The Hot BoxSince the demise of RTE Lyric’s Jazz Alley, which broadcast every week from the first weekend of the station’s existence until it was axed at the end of 2015, there has been no regular national programme devoted to jazz. The Hot Box aims to fill that gap with former Jazz Alley presenter Donald Helme.
The Hot Box sets the best of Irish recorded jazz in the wider context of the universal language that is jazz worldwide. It tries to emphasise accessability and sheer enjoyment, and is building an audience well beyond the shores of its home country.
A complete departure for our 80th birthday, with wall-to-wall vocal groups, stimulated by a positive reaction to the all-vocal content of the 77th Hot Box. So, for the first time, we have an hour of the best harmony vocalising in jazz, from the streets of New Orleans to Carnegie Hall.
Once again, the central preoccupation is the amazing roster of guitar players, this time those filed under the letter H. And under that heading the music world was blessed for many years with the presence of Jim Hall. So there’s some great straight ahead jazz from him, and some less straight ahead from Joel Harrison and Charlie Hunter.
Listen back to the live broadcast of The Hot Box on Jazz Radio Ireland for New Year’s Eve 2021. This is a 2-hour special edition of The Hot Box presented by Donald Helme.
Read more: The Hot Box #078 - New Year’s Eve Hot Box Special
The Hot Box #77……What’s Inside?
Taking a leaf out of the book of jazz station WBGO Newark New Jersey, this edition of The Hot Box presents “Singers Unlimited”.
So if vocal jazz sets your pulse racing, this one’s for you. And there’s a little nod in the direction Christmas as well. Every one of these great singers has appeared in Ireland over the years. (And of course, some of them are Irish!)
In The Hot Box number 76 we delve into the Guitar Files labelled “G”.
The towering figure of Grant Green seems to dominate this file, maybe the most productive guitarist of the 1960’s, who sounded then, and still sounds, like nobody else. Then we have the young bloods, Alex Goodman from Canada and Riccardo Grilli from Brazil, both fully paid members of the New York jazz scene today. So the 76th Hot Box is rich in contrasting styles.
The Hot Box number 75!
What’s in it this time? We have tried to be quite noisy in celebration of our 75th edition - a “milestone”.
The celebration starts with the Chuck Owen Jazz Surge with more from Lonnie Smith, Eddie Daniels, The Big Phat Band, and Steve Slagle throughout the show.
The main event in The Hot Box 074 is a move to the Guitar Files Letter F. So we feature 3 greats from that file, Tal Farlow, Bill Frisell and Chris Flory. But there’s other stuff too. An exciting taster from Aoife Doyle’s upcoming new album, the single Strength to be Strong, and a track from Kevin Brady’s Electric Quartet upcoming world release “Plan B”.
Plus we find an amazing young guitarist from the D file who has just come to our attention, Graham Dechter, from his new album “Major Influence”.
