Guinness Cork Jazz Festival

Various venues, Cork Fri- Mon corkjazzfestival.com

The programme for this year’s Guinness Jazz Festival is, in some respects, a considerable improvement on several of its predecessors. As usual, it will be the Everyman’s marquee names that catch the eye, notably pianists Herbie Hancock (above), Jason Moran and Tord Gustavsen, all previous visitors to Ireland, as are bassist Charlie Haden and saxophonist Charles McPherson. But the venue has less high-profile names to savour as well, notably Neil Cowley and Yuri Honing.

The Triskel, now at the River Lee Hotel, is arguably the place for the aficionados; the line-ups there ooze diversity and quality, with Tom Rainey, Bill Carrothers, Vijay Iyer, Louis Stewart, the vocal wizardry of Norma Winstone, David Linx and Maria Pia De Vito, child prodigy guitarist Andreas Varady, Louis Stewart and the Guillermo Rozenthular Duo.

Both Carrothers and Stewart also feature at the Festival Club, where conditions are generally less than ideal for committed listeners. For that reason it’s a pity that the venue offers the only festival chance to hear singers Christine Tobin and Tina May, and guitarist Mark McKnight’s group with special guest tenor saxophonist Seamus Blake.

Below is a selected list of some of the main events.

FRIDAY

• Robert Glasper Experiment/ Neil Cowley Trio Everyman Palace Theatre 8.30pm

• Tom Rainey Trio/Bill Carrothers Trio Triskel at the River Lee Hotel 8pm

SATURDAY

• Charlie Haden Quartet West/Charles McPherson Quartet Everyman 2pm

• Herbie Hancock Imagine Project/Jason Moran Bandwagon Everyman 8.30pm

• Vijay Iyer Trio/Louis Stewart Group Triskel at the River Lee 8pm

• The Brand New Heavies/ Apes Babes Savoy 8pm

• The Sax Sisters The Granary 8.30pm

• University of North Texas One O'Clock Lab Band/ CIT-Cork School of Music Jazz Big Band CIT-Cork School of Music 8pm

yyy Dublin City Jazz Orchestra/Harry Connolly Band The Firkin Crane 8pm

SUNDAY

• Omar Sosa Quartet/Tord Gustavsen Ensemble Everyman 2pm

• Steve Winwood Band/Yuri Honing's Wired Paradise Everyman 8.30pm

• Andreas Varady-David Lyttle Quartet/AJM Collective Triskel at the River Lee 2pm

• Winstone-Linx-De Vito/ Guillermo Rozenthuler Duo Triskel at the River Lee 8pm

• Maceo Parker/Creamy Goodness Savoy 8pm

• Mike Nielsen's Acoustic Sound Recipes The Granary 8.30pm