A NEW HOME FOR JAZZ AND IMPROVISED MUSIC IN DUBLIN
New Venue ‘The Cooler’ to officially open at MusicTown
July 27th – 30th 2023
MusicTown happens all under one roof this year. A broad sweep of the infinite spectrum of music-makers resident in Ireland descend on The Complex in Dublin City on the last weekend of July, 27th – 30th, for an essential inspection and celebration of the state of Irish music in 2023. Three esteemed guest curators – Improvised Music Company (IMC), Dublin Digital Radio & Crash Ensemble – present an impressive programme that reflects the diversity of Irish life. Seeing performances from Anna Mieke, Paddy Keenan, Zaska, Paddy Hanna, Elaine Malone, Junior Brother, Izumi Kimura, Iona Zajac, Adrian Crowley, Qbanaa, and many more.
This year’s programme is housed within the one building, The Complex in Dublin’s Smithfield district. With an electrifying bill of local talent, The Cooler, a brand-new venue within The Complex, will officially open its doors to the public at this year’s MusicTown festival.
The Cooler is a new, landmark collaboration between Improvised Music Company (IMC) and multi-disciplinary arts venue The Complex.
A former Fyffes banana-ripening unit, amidst the fruit and vegetable market area of Smithfield in Dublin 7, The Cooler is being redeveloped as a new home for jazz and improvised music in the heart of Dublin city.
Saturday of MusicTown (July 29th, 4pm) at The Cooler serves up an afternoon of the most exciting, groovy and adventurous sounds improvised music in Dublin has to offer, from feel-good funk with ZASKA, searing soul from the Dana Masters Band, and electronic beats from H-ci to sweeping melodic improvisations from Izumi Kimura.
- Pianist Izumi Kimura has performed extensively throughout the country and abroad since moving to Ireland from Japan in 1995. She has worked with some of the leading performers and ensembles from both disciplines of classical, jazz and improvised musics.
- Max Zaska is a guitarist, songwriter, musical director, and producer best known for his band ZASKA’s feel-good blend of neo-soul, indie jazz, and modern funk with collaborations featuring Irish vocalists including Hozier.
- H-Ci is an exciting electronic music project from jazz drummer Shane O’Donovan using an array of synthesizers and drums to create complex multilayers of rhythm, with a melodic content that is almost exclusively synthesizer-based.
- Vocalist Dana Masters and her band capture audiences with searing story-telling, through Dana’s powerful voice and lyrics. Born and raised in South Carolina and currently based in Northern Ireland, Dana’s career has catapulted from featured vocalist with Van Morrison to a rising international jazz career as a soloist and songwriter.
Sunday at The Cooler for MusicTown (30th July, 5pm) is a rich Sunday afternoon of the best in classic Irish jazz, with Michael Buckley’s hard-swinging quartet and Carole Nelson’s soaring, landscape-inspired piano trio sounds:
- Carole is a London-born jazz pianist, saxophonist and composer who has been living in Ireland since 1986. Her current project the Carole Nelson Trio features Carole on piano, Cormac O’Brien on bass and Dominic Mullen on drums.
- Regarded as one of the most important and influential musicians on the Irish jazz scene, saxophonist / flautist and composer Michael Buckley has been playing professionally since the age of six when critics hailed him as a child prodigy.
MusicTown Creative Director Leagues O’Toole says:
“In our ongoing struggle to find new spaces to perform in Dublin City it is really exciting to include the launch of a brand new venue in this year’s MusicTown line-up. In the hands of the IMC we can be guaranteed that these two shows are just the beginning of an ongoing exciting programme for The Cooler, which is good news for everyone.”
Caitríona O’Mahony at IMC adds “It’s fantastic to be working with The Complex to make a new hub for jazz and improvised music happen at The Cooler. It’s something Ireland’s jazz and improvising musicians have been crying out for for at least 20 years, and we’ve already seen an incredible outpouring of creativity from the artists who have been able to use the space to explore and develop new work. While there’s still plenty left to do in terms of creating space for artists of all kinds, we’re really proud to be building space for the community and look forward to welcoming audiences in for some fantastic music.”
Open since January 2023 as a musician community-driven creative space for rehearsal, development and professional workshops, The Cooler will be an intimate, small-capacity, jazz club space for music fans to enjoy. Containing a fully stocked bar and state of the art performance facilities, audiences can look forward to a developing programme of top quality Irish and international acts at The Cooler from MusicTown 2023 onwards.
IMC also run Create at The Cooler, an artist support programme which provides The Cooler as a self-managed, community-driven space for jazz/creative improvising artists to develop collaborative work, without the financial burden of renting their own premises. Jazz and improvising musicians interested in using the space for rehearsal can contact IMC here: https://www.improvisedmusic.ie/supporting-musicians/development-programmes/imcs-space-programme
For full details on MusicTown, or to book tickets, visit https://www.musictown.ie/
MusicTown 2023 line-up at The Complex:
- Anna Mieke / Adrian Crowley / Natalia Beylis & Eimear Reidy / Aoife Wolf
- Junior Brother / girlfriend. / Paddy Hanna / Elaine Malone / Pebbledash
- Crash Ensemble
- Qbanaa / Tomike / Moondiver / Emmy Shigeta
- Izumi Kimura / ZASKA / Dana Masters Band / H-Ci
- gush / Ria Rua / ALYXIS / I Dreamed I Dream
- Péist / Ian Nyquist / E the Artist
- Carole Nelson Trio / Michael Buckley Quartet
- Paddy Keenan (accompanied by John Francis Flynn & Alan Burke) / Poor Creature / Iona Zajac
MusicTown is a Dublin City Council Arts initiative programmed and produced by Foggy Notions. Original artwork by Paul Guinan.
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www.twitter.com/musictowndublin
