What to do, see and where to be: Your comprehensive guide to Cork's Jazz Weekend
Guinness Cork Jazz 2021. Photographer Rich Gilligan
It’s that time of year again, as brass bands are tuning up and Corkonians are rooting out the finery for d’Jazz weekend.
The Guinness Cork Jazz Festival returns this bank holiday weekend for its 43rd year, bringing a world class line-up of acts to the banks of the Lee.
Keep reading for tips on which headliners still have tickets going, where you can catch some free performances over the weekend, and when you should plan to bring your raincoat!
While it’s still early days for Met Éireann to have an exact forecast for the entire weekend, current indications are that while it won’t be cold, it will probably be a weekend of brief sunny moments and dodging showers.
On Friday overnight rain is expected to clear quickly in the morning, to leave a day of sunny spells and scattered showers with temperatures of up to 17 degrees.
Met Éireann are predicting longer spells of rain along the southern coast on Friday night and into the early hours, with a “good deal of uncertainty” in the forecast for Saturday. Again it will be warm with highs of 16 degrees, but expect a wet start and scattered showers.
Sunday is predicted to be another warm day of sunny spells and showers, with highest temperatures of 15 degrees, with the weather remaining “unsettled” for Bank Holiday Monday.
While a night’s stay in any city centre hotel over the weekend is likely to set you back at least €300, a quick look at Booking.com for Saturday night shows that there are still a few rooms available for last minute Jazz fans, including at the Jury’s Inn Cork, the River Lee Hotel, Hotel Issacs, the Montenotte Hotel, The Dean, The Kingsley and The Address Cork – while Sheila’s Tourist Hostel still has some beds going for €53 a night.
There are even more options available, and cheaper room rates, for those looking to book in on either Friday or Sunday night.
Those travelling to Cork for the weekend, and particularly those travelling home on Sunday should keep in mind that daylight savings time ends this Sunday, October 30, and the clocks go back an hour – so make sure to factor that into any travel plans!
Cork Airport is guaranteed to be busy this weekend, as it welcomes 43,000 engers to Cork for the bank holiday jazz celebrations. Thursday is expected to be the busiest day as over 8,000 engers are flying in and out.
Irish Rail has flagged that engineering works will impact a number of its services this weekend, including Cork, Kerry and Limerick services, and people are asked to check times before travel.
The line between Portarlington and Thurles is closed from 14:30 on Saturday, and services between Dublin and Cork, Kerry and Limerick will be part-replaced by bus transfers across the weekend, and to a revised schedule, with other services also affected. People are advised to check times and bus transfer arrangements before travel, on Irish Rail’s website.
While there are no changes to bus timetables for the Jazz weekend, Bus Éireann have urged those travelling on Cork City and Commuter services to the Jazz Festival to buy a TFI Leap Card to be bale toa vail of discounts on Adult, Student/Young Adult and Child fares.
While some of the weekend’s biggest headliner acts are sold out at this stage, there are still plenty of gigs with tickets still up for grabs.
Here’s a breakdown of what’s on each day, where, when, and how much to nab yourself a remaining ticket.
7pm: Jazzanova (Live!) - The Strata Project at The Everyman, tickets €31. DJ Amir and Jazzanova breathe new life into eleven hand-picked tracks from the Strata catalogue, for fans of the label's historic recordings and new ears alike.
7pm: Booka Brass Band, at Cork Opera House, tickets €26.50. Bringing the festival atmosphere and playing their unique brand of New Orleans inspired urban brass with upbeat sets.
7pm: Karen Underwood, at the Green Room in Cork Opera House, tickets €23.50. For lovers of jazz, pop and soul, Karen will bring the music of her favourites Nina Simone, Ester Phillips, Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington and many more. There are also tickets still available for Karen’s Green Room gigs on Sunday at 3pm and 6pm.
8pm: NOTIFY & Aoife Doyle, at the Triskel Christchurch, tickets €35. NOTIFY are an Irish 6-piece contemporary ensemble fronted by well-known concertina player Pádraig Rynne, and jazz and blues singer Aoife Doyle will be ed by pianist Luke Howard, bass player Barry Donohue and drummer Dominic Mullan.
8pm: Omar X Zaska X Jeru The Damaja, at Live at St Lukes, tickets €22.07. Omar is designated by many as the father of British neo-soul; Max Zaska is a guitarist, songwriter, musical director, and producer best known for his feel-good blend of neo-soul, modern funk, and indie jazz; and Brooklyn’s Jeru the Damaja (aka D. Original Dirty Rotten Scoundrel) brings his unique “hardcore conscious” hip-hop style.
11pm: Boots and Kats, at Cyprus Avenue, tickets €15. Boots & Kats specialize in making crowds move through their eclectic sets that have distinctive disco and funk influences.
11:30pm: Block Rocking Beats, at Cork Opera House, tickets €26. A truly spectacular and unique live performance of the biggest dance anthems from the past 3 decades.
2pm: Cooks But We’re Chefs and Special Guest Yenkee, Live at St. Luke’s, tickets €19.41. An 8-piece band from Dublin whose sound encapsulates elements of funk, hip-hop, jazz and soul, featuring guest appearance from Cork grown Yenkee (whose headline gig this weekend is already sold out) 2:30pm: Toshín as Aretha Franklin, at The Everyman, tickets €21. Much loved Irish RnB / Soul star Toshín is proud to present a very special tribute to one of her all-time musical heroes: Aretha Franklin.
7pm: Mås Exödus Featuring Omar & Jeru the Damaja and Guests, at The Everyman, tickets €33.50. Exploring modern contemporary jazz sounds along with an all-star band of Irish players 8pm: Ralph Towner at the Triskel Christchurch, tickets €35. Best known as the lead composer, guitarist, and keyboardist for the acoustic jazz ensemble "Oregon", Washington born Towner has also had a rich and varied solo career.
2pm: Alabaster DePlume X Jeff Parker, Live at St Luke’s, tickets €24.72. London-based Mancunian poet, saxophonist, and composer DePlume is ed by guitarist Jeff Parker of Tortoise and Chicago Underground fame.
2:30pm: Sélène Saint-Aimé Trio at the Triskel Christchurch, tickets €22. Largely eschewing language in favour of improvised vocalisations, the double-bassist, singer and poet brings together scatting and ululations with her trio’s drums and saxophone and her own double-bass.
2:30pm: Jazz Boat Journey with Jerron “Blind Boy” Paxton, with Cork Harbour Cruises, tickets €49.99. An exclusive performance from the US songster as you sail around Cork Harbour on a 2 hour scenic tour.
7pm: Laufey at The Everyman, tickets €26. Los Angeles-based jazz singer, composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist.
7pm: Pillow Queens with special guests Pixie Cut Rhythm Orchestra at Cyprus Avenue, tickets €24.96. All female Irish indie rock band from Dublin, known for exploring the intersection of Irish Catholic upbringing and queerness.
8pm: Andy Sheppard East Coast at Triskel Christchurch, tickets €27. Saxophonist Sheppard is ed by three of the most innovative instrumentalists at work today on the UK’s and Portuguese jazz scene: John Parricelli on guitars, Dudley Philips on double bass and Mário Costa on drums.
10:45pm: Portico Quartet at The Everyman, tickets €31. An instrumental band from London, known for their use of the steel hang, a modern percussion instrument.
11:30pm: King Kong Company at the Cork Opera House, tickets €26. Five blokes and a Boxhead from Waterford, that are known for setting festival stages alive and getting crowds dancing with their experimental electronic sound.
If you’ve missed out on tickets for your favourite act, or just fancy seeing where the weekend takes you, the Guinness Music Trail will lead you to more than 70 different venues across Cork who are hosting an impressive array of jazz acts, with everything from ska to swing and jazz to brass along the trail – which can be found on the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival website.
Apart from ticketed gigs and live music in venues on the Guinness Music Trail, there is also plenty to see and do that is absolutely free this weekend.
Keep an eye out for the open top Big Jazz Bus, which will be touring around the city from Friday to Sunday, giving a lift to some jazz bands up top.
Family fun days are taking place on the South Mall/Lapps Quay on Saturday (4:30pm – 5:30pm) and Sunday (5:30pm – 6:30pm), featuring outdoor food stalls, drinks stations, a vintage fire truck and of course jazz music, complete with marching band.
An outdoor super dome jazz stage will be in place just outside the Opera House on the plaza, with fantastic brass bands playing as part of ‘Jazz on the plaza’ from 1pm on Saturday – including international and national acts like the energetic New York Brass, Lamarotte JazzBand, Hyde Park Brass Band, Brass Kings, TBL8 Brass, Stomptown Brass along with Cork’s own Code of Behaviour, Rebel Brass, the Barrack Street Band and Blarney Concert Band.
A final Jazz Jamboree at 5pm on Saturday will see all the brass bands bidding farewell to Cork with a final performance at the Opera House plaza.
On Sunday, Shandon’s St Anne’s Church will host a Jazz Gospel Service at 10.45am, featuring Carrigtwohill Gospel Choir and Hyde Park Brass Band.
A world first photography exhibition is also making its debut at St Peter’s Church this weekend. ‘We Got the Jazz’ showcases the photography collection of Chuck Stewart, renowned as the most important music photographer of the twentieth century. A first for the Jazz festival and the first time the exhibition goes on show after being carefully curated for four years, it promises to be an “unmissable” feature of the festival. The exhibition is free from 11am-5pm each day, with ticketed performances each evening from harpist Brandee Younger.
While tickets are sold out for Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights at the Metropole Jazz Festival Club, “the original home of the jazz in Cork”, there is a schedule of free live jazz music each day at the Metropole until 7pm, and free ission all day and night on Bank Holiday Monday.
For those who don’t fancy the city centre crowds and queues, festival fans are encouraged to take a trip down to Kinsale, where the Guinness Kinsale Fringe Festival is serving up its own schedule of swinging jazz.
Lamorotte Brass Band are performing on the streets of Kinsale from 2pm on Saturday and other acts lined up to perform over the weekend at venues throughout the weekend include Martin Ryan, Andy Dunne, the Ciara Stacey Band, Alleycats, Crosbie Noonan and O’Brien, The Crew, and King K.
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