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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Also Featuring: Ronan Guilfoyle’s Bemusement Arcade

Described by The New York Times as a “social conscience, multimedia collaborator, system builder, rhapsodist, historical thinker and multicultural gateway,” VIJAY IYER is an influential and shape-shifting presence in twenty-first- century music.

Vijay Iyer has carved out a unique path as an influential, prolific, shape-shifting presence in twenty-first-century music.

A composer and pianist active and revered across multiple musical communities, Iyer has created a consistently innovative, emotionally resonant body of work over the last three decades, earning him a place as one of the leading music-makers of his generation.

His honours include a MacArthur Fellowship, a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, a United States Artist Fellowship, three Grammy nominations, and the Alpert Award in the Arts. His newest albums are Defiant Life (ECM, 2025), his second suite of duets with visionary composer-trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith; Compassion (ECM, 2024), featuring his celebrated trio with drummer Tyshawn Sorey and bassist Linda May Han Oh; Trouble (BMOP/sound, 2024), a composer portrait album comprising three of his orchestral works, including the titular violin concerto performed by Jennifer Koh; and Love in Exile (Verve, 2023), his Grammy-nominated collaboration with Arooj Aftab and Shahzad Ismaily.

He is a professor at Harvard University.

“Iyer’s music has always been both intelligent and unpretentious, complex without being opaque; [he] ponders a phrase with obsessive rumination, unveiling layers of shifting, subtle emotion, before letting it fly with joyous abandon.” – The New York Times

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Pianist Nduduzo Makhathini has been a central figure in South Africa’s vibrant jazz scene for over a decade.

One of just a handful of African-based musicians to be signed to the prestigious Blue Note jazz label, he has released three albums on Blue Note, including Modes of Communication: Letters From the Underworlds, which earned a New York Times ‘Best Album of the Year’ ranking in 2020.

But Makhatini is no ordinary jazz pianist. Rather, he’s a warm, engaging performer who is also a healer, shaman and educator who has delved deep into the history and traditions of his ancestors for inspiration.

A charismatic live performer, his concerts are absorbing, his tunes a rich tapestry that can be simple, sparce and lyrical, or dense and hypnotic.  Makhathini imbues his music with distinctive cultural references – Zulu language recitations, trills, treble fill-ins, intimate microphone murmurs and passages studded with impressive tongue-click consonants of the Khoisan languages of his homeland. 

Makhathini is joined in his stellar trio by South African double-bassist Zwelakhe Bell le Pere and Cuban drummer Lukmil Perez, musicians with whom he appears to have a near telepathic understanding. 

“…quite simply magnificent.” – Best of Jazz

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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: VIJAY IYER

Bemusement Arcade is the new quartet from Ronan Guilfoyle, one of the most prolifically creative figures in Irish jazz in the past 30 years. The band, which recently recorded their new album ‘At Swing Two Birds’ on Dublin’s Livia Label, will launch their work at this year’s festival.

Guilfoyle, who has played with many of the greats, from Dave Liebman and Joe Lovano to Brad Mehldau, is joined in the quartet by young London saxophonist Sam Norris, guitarist Chris Guilfoyle, and Belfast-drummer Darren Beckett.

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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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Also Featuring: Francesco Turrisi Trio

A series of stand-out albums over the past decade have marked Finnish trumpeter Verneri Pohjola out as one of the major new talents in contemporary Scandinavian jazz.

A dazzling player with a commanding individual sound, his compositions are strong and bold and find hooky melodies that stick in your mind.

Born into a Finnish musical dynasty, Verneri Pohjola’s grandfather and uncle were both respected conductors, while his father came to international prominence as a member of Finnish 70s prog rock group Wigwam, and performed in the bands of Mike Oldfield, amongst others.

Verneri first came to prominence as leader of the award-winning Ilmiliekki Quartet. He was named ‘Musician of the Year’ at the Pori Jazz Festival 20 years ago, his 2015 release ‘Bullhorn’ which was name by Jazzwise Magazine as ‘among the truly finest jazz albums of recent times.’

A distinctive trumpeter with a rounded, breathy tone, Pohjola’s solo’s soar, and bring a seering clarity to his music. His quartet include major players in Finnish jazz, including Olavi Louhivuori on drums, pianist Tuomo Prättälä and bass player Antti Lötjönen.

A standout player with a melodic gift. –
The Financial Times

This concert is presented as part of ‘Better Live’, a project co-funded by the European Creative programme of the European Union, the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund. You can read more about the programme here.

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In a double bill with: VERNARI POHOLA QUARTET

Grammy Award winning pianist and multi -instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi is a musical polymath who has played baroque operas with ensemble L’Arpeggiata, toured with The Silk Road ensemble, interpreted the music of Steve Reich, and accompanied flamenco star Pepe El Habichuela.

Since 2018, he has collaborated with singer and instrumentalist Rhiannon Giddens, and won a 2022 Grammy Award in the best folk album category for their duo album ‘They’re Calling Me Home.’

Francesco Turrisi has released five critically acclaimed albums as a leader, and two as co-leader – of “Tarab,” a cross boundary innovative ensemble that blends Irish and Mediterranean traditional music, and “Zahr” a project that looks at connections between southern Italian traditional music and Arabic music.

His latest piano solo album “Northern Migrations” was described as “delicate, wistful and wholly engrossing” by the Irish Times.

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