Dave Redmond: The Next In Line

by Ian Patterson
September 3, 2025

Ireland probably has more good jazz bassists than at any time before but ask who the most in-demand bassist in the country is and the answer is most likely Dave Redmond. The Dubliner has been a key player on the Irish jazz scene since the early 2000s, playing with Irish guitar greats Louis Stewart and Tommy ...

Hayley Kavanagh Quartet At Scott's Jazz Club

by Ian Patterson
September 2, 2025

Hayley Kavanagh Quartet Scott's Jazz Club Belfast, N. Ireland August 29, 2025 “Welcome to the Upper East Side." Variations on this phrase--delivered by Scott's Jazz Club co-founder Cormac O'Kane--have greeted visitors to Belfast's award-winning jazz venue every Friday night since 2020. Hard to believe that half a decade has whizzed ...

BEATrio At National Concert Hall

by Ian Patterson
July 15, 2025

BEATrio National Concert Hall Dublin, Ireland July 7, 2025 Some stars take longer than others to align. In the case of BEATrio, the supergroup of drummer Antonio Sánchez, harpist Edmar Castañeda and banjoist Béla Fleck, you could say that the stars took 16 years to line up. BEATrio might ...

Brad Mehldau Trio At National Concert Hall

by Ian Patterson
July 1, 2025

Brad Mehldau Trio National Concert Hall Perspectives Dublin, Ireland June 25, 2025 Brad Mehldau looked like a man at ease as he walked to his piano, turned and bowed graciously to the audience. For sure, Dublin's National Concert Hall is a familiar venue--he had played here at least four times ...

Emma Rawicz At Roscommon Arts Centre

by Ian Patterson
June 12, 2025

Emma Rawicz Roscommon Arts Centre Roscommon, Ireland June 6, 2025 If the best method to hone one's all-round skills as a leader, soloist and composer is in the live arena, then Emma Rawicz is going about things in the right way. Since releasing her debut album Incantation (Self Produced, 2022) at ...

Mike Scott Of The Waterboys: The Ballad Of Dennis Hopper

by Lawrence Peryer
May 17, 2025

Today, the Spotlight shines On founder of The Waterboys, Mike Scott. In 2014, Mike stumbled upon Dennis Hopper's photography in a London gallery and fell into a rabbit hole that led to Life, Death and Dennis Hopper (Sun Records, 2014), a bold concept album that tells the story of the Easy Rider star from ...

Organ Freeman: Busywork

by Ian Patterson
April 30, 2025

Not to be confused with the Los Angles-based organ trio of the same name--though it is hard to see how confusion will not reign--this Organ Freeman hails from Dublin, Ireland, where guitarist/vocalist Charlie Moon, organist Darragh Hennessy and drummer Dominic Mullan have held a Sunday residency at The Big Romance since 2018. For its debut album, ...

Michael Buckley: Blowing Hot

by Ian Patterson
April 28, 2025

An early spring vacation to New York saw Michael Buckley and his wife take in what he describes as “the usual sights." But for the Dublin saxophonist that also meant trips to “three or four saxophone shops." Once a tenor saxophonist, always a tenor saxophonist. Buckley, in fact, started out on the flute, playing ...

Charlie Moon

Born: March 8, 1989

Acclaimed as Ireland's "rising star" of jazz by The Irish Times, Charlie Moon stands out as a singular voice in the realms of cool jazz, blues, and soul jazz. Hailed by the BBC as “A very gifted young vocalist and guitarist” Moon has carved a niche for himself with a melodic guitar style that seamlessly blends rhythmically swinging bebop and blues.

Born into a musical family, Moon inherited his passion from his father, Nigel Mooney, dubbed “Ireland’s King of the Blues,” and began honing his craft early. His formative years were shaped by exposure to iconic performances by jazz greats like Jimmy Smith, Ahmad Jamal, George Benson, Brad Mehldau, and Wayne Shorter. At just 13, Moon had the privilege of a one-on-one lesson with legendary guitarist Larry Coryell who his father played with regularly, igniting his commitment to jazz.

The Piece With The Drums Featuring Conor Guilfoyle Touring Ireland

October 4, 2024

Lovers of jazz music and dance are in for a treat as one of Ireland's best known dance companies, CoisC��im Dance Theatre, prepare to embark on an all-island tour of their critically acclaimed show, The Piece with the Drums. Described as ��pulsating with theatrical magic,�� this exceptional production combines live music performances by pioneering jazz percussionist ...