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Event Description
The Sofa Sessions, in association with Kilkenny Arts Festival, presents Guilfoyle Engel Jacobson
6pm - 7pm / Free (ticketed)
Chris Guilfoyle - guitar
Chris Engel - saxophone
Matthew Jacobson - drums
This powerful trio features acclaimed South African saxophonist Chris Engel in a 'bass-less' trio with two of the Dublin scene's most respected and sought-after musicians, guitarist Chris Guilfoyle of Umbra and drummer Matthew Jacobson of ReDiviDeR.
About Chris Guilfoyle
Chris Guilfoyle is one of the leading lights of a new generation of Irish jazz musicians. He grew up in a musical family where his father Ronan Guilfoyle and uncle Conor Guilfoyle are household names in the Irish jazz scene. He has studied at Berklee College of Music - where he was awarded a scholarship from Fender Guitars and the Jazz and Improvised Music Salzburg conference in Austria. Chris was also selected to represent his college at the International Association of Schools of Jazz in The Netherlands in July 2010.
In August 2011, Chris was accepted to study at Dave Liebman’s Chromatic Harmony Workshop in Stroudsburg Pennsylvania, USA. Since graduating, Chris has been actively performing in the Dublin music scene as well as abroad. In November 2011 he performed in Paris with Ronan Guilfoyle’s Lingua Franca as part of the Festival Jazzy Colours; in October 2011 he performed on a 3 day tour of Ireland with Dave Liebman, Ronan Guilfoyle and Finnish drummer Jussi Lehtonen; In March 2011 he performed with the great drummer Ralph Peterson in Dublin and in February 2011 he played with Greek pianist/organist George Contrafouris at the National Concert Hall in Dublin.
Chris also leads his own group Umbra, a quintet featuring some of the most promising musicians in the country who play all original compositions and Oxygen Thief, a new project aiming to expand the vocabulary of the jazz guitar trio. He also plays as a sideman in 3G (Ronan Guilfoyle, Conor Guilfoyle, Chris Guilfoyle), Kevin Higgins’ Nature, Aleka and The Long Way Around. Chris also produces electronic music under the name Exit Introvert. Currently, Chris is part of the guitar and ensemble faculty of DCU’s jazz performance degree where he teaches 1st, 2nd and 3rd year guitar as well as 2nd and 3rd year ensembles.
About Chris Engel
Cape-Town born and Dublin based saxophonist Chris Engel is one of the most original voices on the Irish jazz scene. Having performed at numerous festivals, on numerous stages, in numerous countries from as early as age 15, Chris has been fortunate enough to perform alongside some of the greats in the South African and International jazz fraternity.
Festival appearances include Cork Jazz Festival, Bray Jazz Festival, Derry Jazz Festival, Down with Jazz (Dublin), Kilkenny Arts Festival, Westport Arts Festival, Atina Jazz(Italy), Copenhagen Jazz Festival (Denmark), Aarhus Jazz Festival (Denmark), Cape Town International Jazz Festival (where he performed with world renowned American jazz artists Joe McBride, Gerald Veasley and Kenny Blake), the Cape Town Jazzathon, the Grahamstown Jazz Festival (Eastern Cape, South Africa), the annual Cape Town Big Band Jazz Festival and The Knysna Oyster festival (Eastern Cape, South Africa).
Over the last 5 or so years, Chris Engel has enjoyed an active career in the field of House, Electronic, and Dance Music. Having been educated in the fields of jazz, improvised music and experimental music for most of his life; Chris started with what some would call an ideal foundation, having the tools necessary to cultivate a truly individual and innovative sound as a “house saxophonist”. Chris holds degrees in Jazz & Improvised Music Performance from both The South African College of Music and The Norwegian Academy of Music (NMH).
About Matthew Jacobson
Matthew Jacobson is a drummer, composer, bandleader, educator and producer currently based Dublin. He completed his BA in Jazz Performance at Newpark Music Centre, Dublin in 2008 and in 2010 he received a Masters Degree in Music Performance from Lucerne University, Switzerland.
He has represented his country, touring with the European Jazz Orchestra in 2008 and performs regularly in Ireland and abroad. He is also a co-director of Diatribe Records, Ireland's leading record label for new sounds and the Irish co-producer of European exchange tour network and annual festival Match&Fuse. Since 2010, Matthew has been a member of faculty on Newpark Music Centre’s BA in Jazz Performance program, as both a drum tutor and ensemble leader.
As well as performing, composing for and recording with his own quartet ReDiviDeR - winners of the Cork Jazz Festival 2011 ‘Best Young Artist Award’ - Matthew also co-leads German-based guitar trio Blowout Fracture, Swiss-based quintet A E R I E, New York-based trio FarJam and France-based Foluain Trio. Matthew has also worked with several leading European and American creative music specialists including Evan Parker and Kit Downes (UK), Ralph Alessi, Peter Evans and Mark Feldman (US), Niels Klein and Nils Wogram (DE), Savina Yannatou (GR) and at home in Ireland with Michael Buckley and Ronan Guilfoyle.
As well as receiving scholarships to spend time studying at both the School for Improvisational Music in New York and Berklee College of Music in Boston, he also received a bursary from the Irish Arts Council to spend six weeks in Chennai, South Indian studying the region's traditional Carnatic music.
He received a Fulbright Scholar Award in Performing Arts to spend a nine-month period – 2013/14 – in New York developing compositional and improvisational skills and was the inaugural Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown Musician in Residence from October 2015 - January 2016.
Matthew uses Jesse Simpson Cymbals with thanks to the Irish Arts Council, Music Network and the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.
Location of event
Venue Information - Billy Byrnes
Billy Byrnes is a family run tradional Irish bar and first opened its doors in 1954. We are centrally located in Kilkenny City, just around the corner from the train and bus station.