Jaz,Cormac
Larkin
Carpe
diem
JAZZ is all about seizing the
mornent. For musieians, this
means diving into that huge,
unnerving spaeewhere
improvisation takes place and no
one onthe stageknowswhatwill
happen next. It means giving half
a lifetime overto practisingto be
ready for those few magieal
moments when the music plays
itself and no one is in control.
And it means being prepared to
fall crashing to the ground at any
moment forthe sake of music.
For members of the audience, it's
not quite so arduous. Seizing the
moment generally means
showing up and sitting down -
not much to ask in return for
transcendence.
As luckwould haveit, todayis
an ideal dayto do some moment
seizing and if you arewithin
striking distance ofthe capital,
there is a day of excellent music
stretching before you.
The Diversions Festival in
Temple Bar continues this
afternoon with a joint perform-
ance from Irish Balkan groovers
Yurodny and Cretan visitors
Mfiada. Led by saxophonist and
composer Nick Roth, Yurodny
are one ofthe standard bearers
for eastern European music in
Ireland, and Roth has engineered
this eollaboration with Greek
four-piece Myriada, featuring
vocalist Maria Koti backed by a
traditional Greek line-up includ-
ing the ancient lyra instrument.
They take the stage in Meeting
House Square at 4pmtoday.
Just up the road, barelyan
hourlater; the Kaboom Collective
show gets started in the cool
surroundings of No 4 Dame Lane.
As hotlyrecommended here last
week, groups led byguitarists
Tommy Halferty and Sami
Moukadem will orplore links
between jazz and, respectively,
the music of Brazil and Lebanon.
Then at 8pm in DunLaogh-
aire's Pavilion Theatre, vocalist
and actor Susannah de Wrixon
will raise the curtain on her new
jazz c abarct show,Roosfs?oasls
lllewlbrk altosaxophmidlorcnStillman York's musicians these days. He
and Tfibutes. Backed as always
by pianist Jim Doherty and his
trio, de Wrixon's new showwill
feature music fromwhat she
calls the Alternative American
Song Book, including songsby
SuzanneVega and Randy
Newman.As aformerNuala, de
Wrixon is as funny as she is
musically talented and topics
under examination for the night
include marriage, horticulture,
cross dressing and the French.
And finallytonight, in JJ
Smyths, Irish guitarist (and,
latterly, bassist) Simon Jermlm
unveils his Trot a Mouse group,
featuring NewYork alto
saxophonist Loren Stillman.
Jermyn has spent the last few
years travelling and studying
and, in the process, he has forged
important musical allianees with
musicians at the forefront ofjazz.
None more sothanwith Stillman,
who is attracting much favour-
able comment amongst New
has been described by no less a
grandee than John Abercrombie
as "Lee Konitz on steroids" and
he returns to NewYork after the
Dublin gig to play with the great
Paul Motian's group at the
Village Vanguard.
Iftoday isjust a little too
spontaneousforyou, tryPhil
Ware's Summit series at JJ
Smyths,which comesto an end
tomorrow night after a superb
run. The idea was to pair Ware's
trio with a different soloist every
week and, over the last year or
so,this talentedtrio have found
conrmon ground with pretty
much every leadtng jazz
musician onthe Irish scene,
including guitarists Louis
Stewart and Tommy Halferty,
saxophonists Richie Buckley and
Brendan Doyle and vocalists
Cormac Kenevey and Honor
Heffernan. Rumourhas it many
of them will be there tomorrow
to celebratethe end ofthe series.
The series has also served as
an extended rehearsal forthe
trio's superb d ebat album In Our
Own Time (see review) which was
released earlier this year and can
be purchased at their website or
atthe Summitgigs.
www.triskelart.com
www.lorenstilIman.com
www.jjsmyths.com
www.ohilwaretrio.com