Whale Theatre, Greystones
Friday 2nd May, 8.00pm
Tickets: €25

Saxophonist Xhosa Cole has been blazing a trail since he first emerged on the UK jazz scene as the winner of the BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year award, in 2018.

A year later he collected the ‘best newcomer’ prize at the prestigious Parliamentary Jazz Awards, and was named Breakthrough Act of the Year by Jazz FM in the UK.

Now aged 28, Xhosa Cole is from Handsworth, and follows in the illustrious footsteps of such great contemporary saxophonists from Birmingham, including Soweto Kinch and Sons of Kemit frontman, Shabaka Hutchings.

His recently released third album ‘On a Modern Genius Vol. 1’, which explores and collages the compositions of pianist Thelonious Monk compositions, breathing new life into tmeless tunes, was named ‘Album of the Month’ by The Guardian, in February of this year. It was also ‘Editor’s Choice’ of the UK’s leading jazz magazine, Jazzwise, a month later.

Xhosa has performed twice at the BBC Proms, Composed music for the Ripieno Players, a Birmingham Based String Orchestra, recorded saxophone for Mahalia’s debut album Love and Compromise, completed a 22 date UK tour, all while he studied at the the UK’s Trinity Laban Conservatoire.

“An erudite young sax master who catches Monk’s wild spirit… and will surprise even the most devout buffs, and hook the most unsuspecting of jazz newbies too.” – The Guardian

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Pianist Greg Murphy played for more than 20 years with Rashied Ali, former John Coltrane drummer, on the New York scene. 

 He appears here with top-line Irish rhythm section, Cormac O’Brien on bass and drummer Shane O’Donovan.  

A world class pianist, Greg Murphy has also worked with Ornette Coleman, Carlos Santana and Archie Shepp. His 2019 album ‘Bright Idea’ was #1 in the jazz charts.

Greg began his musical adventures in 1971 when he joined the Ray-Fisk Grammar School Band in Chicago.

A jazz study grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1984 gave Greg the opportunity to go to New Orleans and study with the eminent pianist and jazz educator, Ellis Marsalis. He began recording and performing with The New Orleans Jazz Couriers, Percussion Incorporated, and his own group, The Fusicians. While living in New Orleans, Greg performed with Donald Harrison, Wynton Marsalis, and countless other great musicians. 

He moved to New York in 1987 and began what had become a long association with Rashied Ali. Greg performed and recorded with Ali and his various groups throughout Europe, Canada and The United States from 1987 until Rashied passed away in 2009. 

Throughout his career, Greg has performed extensively in the US, France, Ireland, Japan, China, The Philippines and beyond with his own trio and other groups. He’s also worked in New York with Ornette Coleman and in France with Carlos Santana and Archie Shepp. In 2012, Greg recorded the theme song “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” for the HBO documentary Redemption, which received a 2013 Academy Award nomination for best documentary short. 

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Mieko Miyazaki and Franck Wolf form a rare and original duo, their music blending the elegant charm of the ‘koto,’ a half tube zither that is Japan’s national instrument, with the melodic lines of Wolf’s clarinet and saxophone.

Miyazaki is recognised globally as one of the masters of the koto. She has performed at numerous international events, while her compositions have been voted amongst the most beautiful koto compositions. In 2020, she recorded and released a remarkable transcription of Bach’s ‘Goldberg’s Variations’ for solo koto.

Their musical partnership has flourished since Miyasaki made her home in France, and their ability to take listeners through the different musicial world’s that they occupy – Wolf’s inspiring melodic chants fliting with the elegant, etherial charm of Mieko Miyazaki’s deft and lovely koto playing. 

Prepare for an impressionistic and lyrical musical recital that will shed new light on the links between the Japanese and western musical worlds.

You can find out more about Mieko and Franck here: https://www.miekomiyazaki.com/en/home/ and https://www.franckwolf.com/index_eng.html

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Harbour Bar
Friday, 2nd May. Time 10pm

Irish drummer Kevin Brady has recorded and performed live with the great American pianist Bill Carrothers for close to 20 years.

Together with bassist Dave Redmond they have recorded a series of albums, the latest – Plan B in 2021 that also featured American saxophonist Seamus Blake.

Bill Carrothers has played with the likes of Gary Peacock, Billy Higgins, Dave Douglas and Curtis Fuller, and enjoyed a long and successful residency at New York’s best known jazz haunt, The Village Vanguard.

Brady, Carrothers & Redmond have toured regularly and consolidated their worldwide reputation as a compelling live act. The trio have travelled widely and won the appreciation of discerning jazz audiences as far afield as the USA, Europe, UK and China.

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Whale Theatre, Greystones
Friday 2nd May, 8.00pm
Tickets: €25

Parisian born Amy Gadiaga is making waves as a bright young star of contemporary jazz– pushing boundaries while upholding jazz music’s finest traditions.

A bassist, vocalist and band leader who graduated from the prestigious Trinity Labans Conservatoire of Music, she was recently nominated ‘best newcomer of the year’ in the prestigious Parliamentary Jazz Awards, and has just been shortlisted for a MOBO (music of black origin) awards for 2025. Amy Gadiaga’s talent is unquestionable and her influences are broad – ranging from legends such as Wayne Shorter and Betty Carter, to contemporary stars D’Angelo and Stevie Wonder.

Upon moving to London, she received support from both Tomorrow’s Warriors and Jazz Re:Freshed, two organisations that championing the brightest and best in new jazz talent, and has also been championed on radio stations including Jazz FM and BBC Radio London. 

Born to parents of Senegalese, Gambian and Malian descent, Gadiaga grew up on the outskirts of Paris. ‘All Black Everything’ is her breakout release – a recording that is both a celebration of African heritage and an acknowledgement of the complexities of racial identity that have allowed her to transfer her insecurities into a narrative of self-empowerment.

A confident bassist and singer with a voice brimming with power and soul,  Gadiaga earned glowing reviews for her performances at last Summer’s ultra-hip We Out Here festival, and for her appearances at Cheltenham Jazz Festival and at last year’s London Jazz Festival.  

“Gadiaga’s star continues to rise, cementing her status as a significant new voice in contemporary music” – Jazz Messengers

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Mermaid Arts Centre
Friday May 2nd, 8:00pm
Tickets: €35

Also Featuring: Christine Tobin & Phil Robson (Irl/UK)

Nubya Garcia is one of the breakthrough stars of the recent UK urban jazz boom.

A generational talent since long before she released her Mercury Prize nominated debut album in 2021, tenor saxophonist Garcia was named Breakthrough Act of the Year by both Sky Arts and Jazz FM back as far as 2018, and was the Jazz FM’s Jazz Act of the Year, a year later.

In 2021 she won Downbeat’s Critic’s Poll ‘Rising Star’ Award, a Parliamentary Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year Award, and the Jazz Journalist Award in the UK. Since then she has played televised slots at Glastonbury Festival, appeared on Later… with Jools Holland, and co-released a live album with psychedelic rock band Khruangbin – after a period touring with the Texan instrumentalists, in 2023.

One of an array of gifted graduates of the UK’s inspirational jazz education and artist development organisation ‘Tomorrow’s Warriors,’ Nubya Garcia is a regular collaborator with such contemporaries as Ezra Collective, Moses Boyd and Sons of Kemet, amongst others.

The 33-year old London born composer and band leader earned a Rolling Stone ‘Artist of the Year’ nomination following the release last Autumn of her second album ‘Odyssey, while The Irish Times called her new recording as “an exhilarating mix of jazz, neosoul and R & B”.

Nubya Garcia’s gig in Bray will be her first major concert appearance to an Irish jazz audience.

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Featuring in a double bill with: NUBYA GARCIA

Christine Tobin has been acclaimed as one of Europe’s most acclaimed and original jazz vocalist, while guitarist Phil Robson is one of Britain’s most respected guitarists. 

Dublin-born Tobin has been feted by critics around the world for her unique vocal abilities and her haunting original compositions. She has  won Jazz Vocalist of the Year at the Parliamentary Jazz Awards and was described by respected trumpeter and critic Ian Carr as ‘one of the most gifted and original singer-songwriters in today’s jazz world’.

Originally from Derby, Phil Robson became one of the most in-demand guitarists on the London scene in the 90s and was co-founder of influential quartet The Partisans which toured the US in 2014, including an appearance at Jazz at the Lincoln Centre. He has shared the stage with some of the biggest names in music, including Barbara Streisand, Maceo Parker and Django Bates.

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Zoé Basha is a musician, composer and carpenter, of French and American origins.

Based between Ireland and the traveling life for over a decade, Zoé blends traditional singing with jazz and blues. Her original pieces and traditional songs explore the crossover between the sway of Appalachian mountain songs, the fervour and solemn ornamentation of Irish traditional songs, and the pulse of American ragtime through playful, syncopated guitar and a booming voice reminiscent of some old jazz record you can’t quite put your finger on.

After growing up between the U.S. and France, traveling by thumb, freight trains, and taking the scenic route with rust-bucket vans, she played music in the streets for years.​

In a milieu blending feminism, radical politics, queer theory and traditional music, she made her home in Dublin.

In 2023, she was a featured singer at Féile Róise Rua, and a Music Network RESONATE Residency recipient.

She plays Bray Jazz Festival as part of a short tour, supporting the release of a new album.

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