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Event Description
Limerick Jazz are delighted to announce that multiple Grammy Award winning musician Cassandra Wilson will be performing live in concert with legendary Irish Jazz guitarist David O'Rourke & highly regarded musician and composer Niall Vallely at Dolans Pub Warehouse on Saturday, November 4th, 8 – 11 p.m.
Cassandra Wilson is an American Jazz musician; vocalist; songwriter; and producer. She began playing piano at the age of 6, guitar by the age of 12 and was working as a professional vocalist by the mid 1970’s. In the early 1980’s, Cassandra linked up with saxophonist Steve Coleman in the New York City borough of Brooklyn and became one of the founding members of the hugely influential M-Base Collective. M-Base was a collective of young African-American musicians which included Steve Coleman; Graham Haynes; Cassandra Wilson; Geri Allen; Robin Eubanks; and Greg Osby. M-Base emerged with a new sound and many new ideas about creative musical expression. Using a term coined by Steve Coleman, M-Base called these ideas ‘M-Base-concepts’ (short for ‘macro-basic array of structured extemporization’). Music critics have used this term to categorize this scene’s music as a specific Jazz style, but Coleman always stressed that “M-Base doesn’t denote a musical style, but instead, denotes a specific way of thinking about creating music”.
At the end of her time with the M-Base Collective, Cassandra sought out a more acoustic context for her vocal expressions. She signed with the hugely influential Blue Note Records in 1992 and released a landmark album entitled: Blue Light ‘Til Dawn, which paved the way for a new generation of Jazz singers who were seeking an approach to Jazz music that challenged the supremacy of the American Standard songbook. In 2015, Cassandra Wilson joined forces with the prestigious record label Legacy and released the highly acclaimed work Coming Forth by Day on the 100th anniversary of Billie Holiday's birth - April 7th, 2015.
Up until the present day, Wilson has continued interpreting Jazz, Vintage Blues, Country and Folk music in fresh and creative ways. Her awards include: 2 Grammys, the Django D’Or, The Edison Music Award, and a marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail. Cassandra also performed one of the leading roles in Wynton Marsalis' Blood on the Fields, the first Jazz inspired oratorio to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Music.
Cassandra will be performing music from her forthcoming project, which is set to be recorded in Co. Cork in October, 2017 under the guidance of David O’Rourke. This project of music represents a totally unique approach to musical expressionism in which Cassandra Wilson brings together various elements and dynamics from America’s true musical art form, Jazz, and combines them with Ireland’s rich and internationally renowned tradition of song writing and lyricism.
David O'Rourke - Jazz Guitarist http://
David O'Rourke is one of Ireland’s better known music exports. He has been working in New York City as a performer; composer; and arranger since the 1980’s.
For the last ten years, New York City based Jazz guitarist, conductor and arranger David O'Rourke has guided tomorrow's Jazz musicians as 'house bandleader' of the Jazz Standard Youth Orchestra. For his contributions to Jazz Standard Discovery, a music education programme that he has led since 1998, David and co-founder James Polsky were named 'New Yorkers of the Week' by NY1 News.
Born and raised in Dublin, David has built a career defined and shaped by his exposure to and association with many of his musical idols, both in the U.S and abroad. He has played with Les Paul and Bucky Pizzarelli and studied with music legends such as Barry Galbraith and Pat Martino.
David currently leads and writes for his own 20-piece band The O'Rourkestra at the Zinc Bar in New York City. He has also recently completed commissions for the Dublin City Jazz Orchestra and he continues to perform on the New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia Jazz club circuits.
Throughout his career, David has played with many Jazz legends such as Tommy Flanagan's Trio, Cedar Walton's Trio, Jackie McLean, Billy Higgins, Curtis Fuller, James Spalding, Harold Ousley, Vernal Fournier and Brother Jack McDuff.
In addition to an active schedule as a performer, David is also in huge demand as a Jazz conductor and arranger. In his early years, David's own quartet won the 'Best Band' award at the Guinness Jazz Festival in Cork in 1984. David performed as a soloist with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, an ensemble that he would return some years later to conduct in the National Concert Hall, Dublin, Ireland.
Niall Vallely http://
Niall Vallely was born in Armagh in 1970 and began learning the concertina at the age of seven under the tutelage of his parents Brian and Eithne Vallely, co-founders of the Armagh Pipers' Club. Over the years Niall has developed a unique approach to playing the instrument and has established himself worldwide as one of Ireland’s most significant musicians and composers.
A resident of Cork since 1988, Niall completed a degree in music at University College Cork in 1992. After college, Niall embarked on a performance career, touring throughout the world and recording with the likes of Nomos; Buille; Karan Casey; Paddy Keenan; Tim O’Brien; and Austrian band Tejedor.
Since the early 1990s, Niall has been working at composing traditional-style tunes. His tunes have been recorded on more than 75 albums, while some of them have become ‘standards’ in sessions throughout the world. In more recent years, Niall has been expanding the scope of his compositions to embrace larger scale forms and instrumentation and musicians from the worlds of traditional and classical music.
He has received commissions from RTÉ lyric fm; BBC; TG4; Cork Opera House; Crash Ensemble; University College Cork; and the Vanbrugh Quartet. Niall has also had his work broadcast on radio and television in Ireland, the U.S and throughout Europe and he has been involved in arrangement projects with artists including Lúnasa; Iarla Ó Lionáird; Donal Lunny; the Boston Pops Orchestra; and the RTE Concert Orchestra.
Niall was appointed Traditional Artist in Residence at University College Cork in 2014 and in 2015 he published a book of his tune compositions “Malfunction Junction – 101 tunes”. In the past year he has released albums of new compositions with Buille and with the Irish/Scottish/
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Location of event
Venue Information - Dolan's Pub
Dolans pub is the hub of the complex, a traditional Irish bar with Irish music seven nights a week all year round. It has become a cultural attraction and this year received the IMRO award for best Live Music venue in Ireland. The bar is open 12pm daily for lunch and 10am on weekends and public holidays for breakfast.