JOE AND ELEANOR ON ABERJAZZ BILL
THE Wexford-based musician Eleanor McEvoy and the award-winning poet Joe Neal of Castlebridge have been added to an international bill for the 2017 Aberjazz Jazz ‘n’ Blues Festival taking place in Fishguard in Wales in August.
McEvoy who lives in Tagoat, will top the bill in a special show at the festival’s main venue Theatr
Gwaun on Friday August 25 while The
Eden- vale-based Neal will give a reading from his work at the prestigious Peppers venue at 8 pm on the same evening.
The international line-up for Aberjazz also includes blues legend and BBC presenter Paul Jones with his Rockin’ In Rhythm band, the acclaimed Congolese soukous musician Kanda Bongo Man, the Gill Cook Trio, the John Coltrane Dedication Band, and the Nik Turner Band (lead by the former sax player from Hawkwind). Aberjazz 2017 is being presented as a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love.
The Aberjazz invitation to McEvoy follows on from her previous performance there two years ago and her recent Naked Music tour of the UK and Ireland, inspired by her Songbook and CD album of the same name. Her next album The Thomas Moore Project which is now complete and due for release soon, showcases McEvoy’s inventive re-workings of Moore’s best-loved songs.
‘I thoroughly enjoyed my last visit to Aberjazz, especially being invited to play the fabulous grand piano at Peppers restaurant in Fishguard. Aberjazz creates such a lively buzz around the attractive seaside town and it’s always gratifying for me to meet so many respected artists from other nations,’ said Eleanor.
Joe Neal was the recent winner of the Anthony Cronin International Poetry Award. His Aberjazz reading will focus on The Next Blue Note, a new collection of poems due to be published this month. ‘For my Aberjazz reading I will alternate poems with a music theme with ones about Wales,’ said the Welsh native. ‘Since the 1950s, Poetry and Jazz have often been linked in performances where each enhances the other, so as a life-long fan of both I’m delighted to have been invited to participate in Aberjazz 2017.’
The Fishguard Jazz ‘n’ Blues Festival, with its proximity to Wexford via Stena Line’s Rosslare-Fishguard ferry link, is becoming an increasingly popular draw for Irish music fans. For more information go to www.aberjazz.com.