WAX ON Podcasts

Featuring commentary and insights from moderator Cormac Larkin and his specially selected panelists, our Wax On events offer listeners a unique opportunity to delve into the lives and recordings of some of the most influential and important artists of the jazz genre. Held monthly at the Workman's Club, Dublin, these intimate sessions can be revisited and enjoyed anew on our Mixcloud page.

Click below to listen back to previous WAX ON sessions. Find all of our podcasts on the IMC Mixcloud Page.

WAX ON - Charlie Parker

Charlie Parker was a highly influential jazz soloist and a leading figure in the development of Bebop. He was a blazingly fast virtuoso, and he introduced revolutionary harmonic ideas including rapid passing chords, new variants of altered chords, and chord substitutions.

Charlie discovered his talent for music at a very early age. As a teen, he played the baritone horn in the school band, before changing to alto saxophone. He was so enamored of playing the sax that he decided to drop out of school in pursuit of a full-time musical career when he was only 14. By age 16, when he first joined Jay McShann's Orchestra, he was already a long way toward becoming a major player.

Parker's remarkable technique, fairly original sound, and ability to come up with harmonically advanced phrases that could be both logical and whimsical were highly influential. By 1950, it was impossible to play "modern jazz" with credibility without closely studying Charlie Parker.

WAX ON - Duke Ellington

An originator of big-band jazz, Duke Ellington was an American composer, pianist and bandleader who composed thousands of scores over his 50-year career. A major figure in the history of jazz music, his career spanned more than half a century, during which time he composed thousands of songs for the stage, screen and contemporary songbook.

Ellington’s sense of musical drama and of his players’ special talents and his wide range of moods were rare indeed. His gift of melody and his mastery of sonic textures, rhythms, and compositional forms translated his often subtle, often complex perceptions into a body of music unequaled in jazz history.

WAX ON - Louis Armstrong

Affectionately nicknamed 'Satchmo', Armstrong was an American trumpeter, composer, singer and occasional actor who was one of the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades, from the 1920s to the 1960s, and different eras in the history of jazz.

An all-star virtuoso, he came to prominence in the 1920s, influencing countless musicians with both his daring trumpet style and unique vocals. Armstrong's charismatic stage presence impressed not only the jazz world but all of popular music.

WAX ON - Nina Simone

One of the most extraordinary artists the twentieth century, Nina Simone's influence lives on in the music scene. She was a consummate musical storyteller, who used her remarkable talent to create a legacy of liberation, empowerment, passion, and love through a magnificent body of work. She left us with a timeless treasure trove of musical magic spanning over four decades from her first hit, the 1959 Top 10 classic “I Loves You Porgy,” to “A Single Woman,” the title cut from her one and only 1993 Elektra album. While thirty-three years separate those recordings, the element of honest emotion is the glue that binds the two together – it is this same approach to every piece of work she created that became Nina’s uncompromising musical trademark.