It’s almost here... get set for jazz time in Cork
A number of announcements have followed since, and it looks like Cork’s busiest weekend will be packed with some of the biggest names in the world of jazz, soul, hip-hop, house, afro, Latin and gospel.
It’s easily the biggest date in Cork’s music calendar at this stage and it’s the one time of the year where Cork is the destination that everybody wants to visit. The festival has been a huge economic and commercial success that has evolved from humble beginnings in the Metropole on MacCurtain Street in the late 70s, but it is now a huge festival respected the world over.
The commercial revenue generated for Cork is essential and has a huge knock on effect, but the festival is also a very credible musical festival, with a top class international and local line-up.
This is no mean feat these days, especially with a music format such as jazz, which is not the pop music of the day, as it was 100 years ago. That said, jazz informs much of the best music being made in many modern traditions, from hip-hop and soul, to house and pop, and the festival has always had a steady influx of these jazz pioneers visiting Cork for shows.
Roy Ayers, Chick Corea, Sonny Rollins, Maceo Parker, McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton and many many more greats have passed through, but as the years pass, some of these greats have passed too.
Rather than become just a heritage festival, it’s imperative that the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival thus becomes one that evolves as the music does, and over the last 20 or 30 years we’ve had many of the best contemporary artists come here too. Robert Glasper, Gregory Porter, The Marsalis brothers, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, The Hot 8 Brass Band, Esbjorn Svensson Trio, Brandee Younger, BADBADNOTGOOD, Roy Hargrove, Brad Mehldau and many others have kept the jazz flame burning, and all have visited Cork.
Kamasi Washington, arguably the most acclaimed of the new school, is touching down here next year, for the launch of the 2025 festival, and he would have been here this October if not for back surgery which is keeping him from doing shows next month.
Many of the best visitors to Cork on jazz weekend may not be jazz per se, but it’s impossible to imagine how house and hip-hop would have developed without jazz these last 40 or 50 years. Both of these music formats are traditionally huge in Cork, and we have welcomed many of their best operators with open arms. The Pharcyde, Soul II Soul, Herbert, Omar, People Under the Stairs, Souls of Mischief, Kerri Chandler, Laurent Garnier, King Britt and many others have visited us, and this year we have some incredible acts coming to Cork.
The legendary De La Soul return, as do two of the best house producers of the last 30 years, Moodymann and Theo Parrish. Both are part of what looks like an amazing night celebrating the music of the late great Gil Scott Heron, another former visitor, with his musical partner Brian Jackson, in the Cork Opera House. Todd Terje is another great DJ and producer coming through, and you can catch him in Cyprus Avenue.
Seun Kuti, Amadou and Mariam, The Buena Vista All Stars, Les Amazones d’Afrique, Takuya Kuroda, The Staples Jr Singers and many more are all visiting, but I’ll do a detailed preview of the line-up right before the festival in October. I’ll also declare an interest by saying that I’ve been involved in some of the programming, especially of the smaller venues, such as the Kino, which are not part of the festival too. A cutting edge Irish line-up featuring Projective, Decarteret, Cooks but we’re Chefs, Qbanna, X Collective and more, take to the stage in the Washington Street venue, but again, this is only the tip of the iceberg.
St Peter’s on North Main Street is an ideal family friendly place to visit by day for music fans, and they will host an 85th anniversary celebration of Blue Note Records, the iconic label that influenced much of the hip-hop, soul and house of the last decades. October is coming soon, and it’s jazz time in Cork!
