We have a really fantastic line-up in The Hot Box #050 for Pianists under the letter S. Sampling multiple styles you will hear tracks from artists such as Ralph Sutton, Horace Silver, Helen Sung, Matthew Ship, Willie “The Lion” Smith, Martial Solal, Esbjorn Svensson, Bobo Stenson and more.

We also feature a track from Gwilym Simcock who is performing the New Ross Piano Festival Jazz Day on September 26^th. You can view the event listing here. Then a wonderful track to close the lid on the 50^th Episode of The Hot Box Podcast from Christian Sands entitled Reaching for the Sun.

Read more: The Hot Box #050 - A to Z of Jazz Piano Part 19 – The Letter S

The Hot Box 49 is an advanced peak behind the curtain of an upcoming concert from the RTE Concert Orchestra featuring a feast of George Gershwin music cantering on the first ever live performance of the Concert Version of the Armstrong / Ella orchestration “Porgy & Bess”.

The recreation of Russel Garcia’s entire score has been achieved by Derry born, award-winning jazz trumpeter and arranger Ryan Quigley. The world premiere of this concert will be performed by RTÉ Concert Orchestra on the 11^th of September in The National Concert Hall in Dublin. The Ella & Louis parts will be delivered by Nicola Emmanuelle (‘the real deal’ – Time Out) and five-time British Jazz Awards winner Enrico Tomasso – who as a child actually knew Louis Armstrong.  

Read more: The Hot Box #049 - Porgy & Bess

A Special Edition celebrating the centennial of pianist George Shearing 1919 - 2011

The Pianist George Shearing was born in Battersea, London in August 1919, blind from birth. He emigrated to the USA in 1947, soon establishing the so-called “Shearing Sound” with his quintet. The band scored popular hits in the late 40’s and early 50’s, unwittingly inventing a sound formula that would endear itself to commercial arrangers across the world. Of particular interest for Irish listeners is the fact that Shearing’s preferred guitarist for much of the late 20th century was Louis Stewart. Shearing was knighted for his services to music. “Not bad for a blind boy from Battersea”.

Read more: The Hot Box #048 - A to Z of Jazz Piano Part 18 - George Shearing

The Hot Box number 47 in which we have wall-to-wall female vocalists………………….

This is the first time Hot Box has gone all-female-vocal, but a really exciting programme results, with several current singers featured both from Ireland and beyond. It seems that there is an explosion of female vocalising today, and it recalls the days when all the big bands had to front with at least one female vocalist - a “canary” as they were pejoratively nicknamed. Most of them fell into obscurity. Nowadays the singer is more likely to have to make a solo career from scratch.Its still a struggle but a different kind of struggle.

Read more: The Hot Box #047 - All Female Vocal

There are few sounds in jazz more appealing than that of a big fat unit comprising around 17 musicians, well drilled, swinging, and with star solo improvisations on top. The 46th Hot Box celebrates some of those sounds with a mix of familiar and unfamiliar, including The New Irish Jazz Orchestra, whose formerly unpublished pieces from live concert performance are featured here. Also sit back and enjoy two wonderful tracks from Fred Hersch’s brand new album - a significant departure for him - with the WDR Big Band under the direction of the multi-award winning arranger Vince Mendoza.

Read more: The Hot Box #046 - Big Sounds - Jazz Podcast with Donald Helme

Another hour of superb jazz piano from Donald Helme in The Hot Box #045 A to Z of Jazz Piano Part 17 – The Letter R. In this episode you can hear from artists such as Ted Rosenthal, Gene Rodgers, Eric Reed, Renee Rosnes, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Michele Rosewoman and many more. There is some really amazing music in this one.

Read more: The Hot Box #045 – A to Z of Jazz Piano Part 17 – The Letter R

There are so many new and exciting releases that have come up recently that we have decided to postpone the piano files for a spell otherwise this incredible list of tracks in Hot Box 44 wouldn’t be new releases anymore.

You can hear tracks from artists such as Polly Gibbons, Herlin Riley, Randy Brecker, Cyrille Aimée, Carol Sudhalter, John Donegan, Tommy Halferty & Norma Winstone plus more.

Read more: The Hot Box #044 – New Releases May 2019