daring, the influence of New York City on Mondrian’s visual rhythm, and her own distinctive improvisational voice.
Read more: Emilie Conway – Single Release: In Walked Piet from the Mondrian and Music Project
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- Written by: Red Keane
- Parent Category: Jazz Ireland Blog
- Category: Jazz News
Read more: Carole Nelson Trio to Release Through the Storm on Livia Records
Livia Records has announced the forthcoming release of Through the Storm, the fourth album from The Carole Nelson Trio, arriving on 9th October 2025.
Featuring Carole Nelson (piano, Fender Rhodes, saxophone), Cormac O Brien (bass), and Dominic Mullan (drums), the trio continues to deepen the intuitive musical bond they have cultivated over a decade of performance and three acclaimed albums.
Building on the ecological themes central to Carole’s work, Through the Storm weaves together two powerful narratives. The first celebrates the resilience of nature through the remarkable annual migration of swallows from Africa to Ireland, a cycle of renewal reflected in the opening suite: We Begin Here, Lift Off, Sky Journey, Through the Storm, Arrival, and Refuge. These compositions evoke the rhythms of flight, the joy of return, and the spirit of South African jazz, shaped by the trio’s interplay and improvisation.
Read more: Carole Nelson Trio to Release Through the Storm on Livia Records
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- Written by: Red Keane
- Parent Category: Jazz Ireland Blog
- Category: Jazz News
Read more: A Milestone Moment: The First Irish Group to Headline the London Jazz Festival Main Stage
This November 19, 2025, marks a groundbreaking moment in Ireland-UK cultural exchange. At the Queen Elizabeth Hall, the EFG London Jazz Festival 2025 will feature the Unreal Cities setting of T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land—the first occasion that an Irish ensemble has ever headlined the festival’s main stage.
A Bold and Innovative Adaptation of a Modernist Masterpiece
T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land stands as one of the most influential poems of the 20th century, weaving together myths, cityscapes, and fragmented narratives. This performance, conceived and directed by Irish actor Adrian Dunbar, brings the poem to life through a thrilling interplay of spoken word, film, and music.
The musical score, composed by Irish / British composer Nick Roth, was originally commissioned for the Happy Days Enniskillen International Beckett Festival in 2015. It remains the only performance of the poem in its 100-year history to include musical accompaniment.
Read more: A Milestone Moment: The First Irish Group to Headline the London Jazz Festival Main Stage
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- Written by: Red Keane
- Parent Category: Jazz Ireland Blog
- Category: Jazz News
Read more: 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.
Read more: Limerick Jazz Festival 2025 Brings World-Class Music to the City
- Katharine Timoney Set to Release New EP in September, Live Show in Dublin This October
- Applications open for a residency opportunity for musicians who are autistic/people with autism from Music Network and Ionad Cultúrtha in Baile Mhúirne, Cork
- Sligo Jazz Festival 2025: Celebrating 20 Years of Jazz, Community & Creativity
- Louis Stewart’s I Thought About You: A Landmark Recording Reborn