Music

Ensemble éiru make rare outing at NCH: the must-see jazz gigs this week

New York drummer Jim Black brings his beat to Ronan Guilfoyle’s Lifecycle project

The genre-blind Ensemble ériu make a rare lunchtime appearance in the John Field Room at the National Concert Hall on Thursday.

Cormac Larkin's face
Cormac Larkin
Sat Nov 10 2018 - 05:00

SUNDAY 11

Jim Doherty Trio feat. Brendan Doyle – Arthurs, Dublin, 3pm, €10, arthurspub.ie – Pianist Jim Doherty has been a keystone of the Irish music scene for more than six decades. As well as his contribution as band leader and accompanist (he was guitarist Louis Stewart's most faithful collaborator for over half a century), Doherty was also a busy studio composer, penning TV favourites like the Wanderly Wagon theme tune and running the Late Late Show band. Still in good health and sounding better than ever, here is the veteran pianist with his current trio of fellow grandee, bassist Dave Fleming, and first-call session drummer Dominic Mullen. Add the classy saxophone playing of Brendan Doyle and you have a night to put a smile on the faces of "mainstream" fans.

WEDNESDAY 14

Bassist and composer Ronan Guilfoyle brings his heavyweight Lifecycle band, featuring New York drummer Jim Black, to Belfast, Limerick, Wexford, Dublin and Galway this week.

Bassist and composer Ronan Guilfoyle brings his heavyweight Lifecycle band, featuring New York drummer Jim Black, to Belfast, Limerick, Wexford, Dublin and Galway this week.

Ronan Guilfoyle Lifecycle – Black Box, Belfast (Wednesday 14); Dolan's Bar, Limerick (Thursday 15); Wexford Arts Centre (Friday 16); Fumbally Stables, Dublin (Saturday 17); and Campell's Tavern, Headford, Galway (Sunday 18). More at movingonmuisc.co.uk and improvisedmusic.ie – Bassist Ronan Guilfoyle has celebrated his 60th birthday this year with an eclectic series of projects. Earlier in the year, he aired his re-imagining of the music of Jack Bruce and last month the composer heard his latest concerto played by the Irish Chamber Orchestra. But this new Lifecycle project – a quartet of musicians who have enough musical and technical muscle to meet the stern challenges of the leader's music – represents the core of Guilfoyle's practice as an instrumentalist and a composer for small groups. In particular, famed New York drummer Jim Black is an old friend and a powerfully creative force at the drum set who will find his own way through Guifoyle's tunes. With saxophonist Micheal Buckley and guitarist Chris Guilfoyle, two of the strongest and most committed players on the Irish scene, this is as weighty a band as has toured the island in some time.

THURSDAY 15

Ensemble éiru – John Field Room, NCH, Dublin, 1.05pm, €18, nch.ie – Ensemble ériu may have their feet on the ground of traditional Irish music, but jazz, improv, minimalism and post-rock are all swirling in the air about their heads, making a nonsense of traditional genre distinctions. Concertina player Jack Talty and bassist Neil O Loghlen lead a seven piece that includes fiddler Jeremy Spencer, clarinetist Matthew Berrill, guitarist Paddy Groenland, drummer Matthew Jacobson and marimba player Maeve O'Hara – an all too rare appearance from an important group.

FRIDAY 16

Devil's Spine Band – Leeson Lounge, Dublin, 9pm, No CC (suggested donation €5) – Pianist and composer Trevor Knight's Devil's Spine Band has the most unlikely of inspirations – the even more unlikely visit of playwright Oscar Wilde to the mining town of Leadville, Colorado in 1881. Who knew? From such arcana, the former Auto Da Fé man has created not so much a band as an atmosphere and a set of new tunes which he performs here with long-time collaborators guitarist Ed Deane, bassist Garvan Gallagher and drummer Tom Jamieson, plus a special appearance by respected jazz vocalist Honor Heffernan. Trip to the Wilde west, anyone?

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Roy Ayers Ubiquity – Sugar Club, Dublin, 8pm, €24.50, thesugarclub.com – Roy Ayers started his musical life as a straight ahead West Coast vibraphonist in the early 60s, playing with Herbie Mann and Chico Hamilton, but it was when he switched on to funk and soul that his stock really began to rise. Scores for cult Blaxploitation movies, tours with Fela Kuti and late 70s hits like Everybody Loves the Sunshine and Running Away are impeccable credentials for one of the founding fathers of acid jazz, and now at 78 years old, Ayers is living up to the name of his band, still touring the world, still soaking up the adulation of funksters and hipsters everywhere.