Down With Jazz

About this event

As part of DUBLIN LIVE! Dublin City Council’s Live Local Performance Programme
Funded by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.

Sunday September 5th 2021 | Meeting House Sq, Temple Bar, Dublin 2

Tickets are FREE, booking essential. Available at www.improvisedmusic.ie from Friday 27th August.

Down With Jazz is back and jazzing with a special edition to give a belated kick-start to the new roaring 20’s in the wake of you-know-what!

“The festival with a sense of humour” (The Irish Times) harks back to 1930s Ireland when jazz and ‘foreign’ music was seen by the Catholic Church as a filthy force of corruption. A repressive ‘anti-jazz’ campaign arose to ban jazz from the dance halls and airwaves of Ireland, and protect the ‘morality’ of the sons and daughters of Erin.

Today’s Down With Jazz festival connects 21st century Ireland’s vibrant and diverse music scene, with this notorious period in our social history, through a tongue-in-cheek presentation of some of the hottest jazz and improvised music acts around!

The popular weekend festival ran from 2012-2017 in Dublin’s Meeting House Square, and now, with thanks to Dublin City Arts Office’s Local Live Performance Scheme, it is back for a special live and proud edition for all of you hungry post-pandemic jazz fans.

Performing at this shameless Sunday of groove will be an array of the best ‘modren’ Irish jazz artists. Toot Sweet and the Shadowman bring a spirit of bayou funk led by jazz piano man Cian Boylan, invoking the spirit of The Big Easy with swampy Hammond grooves and a take-no-prisoners horn section. With an entertainer’s soul fuelled by a supernova of raw energy backed by an 8-piece supergroup of Dublin’s most in demand professional musicians, ZASKA’s famous live shows are a force to be reckoned with. Drummer Conor Guilfoyle's Latin Swing Quintet includes some of the best Latin musicians in Ireland for a high-octane experience of unstoppable groove. Born in the deep south of the US from a family of civil rights activists, and later vocalist with Van Morrison, Dana Masters’ soul-infused music shows her power as a storyteller, with an ensemble of Ireland’s finest. The subtle power of Aoife Doyle’s unique voice is equally at home with soul, folk, blues or jazz and can evoke memories of the sophisticated, velvet tones of Ella Fitzgerald, the earthy, sweet lyricism of Patsy Cline or the straight-up country clarity of Alison Krauss.

The craic will unfold in 3 sessions over the day, and you can enjoy the music at the time that best suits you - afternoon (2-4pm), early evening (5-7pm), or late evening (8-10pm). Booking is in pods of 2, 4, or 6, a perfect outing for the whole family. Tickets are FREE, but will be strictly limited - early booking is recommended.