Dear Reader –
Sligo Jazz delivered again last week. A magic few days in the company of Eddie Lee, Therese and all the crew.
In the midst of it all I managed to get up to the National Concert Hall on Friday night to do some Theme Night research. Acclaimed Irish pianist/arranger/composer (and former Sligo Jazz faculty member) Brian Byrne had put together a programme of songs from Broadway for the National Symphony Orchestra and a big band.
And who were the featured soloists in this 100-strong line-up of top class musicians? Ryan Quigley (trumpet) and Paul Booth (tenor sax) - who had been teaching and playing in Sligo all week but had been given the day off to do this gig. A sign of the standard of musicians that are attracted to Sligo by what Eddie has built.
**All hyperlinks in bold.
The Big Thing
The focus now switches firmly to our Sligo Summer Festival Gig next week.
Thursday August 4th will see us bring our biggest line-up yet to the Stephen St Event Centre for a night of Summer Anthems.
Among those performing on the night will be Sinéad Conway, Jamie Callaghan, Sandy Kelly, Tabby Callaghan, Seamie O’Dowd, Aileen Concannon and many more. Backed by our Theme Night Band, complete with string and horn sections, we can’t wait to get back on this stage and rock the town.
I’m also delighted to announce that for the first time ever the support acts will be entirely made up of current and past Teenage Theme Night participants. More than 20 young musicians will get the experience of playing on this amazing stage so be sure to get in early and hear what they have in store for you.
And…we have more special guests to be announced this week - keep an eye on my social media for details.
Where else but Sligo?
We’re backstage in the Hawk’s Well on Saturday night. Waiting to play on the Sligo Jazz tutors gig. I’m in the middle of a conversation between Mike Nielsen (Ireland, guitar) and Pete Churchill (UK, voice) about solfa. You know – do-re-mi and all that.
Pete had done some work on melody with the students during the week and had used these syllables (in place of dots on a stave) in order to let the students know what notes he wanted them to sing.
After a while the conversation came around to the other five notes – the ones that aren’t in the major scale (these can be best visualised as the black notes on the piano in the scale of C) – and what to call them. Pete had learned in Hungary and Mike in the US and they couldn’t agree on (moving downwards for example) whether it was Do-Ti-Ta-La-Si-So or Do-Ti-Le-La-Se-So etc.
After a few minutes of this conversation (now dominated by nonsense syllables), a voice piped up from outside the green room – ‘It’s like the outtakes from the Sound of Music in there!’
What’s New?
SLIGO LIVE: The gang behind this festival have been announcing some brilliant acts for this October - all details here.
A YEAR ‘TIL SUNDAY: It wasn’t to be Galway’s day last Sunday, but this one-of-a-kind documentary of happier times for the county in 1998 is well worth a watch.
YOUR LIFE SUMMED UP: This chart is fascinating. It details how on average, time spent with our family peaks at below 15 years of age. Time spent with our friends peaks at 18, with our coworkers at 30, with our children peaks at 40. Finally time spent with our partner peaks at 70, and time spent alone peaks at the end of our life.
Finally…
A fun look at the many activities and events that took place last week at Sligo Jazz 2022. Well done all!
Till next time - Kieran.
