The Hot Box
Since the demise of RTE Lyric’s Jazz Alley, which broadcast every week from the first weekend of the station’s existence until it was axed at the end of 2015, there has been no regular national programme devoted to jazz. The Hot Box aims to fill that gap with former Jazz Alley presenter Donald Helme.
The Hot Box sets the best of Irish recorded jazz in the wider context of the universal language that is jazz worldwide. It tries to emphasise accessability and sheer enjoyment, and is building an audience well beyond the shores of its home country.
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- Written by: Donald Helme
- Parent Category: Jazz Ireland Blog
- Category: The Hot Box
Read more: The Hot Box #058 - A to Z of Jazz Piano Part 23 - The Letter W Part 2
Welcome to The Hot Box #058 in which we delve further into the alphabetical piano files with Part 2 of the File for W. There are some amazing artists in the episode.
Be sure to listen out for an interview where Marian McPartland hosts the great Mary Lou Williams on her long running radio show “Piano Jazz” on NPR in October of 1978. It is quite wonderful to hear Mary Lou Williams chat about music and list of all the names of bands and musicians she has worked with when she started out as a teenager right the way through to the modern era.
Read more: The Hot Box #058 - A to Z of Jazz Piano Part 23 - The Letter W Part 2
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- Written by: Donald Helme
- Parent Category: Jazz Ireland Blog
- Category: The Hot Box
Read more: The Hot Box Xtra #3 - Uplifting Music
Over an hour of jazz music from Ireland, America, South Africa and Brazil, wide ranging in style and mood. You can hear tracks from The Duke Ellington Orchestra, Basil Coatzee, Dianne Schuur, Count Basie Orchestras, Christine Tobin, Scott Flanagan and more.
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- Written by: Donald Helme
- Parent Category: Jazz Ireland Blog
- Category: The Hot Box
Read more: The Hot Box Xtra #2 - The Lock-Down Blues
In this episode of The Hot Box we celebrate the music of four amazing musicians who have sadly left the stage in the past few weeks, Bucky Pizzarelli, Lee Konitz, Wallace Roney and Ellis Marsalis.
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- Written by: Donald Helme
- Parent Category: Jazz Ireland Blog
- Category: The Hot Box
Read more: The Hot Box - Xtra 1
Selected for the times we are living in, Xtra tracks from The Hot Box that should immediately improve your blood circulation and set the mood firmly to positive.
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- Written by: Donald Helme
- Parent Category: Jazz Ireland Blog
- Category: The Hot Box
Read more: The Hot Box #057 – The Blakey Beat
In this episode of the Hot Box we celebrate the life and music of Art Blakey whose centennial was not so long ago. We find ourselves in very unfamiliar times, gigs and festivals have been cancelled the wold over which means no work for thousands of jazz musicians who rely on live performances to earn a crust. Perhaps we can help by purchasing their recordings so check out the Jazz Ireland Shop for a range of albums.
On a brighter note it’s always very exciting for me, and a personal pleasure to put up a brand new Irish album and to be able to give it a 5 STAR rating, in Hot Box 057 I get to do that twice.
- Details
- Written by: Donald Helme
- Parent Category: Jazz Ireland Blog
- Category: The Hot Box
Read more: The Hot Box #056 - A to Z of Jazz Piano Part 22 – The Letter W
Welcome to The Hot Box #056 where we delve into the Piano in the key of W. We are getting to the end of the piano files and who knows what comes next. The W file is a very big file with so many great players that we might run into two episodes, which it gives us an opportunity to hear some slightly longer pieces that we would have had to cut out for the sake of time.
Read more: The Hot Box #056 - A to Z of Jazz Piano Part 22 – The Letter W
- Details
- Written by: Donald Helme
- Parent Category: Jazz Ireland Blog
- Category: The Hot Box
Read more: The Hot Box #055 - Female Big Band Leaders
A nice big band welcome to the 55th edition of the Hot Box. The big success of Zandra Queen of Jazz from Darn Skippy Productions at the Smock Alley Theatre Dublin put me in mind to make an edition of the hot box centred on women in jazz. A fascinating glimpse into another world and caused me to reflect on the status of women in the jazz world over time.
So far as I am aware there are no recorded pieces from Zandra Mitchell but we can enjoy and talk about many other women in jazz. I had planned the Hot Box 55 to be a big band show, so why not combine the two.