Culture Ireland supporting the work of Irish jazz musicians

This year, in association with Culture Ireland, Improvised Music Company (IMC) will attend the annual European jazz trade fair & showcase event, Jazzahead with its first delegate programme.

3 delegates will be travelling to Bremen in Germany on the 27th of April to attend this year’s event.

These delegates were chosen following an open call and bursaries have been offered to each individual who will attend the event representing a range of artists and organisations. This will provide enhanced international profiling of Irish jazz and improvising talent as well as important networking opportunities.

The three delegates who have received Culture Ireland support are:

• Suzanne Savage – representing The Savage Five
• Jonathan Pearson – representing This is How We Fly and others
• Chris Guilfoyle – representing Umbra

The delegates will work together with IMC to capitalise on this support in advance of the event.

Jazzahead! is now one of the most important international professional markets for jazz and improvised music. The four-day event attracts more than 3,000 industry attendees from over 55 countries, including hundreds of concert and festival bookers, labels, publishers, distributors, managers and the world's media. Since its formation in 2006 Jazzahead! has become the principal annual showcase for the jazz industry throughout Europe and increasingly Asia, the US and Canada.

Culture Ireland is supporting this limited delegation in 2017 to allow for examination of a possible expanded presence at the event in 2018.

Kenneth Killeen, Director of IMC, commented: “This is an important opportunity for Irish jazz professionals. Ireland has a lot to offer musically across a wide range of genres. This delegation will increase the visibility of Irish jazz practitioners and, by association, the viability of securing work for them abroad. Thanks to the support of Culture Ireland, Irish musicians will benefit from the exposure required to capitalize on the sectors most important annual trade show and showcasing event. We look forward to working together with them to ensure Irish jazz is on an equal footing with its European counterparts.”

Further information on Jazzahead! is available here.

“We Are Ireland CD”

IMC will also be promoting and showcasing the new ‘We are Ireland’ CD at Jazzahead, another project that was made possible by Culture Ireland in association with First Music Contact the Music Ireland Alliance.

‘We are Ireland’ is a special collection of Irish music, providing a comprehensive snapshot of emerging Irish artists across a range of music genres. Curated by Culture Ireland in association with 4 of Ireland’s music resource organisations (Improvised Music Company, First Music Contact, Music Network and The Contemporary Music Centre) and funded by Culture Ireland, the compilation highlights the scope and talent of Irish musicians, creating new work and performing across Ireland and internationally.

The jazz selection curated by IMC on this 3-disc compilation, presents an overview of the current innovators on the Irish Jazz scene and spans three generations of unique and creative performers. The music highlights the quality, scope and diversity of Irish and Irish based musicians in the global cultural melting pot that is Ireland in the 21st century. The CD includes music from CEO Experiment, Izumi Kimura & Tommy Halferty, Umbra, Thought-Fox, Ronan Guilfoyle Trio, Kevin Brady Trio and Insufficient Funs.