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.

The first new album is from Dr Linley Hamilton called “For The Record”, it really is a charming album and happily it seems to be getting a lot of well-deserved attention and praise.

The second new album is from Carole Nelson whom you will remember released her album “One Day in Winter” to a great deal of critical acclaim in 2017 and now she has done it again with “Arboreal”.

All of the albums mentioned here are available in the Jazz Ireland Shop where 100% of the revenue always goes direct to musicians.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:06:32 — 60.9MB)

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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.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:02:06 — 56.8MB)

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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.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:01:35 — 56.4MB)

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Welcome to The Hot Box #054 where we get ever closer to the end of the long-running series The Piano Files! In this episode we explore pianists under the letters U… and V as well as a few omissions from the letter T. It turns out that the popularity of the letter V as the first letter in Cuban surnames becomes extremely focussed when it comes to piano players. All the Vs are Cuban. As for U, only one player was found with that initial letter!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:03:50 — 58.5MB)

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A Special Christmas Edition of The Hot Box in which we try to avoid the schmaltzy Christmas songs you know and love…….

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:12:22 — 66.3MB)

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Over an hour of newly released jazz in The Hot Box 053, you’ll find tracks from Corkonian John Donegan to veteran British multi-instrumentalist Alan Barnes, from Chick Corea to new singing sensation Veronica Swift.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:13:58 — 67.7MB)

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The Hot Box #052 continues down the alphabet of pianists, and this time investigates the musicians filed under the letter T. A file that contains at least 3 of the all-time legends of jazz, not to mention 4 piano players with the same surname!

We are still seeking recordings by Irish pianists, so if you know of any, let us know. The Hot Box is released on www.jazzireland.ie every 2 weeks and can be heard on-line around the world. Tell your jazz loving friends, and talk to us direct with comments and suggestions to donald@jazzireland.ie

All shows available on Jazz Ireland: http://www.jazzireland.ie/blog/the-hot-box.html

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:11:31 — 65.5MB)

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“Festivalisation” of jazz was a gradual process but one that seemed, a few years ago, to be terminal. Luckily, good sense has prevailed and jazz festivals have taken their rightful place in the overall scheme of things. Now Ireland boasts at least 7 such events, most of which are autumnal, including the great-grandmother of them all, Guinness Cork Jazz Festival. Started in 1978 and still prospering. In the Hot Box we check out some of the artists and bands appearing in Cork 2019, including headliners Kurt Elling, Linley Hamilton and Fred Hersch. And some less well-known – Airelle Besson, Sue Rynhart and Les Fans Flures.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:12:17 — 66.2MB)

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We have a really fantastic line-up in The Hot Box #050 for Pianists under the letter S. Sampling multiple styles you will hear tracks from artists such as Ralph Sutton, Horace Silver, Helen Sung, Matthew Ship, Willie “The Lion” Smith, Martial Solal, Esbjorn Svensson, Bobo Stenson and more.

We also feature a track from Gwilym Simcock who is performing the New Ross Piano Festival Jazz Day on September 26th. You can view the event listing here. Then a wonderful track to close the lid on the 50th Episode of The Hot Box Podcast from Christian Sands entitled Reaching for the Sun.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:12:35 — 66.5MB)

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The Hot Box 49 is an advanced peak behind the curtain of an upcoming concert from the RTE Concert Orchestra featuring a feast of George Gershwin music cantering on the first ever live performance of the Concert Version of the Armstrong / Ella orchestration “Porgy & Bess”.

The recreation of Russel Garcia’s entire score has been achieved by Derry born, award-winning jazz trumpeter and arranger Ryan Quigley. The world premiere of this concert will be performed by RTÉ Concert Orchestra on the 11th of September in The National Concert Hall in Dublin. The Ella & Louis parts will be delivered by Nicola Emmanuelle (‘the real deal’ – Time Out) and five-time British Jazz Awards winner Enrico Tomasso – who as a child actually knew Louis Armstrong.

The night is packed with more Gershwin greats: Rhapsody in Blue, featuring internationally acclaimed pianist Adam Johnson, The Man I Love, Embraceable You, Fascinating Rhythmand Nelson Riddle’s arrangement of I Got Rhythm.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:18 — 50.7MB)

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