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SLIGO JAZZ '21: NCT, Conor Guilfoyle Octet perform BIRTH OF THE COOL & PHISQA
NCT - Neilsen Cusack Trio & The Conor Guilfoyle Octet perform Birth of the Cool at the Hawks Well Theatre - PHISQA fromGranada (Spain), 8pm FACEBOOK LIVE and YOUTUBE
NCT - Neilsen Cusack Trio
Mike Nielsen Bass
Oskar Nielsen Drums
Andy Cusack Piano
Sligo guitarist Mike Nielsen teams up with his his son Oskar on drums and veteran Wicklow pianist Andy Cusack, in a swinging trio which has an age gap of 68 years between youngest and oldest member, surely an entry for the Guinness World records!
The Conor Guilfoyle Octet perform Birth of the Cool
at the Hawks Well Theatre
Conor Guilfoyle - Drums
Bill Blackmore – Trumpet
Colm O’ Hara - Trombone
Yuzaha O’ Halloran – Alto Saxophone
Peter Dobai – Tenor Saxophone
Kelan Walsh – Baritone Saxophone
Luke Howard - Piano
Barry Rycraft - Bass
Birth of the Cool
On Jan 21st, 1949 the great jazz trumpeter Miles Davis assembled a nonet of four brass, two saxophones and three rhythm to record four tracks with eight more to come in April 1949 and March 1950. These recordings would make jazz history creating what we now call the “Birth of the Cool” sessions. Arrangements and compositions for the nonet were provided by Gil Evans, Gerry Mulligan, John Lewis, John Carisi and Miles himself. The music fused elements of classical harmony with the jazz rhythm section and is now considered as important as Duke Ellington’s 1940’s recordings or Miles’s later masterpiece “Kind of Blue”.
Conor Guilfoyle Octet. Led by one of Ireland’s leading drummers and educators the members of the octet are handpicked from his former students of the Newpark Jazz programme (now DCU) and represent some of the finest young players on the scene today. The octet music has been a look back to the 1950’s to a style associated with the west coast called “Cool Jazz”, the origins which really began on the east coast with the seminal “Birth of the Cool” recordings, though they also plays hard bop classics by Horace Silver, Benny Golson and Tadd Dameron.
Since its foundation 2 years ago the goal of the octet has been to capitalise on the excellent training of the musicians performing classic works but it also has an eye to the future commissioning Irish composers and arrangers to create new music for the group.
Despite the importance and fame of the “Birth of the Cool” this will be the first opportunity an Irish audience will have to hear it in its entirety. They will also get to hear great arrangements from Gerry Mulligan a central figure of this seminal recording and one of the main exponents of the “Cool” style of jazz.
Two groups that will benefit from this series of concerts are those involved in realising the concerts, giving interaction between the musicians and the second group, the audience attending, providing them with a classic sound with an eye to the future.
PHISQA
Carlos Ligero tenor saxophone
Miguel de Gemma soprano saxophone
Albetro Martín trumpet & flugelhorn
Mario Alonso electric guitar
Alejandro Tamayo double & electric bass
Cote Calmet drums, percussion, composition & arrangement
PHISQA: a new language in jazz “A trip” is how its creator, Cote Calmet, defines this project.
‘Phisqa’ (‘five’ in Quechua, the native language of Peru) is a word chosen to inspire our five senses as human beings. PHISQA is also the staging of a new way of merging the rich texture of Afro-Peruvian, Andean and Amazonian rhythms with the elegance, spontaneity, freedom and virtuosity of the jazz language.
Formed in the city of Dublin (Ireland) in 2010, PHISQA escapes the traditional way in which Peruvian rhythms have been fused with jazz. In this regard, Calmet – composer, conductor and drummer of the group – explains: “First of all I tried to approach Peruvian music, trying to use another method of playing it with jazz. I used a lot of the concepts of opening the solos of the themes, as well as having more architectural structures. I have also avoided having a cajón or other type of native percussion next to the drums, so I passed all those rhythms to my instrument. PHISQA explores the wealth of Afro-Peruvian, Andean and Amazonian music but with jazz instruments: soprano and tenor sax, trumpet, guitar, drums and double bass. That way we can move from a totally Peruvian rhythm to the newest in contemporary jazz and fusion.”
Those who have been lucky enough to hear and see PHISQA live have said that it is a “music that invites you to move”. Because of its energy, it is like a force that captures and takes listeners’ imagination to territories that perhaps their senses have never explored.
After a long pause, PHISQA was reborn in 2018 in Granada (Spain), refreshing itself with a new format, new compositions, arrangements and new Andalusian members (from Cádiz and Granada). Now with a three-strong wind section in the band, their music sounds even more energetic than when they started.
Pachamama, meaning Mother Earth in Quechua (the native language used by the Incas in Perú), is a tribute to the one, huge, living organism floating in space which gives life to every single one of us. A tribute to the perfect timing in life that puts everything together at the right moment, in the right place, so that all of us can be walking, breathing, laughing, creating, experimenting, listening. Every composition on the album talks a bit about the Pachamama and its habitants. It could be a Guacamayo (macaw) taking flight, a Shipiba (healer from the Amazon jungle) like Elisa Vargas chanting, a poet like Nicomedes studying, or anything or anybody that is trying to make the world a more beautiful place
“Super album!!” Ruth Fisher de Jazz FM
“PHISQA: a solid fusion of jazz and Peruvian rhythms” Diario Jaén (Jaen, Spain)
“A superior project: six stars” Diario El Ideal (Granada, Spain)
“Peruvian Jazz from Phisqa catches your ear by combining thriving rhythms from the Andes with the splendid musicanship of some of the finest european jazz musicians!” Jazz Am Sunntig (Berlin, Germany)
“we had a full hall! with a very enthusiastic audience who could discover the music of Phisqa, an original project, powerful and great music. Quality!” MLAB (Bordeaux, France)