July festival brings world’s finest jazz musicians to Sligo
Sligo Jazz Project members are currently getting ready for this year’s jazz festival.
The festival encompasses Europe’s biggest and best jazz summer school with over 100 participants each year, and this year’s faculty of musicians is the biggest SJP has ever had, with 23 international and Irish musicians giving workshops and playing concerts for six days from 25- 30 July.
To launch the 2017 programme SJP is putting on a free gig upstairs in Tricky’s McGarrigles on June 15th, featuring two of the tutors who will visit in July: Ohio- born Saxophonist Meilana Gillard, who is promoting her new CD “Dream Within A Dream” with an Irish tour and Northern Irish drum force David Lyttle, no stranger to Sligo Jazz. They will be joined by Niall O’Loghlen on bass. The music starts at 9: 30pm after a brief reception to launch the programme.
This year’s festival theme is Fusion, highlighting the plethora of musical styles that make up the jazz planet. 2017 Sligo Jazz Artist- in- Residence, UK saxophonist/ rapper Sowe- to Kinch’s swaggering Bebop/ Freestyle Rap/ Hip- Hop mix and LAbased Aussie drummer Virgil Donati’s jazz- metal fusion will add a lot of spice to the more conventional jazz flavours you’ll sample on this very special week.
Fabulous female jazz performers abound, with vocal jazz from Liane Carroll, Sara Colman and Emilia Martensson, who are joined for the first time in Sligo by trombonist Shannon Barnett and saxophonist Meilana Gillard.
As always with SJP, there are many firsts.
So for the first time we team up with the Yeats Summer School and the Hawk’s Well Theatre in co- presenting a night of Yeats- inspired jazz featuring vocalist Christine Tobin’s Sailing to Byzantium. We’ll have the SJP All Stars on Friday this year and two action- packed shows of Kieran Quinn’s Themed night number 18 too!
What’s not to like? Tickets from the Hawk’s Well Theatre 071 9161518 More info at sligojazz. ie
Sligo Jazz Project launches its 2017 Sligo Jazz Festival programme on June 15, 8: 30pm at Tricky’s McGarrigles.