Joe O'Callaghan

About this event

The Sofa Sessions presents Joe O'Callaghan

Joe O'Callaghan - guitar

Izumi Kimura - keybaords

Peter Erdei - bass

Cormac Larkin - drums

About Joe O Callaghan

“Limerick’s Joe O’Callaghan is a genuine force in Irish jazz guitar, with extended tasteful lines, contemporary chord shapes and an instinct for rocking out when the need arises.”(Improvised Music Company)

Joe O’Callaghan has performed with many leading Irish and international jazz musicians including Len McCarthy, Louis Stewart, Ronan Guilfoyle, Sean Carpio, Richie Buckley, Michael Buckley, CSL Parker, Honor Heffernan, Jim Doherty, Maria Tecce, Dorothy Murphy, Mike Neilsen, Tommy Halferty, Brian Dunning, Hugh Buckley, Nick Roth, Ivan Paduart, Martin Speake, Linley Hamilton, Julian Arguelles, Dave Liebman, Tom Rainey, Nils Wogram, John Rocco, Tanya Kalmanovitch, Paul Williamson, Vincent Courtois.

Joe was a member of Ronan Guilfoyle’s bands Microclimate and Metier and played in two of his major works; “Simulacrum” at the Mermaid Theatre in Bray and “Terms and conditions apply” at the Project Arts Centre, Dublin. In August 2007,he played in Dublin with Ronan to celebrate the 60th birthday of Dave Liebman,on a piece titled “Hand,Head,Heart”, with a quintet featuring Dave Liebman. He has also played with Fuzzy Logic Ensemble,a band led by Dylan Rynhart and played on their album `Mouthpiece`. Currently, he has his own acoustic quartet `Freeplay` and has just formed a new trio with Derek Whyte (bass) and Ben Wanders(drums).

Joe is mostly self-taught on guitar. He attended improvisation classes and master classes at Newpark Music School, Blackrock, Dublin where his teachers included Ronan Guilfoyle, Tommy Halferty, Mike McMullen, Dave Liebman, Richie Bierach, Simon Nabatov, Sonny Fortune and Dave Holland. He also works as a tutor for the Limerick Jazz Workshop which teaches adults and teenagers the fundamentals of jazz and regularly holds student concerts in the Limerick area

About Izumi Kimura

Izumi Kimura, Japanese born and Irish resident, is a highly acclaimed practitioner of contemporary piano music, improviser, and educator.Kimura was born in Yokohama, Japan where she commenced her piano studies. She completed her undergraduate degree in Toho University of Music in Tokyo under the tutelage of Akikio Teranishi, Akira Miyoshu and Kazuoki Fujii. In 1995, she moved to Ireland where she studied with Ray Keary at the Royal Irish Academy of Music.

Kimura has performed extensively throughout the country and abroad as a solo, orchestral and chamber musician and broadcast including on RTE Lyric FM, RTE one, Dublin City FM, Raidió na Life, and RTE 2 television. She has worked with some of the leading performers and ensembles from both disciplines of classical and jazz, including RTE Symphony Orchestra, RTE Concert Orchestra, Crash Ensemble, Michael D’arcy, Ioana Petcu, Colan, Ken Edge, Benjamin Dwyer, Susan Doyle, Cora Venus Lunny, and many more from the world of classical music, and with jazz musicians including Tommy Halferty, Ronan Guilfoyle, Michael Buckley, Joe O'Callaghan, Oki Itaru, Makoto Sato, Benoít Delbecq, Stéphane Payen, Sarah Buechi, Fuzzy Logic Ensemble and more.

Kimura released her début album Asymmetry on Diatribe Records in 2010. The album includes works by Japanese and Irish composers including Mamoru Fujieda, Takashi Yoshimatsu, Toshinao Sato, Gred Caffrey, Ronan Guilfoyle and Gerald Barry.

Although classically trained, Kimura has spent much of her time in Ireland exploring jazz music. She has worked with many of Ireland's stellar jazz musicians including Julian Arguelles, Tommy Halferty, Ed Neumeister, Stéphane Payen and Sarah Buechi.