It's a fact: last year jazz was the fastest growing genre in Irish record shops. And Barney Whelan, ESB's public relations man, is on the case, about to announce the new ESB Jazz Series of concerts which has all the city's jazz fanatics signing up to party and chill to some, eh, cool riffs.
First in are mna an tuaiscirt, Kathy McArdle and Janice McAdam, of the Project Arts Centre. They want to hear about the concert series. They whisper that a date has been set. Oh, my! Has someone proposed? (It is a leap year, you know.) No, they're not planning a day out: rather, they're naming the day for the opening of the new Project Arts Centre - Monday, June 12th. Another party - jot it down. More jazz fans are actor Olwen Fouere (that's a Breton surname) and Robert O'Mahoney, who played Scrooge in the Gate's recent production of Scrooge: they have come along together to the new wine bar at 22 Ely Place to learn what's on offer in the series. Jazz, they say, "is a blast". "It's the ultimate sensual experience in music," according to Fouere. Derry-reared Tommy Halferty, a star in the jazz firmament with five CDs under his belt, is here. He's off to tour India in November - Madras and Bangalore - with four other musicians. They'll be called Khanda, which means five in Indian, he says, and they expect to link up with the President, Mrs McAleese at a concert out there - but this has yet to be confirmed, Halferty says.
Among the throng is Justin Carroll, a jazz pianist from Dundrum, and his girlfriend, Noelle Fox, from Factory Studios. His latest album is called Quirk and his favourite piece on it is Accident Black Spot. The line up of seven concerts, which runs from Wednesday, March 29th to Sunday, October 15th, includes the Brad Mehldau Trio, Helen Merrill, the Mingus Big Band and the Kurt Elling Quartet.