Also Featuring: Mike Nielsen’s Sound Recipes

A towering figure of contemporary jazz whose influence spans generations, Fred Hersch has shaped the language of the modern piano trio throughout a career marked by continuous reinvention.

With an extraordinary 17 Grammy Award nominations and countless other awards and honours to his name, Hersch is, for many, the jazz pianist of his generation.

Possessing a touch and keyboard technique like no-one else, his flawless technique deploys just the right combination of sensitivity, intelligence and emotion to absorb and captivate the listener.

Across a career that spans more than 50 years, Fred Hersch has produced over 60 albums as a composer and bandleader, and his creative spark shines as brightly as ever. ‘The Surrounding Green,’ his third release on the celebrated ECM label made many ‘best of’ lists for 2025, and has ranked third in the Album of the Year rankings of Slate Magazine.

It’s an elegant and masterful jazz recording, the trio format enabling Hersch to craft improvisations that are both intricate and unhurried, creating music that doesn’t need to raise its voice to be heard.

** PERSONNEL CHANGE**
In a change in personnel to that originally announced, Fred Hersch will be joined on his European dates this Spring by Felix Moseholm (bass) and Jochen Rueckert (drums). A Master’s graduate of the prestigious Julliard School, Felix Moseholm is best known for his work with pianist Brad Mehldau and singer Samara Joy. New York based Jochen Rueckert has performed and recorded with artists including Marc Copland, Mark Turner, John Abercrombie, Pat Metheny, and Ron Carter.

“…one of the greats of contemporary jazz piano — elegant, erudite, playful, emotional, engaged and thoroughly engaging” – The Irish Times

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Also Featuring: CEO Experiment

Veteran trumpeter Eddie Henderson’s jazz credentials run deep.   A central member of Herbie Hancock’s 1970s band, Henderson received his first trumpet lessons from none other than Louis Armstrong, whose musical imprint echoes throughout his playing style.

But it was connections with Miles Davis that run deepest. A friend of the family throughout his childhood in the 40s and 50s,  it was Davis, who encouraged and supported Henderson – who had studied and qualified as a medical doctor – to pursue a career in jazz. He studied trumpet at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. 

Across a storied career, Grammy Award-winner Henderson has played and recorded with a rich array of jazz heavyweights, including McCoy Tyner, Art Blakey, Ron Carter, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Pharoah Sanders, Billy Cobham and for a number of years in Herbie Hancock’s jazz fusion Mwandishi band and other projects.  In the 1970s he released two Blue Note records – Sunburst and Heritage, both of which are widely regarded as fusion classics.

‘Miles Legacy’ is a deeply personal project that honours both the 100th anniversary of Miles Davis’s birth and the enduring influence of one of jazz music’s most iconic figures. 

“Eddie Henderson is a national treasure and one of jazz’s greatest living trumpet players” – All About Jazz

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Alina Bzhezhinska made history when she became the first harpist to receive the Best Jazz Ensemble of the Year award when her band Hip Harp Collective took the prize at the UK’s prestigious Parliamentary Jazz Awards in 2024.

One of the leading jazz harpists in the world today, Bzhezhinska is a one-woman powerhouse on a mission to bring harp to the forefront of contemporary sound.​  She has collaborated with internationally renowned artists including Brian Jackson, Chaka Khan, Shabaka Hutchings, Nu Civilisation Orchestra and DJ Spinna, and has, performed to audiences across the globe. Hip Harp Collective’s performance at Triskel Arts Centre in 2024 was one of that year’s highlights of that year’s Cork Jazz Festival.

Described by the Evening Standard as a “modern-day supremo,” Ukraine-born Bzhezhinska brings a fresh, dynamic vision to the harp, honouring jazz icons Alice Coltrane and Dorothy Ashby while incorporating elements of trip-hop and acid jazz into her music.

With Hip Harp Collective she’s played in recent times also as London Jazz Festival, Finland’s Tampere Jazz Festival, Paris Jazz Festival, Ronnie Scott’s Club in London, The Royal Albert Hall and at the WOMADelaide Festival in Australia.

Alina Bzhezhinska will be accompanied for her Bray show by long-time collaborator, the top UK saxophonist Toni Kofi, and by Matt Holmes (Drums), Menelik Clafey(Double Bass) and Joel Prime (percussion). 

‘…powerful, moving, take-your-breath-away’  – Downbeat Magazine 

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The Genuine Jazz Orchestra is a 17-piece Jazz Big Band, bringing new energy and passion to the music of Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Gil Evans and many of the other legends of big band music.

Led by drummer Ben Cooper and multi-instrumentalist Podge Kilbride, the band members – a mix of seasoned professionals and up and coming players on the Irish jazz scene – share a hunger to preserve and energize the tradition of large jazz ensemble music.

Genuine Jazz Orchestra provide a rare opportunity for audiences to experience the thrill of these incredible big band compositions and arrangements as they were intended – live!

The group has played a number of packed to the rafters live shows over the past year – bringing vibrantly to life a repertoire of swinging sounds, timeless classics, elegant improvisations and original tunes. 

It’s magical stuff.

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Also Featuring: Berri

Pianist and band leader Roberto Fonseca is one of the defining creative voices of the post- Buena Vista Social Club generation of Cuban jazz.

Recruited in his early 20s to play piano with various Buena Vista Social Club projects –collaborations with Ibrahim Ferrer and Compay Segundo included,  he later became musical director of Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club, and helped to bring the remarkable body of work of that collective of veteran Cuban musicians to audiences worldwide.

With a career that includes solo projects, global collaborations, and Grammy-nominated recordings, Roberto Fonseca today stands at the forefront of a new wave of Afro-Cuban expression—one that both honours the past and pushes fearlessly into the future. 

Gran División is Fonseca’s latest powerhouse ensemble, a group that embodies his vision of Cuban music as a living, evolving conversation. Funk, jazz, rumba, timba and traditional Afro-Cuban rhythms flow seamlessly through the band’s sound and groove, driven by Fonseca’s charismatic leadership at the piano. 

“La Gran Diversión is a tribute to the golden era of Cuban music, shaped by the man who arguably personified the revival of the Cuban sound – Arts Projects Australia

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Opening presentation in double bill with Roberto Fonseca’s La Gran Diversión

They’ve been described as ‘captivating, atmospheric and sublime’, Berri are a trio of Dublin-based jazz musicians led by vocalist Jenna Harris.

Harris is accompanied by drummer Matthew Jacobson and bassist Derek Whyte, performing a repertoire that draws from electronic music, pop and jazz.

Formed in 2012, Berrie released their album ‘Shadow Chroí’ in 2022, and received huge support from Irish radio, in particular RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta. The music they generate is a balance of improvised and clear communicative song.

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Opening presentation in double bill with Fred Hersch Trio

Guitarist, composer and author, Mike Nielsen is a leading teacher of jazz guitar in Ireland. His unique style is influenced by jazz, classical, flamenco, Irish and world music genres.

Mike Nielsen has featured on more than 25 recordings, including with celebrated US saxophonist and flautist Dave Liebman, with whom he has also toured. His current performing focus is on solo guitar and with his new trio with New York double bassist, Brian Questa and long-time collaborator, Shane O’Donovan, drums and electronics.

Sound Recipes present special arrangements of popular and jazz songs in addition to original compositions.

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Opening presentation in double bill with Eddie Henderson’s Miles Legacy

CEO Experiment were for a decade from around 2010 one of the most highly regarded and successful piano trios in Ireland.

A truly international trio featuring Venezuelan pianist Leopoldo Osio, Peruvian drummer Cote Calmet and Hungarian born bassist Peter Erdei, they were known for their cutting edge fusion, blending improvisation with funk and world music. They were the backing band for award-winning US guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel when he played a sell-out date in Ireland in 2017.

CEO Experiment reform for this show at Bray Jazz, with the founding trio joined by acclaimed Spanish saxophonist Carlos Ligero. It will be the band’s first outing in some years, and will mark the start of a planned 10th anniversary reunion tour, this year.

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