Origin Story

About this event

The Sofa Sessions at Billy Byrnes presents

Origin Story

Greg Felton - piano
Cormac O Brien - bass
Matthew Jacobson - drums

9pm / no cover charge

“a sound that is artfully poised between the past and the future, a gutsy, gloriously organic confection of wayward melodies, ambiguous harmonies and densely funky rhythms”

Cormac Larkin, The Irish Times

Felton, O Brien and Jacobson are no strangers to Sofa Sessions audiences, and the return of the trio formerly known as F-JOB is a cause for celebration. And a cause for getting off your own sofa and trying out one of ours! Taking the classic piano trio tradition to new and unexpected places, Origin Story are one of Ireland’s leading contemporary jazz groups with a shared history stretching back two decades.

Writing about Origin Story’s latest release, Good Friday, in 2020, Sofa Sessions curator and Irish Times jazz critic Cormac Larkin wrote:

"The members of Irish piano trio Origin Story – pianist Greg Felton, drummer Matthew Jacobson and bassist Cormac O Brien – have been playing together, learning together and generally bouncing off one another for the last quarter century, and that shared history, their evident pleasure in each other’s company, shines gloriously through on this excellent debut album.

The trio, formerly known as F-JOB, make a sound that is artfully poised between the past and the future, a gutsy, gloriously organic confection of wayward melodies, ambiguous harmonies and densely funky rhythms.

The new name seems to hint at respect for the elders, an awareness of their place in the continuum of creative music, and certainly there are ancestral echoes of Thelonious Monk, Andrew Hill and Jaki Byard, as well as discernible traces of more contemporary influences such as Jason Moran’s Bandwagon and The Bad Plus.

The new name also references the trio’s deep musical connection, and it’s the way the trio have assimilated their musical history and shaped it into a shared, intensely personal language that sets Origin Story apart from other piano trios.

Whether it’s the jagged strut of O Brien’s Squirk, the brooding abstraction of Jacobson’s Undone, or the joyous Latin funk of Felton’s Rum, there is an unique and instantly engaging personality here that will satisfy the discerning jazz listener as well as snag the ears and win the heart of any curious music lover."