Birth of The Cooler at MusicTown SATURDAY

With an electrifying bill of local talent, IMC launch their new space - The Cooler at The Complex - at this year's MusicTown. A former Fyffes banana-ripening unit in The Complex building, amidst the fruit and vegetable market area of Dublin’s North inner city, The Cooler is being redeveloped as a new home for jazz and improvised music in the heart of Dublin 7. Open since January as a community-driven creative space for rehearsal, development and professional workshops, The Cooler is also being developed to be an intimate, small-capacity, club-style space

MusicTown in 2023 is a broad sweep of the infinite spectrum of music-makers resident in Ireland descending on The Complex in Dublin City for the last weekend of July. Originating in 2015, the festival was an initiative from Dublin City Council Arts Officer Ray Yeates to create a platform where all the different styles, tribes and genres of music performed in Dublin could exist side by side on one programme.

Saturday of MusicTown at The Cooler serves up an afternoon of the most exciting, groovy and adventurous sounds improvised music in Dublin has to offer, from feel-good funk with ZASKA, searing soul from the Dana Masters Band, and electronic beats from H-ci to sweeping melodic improvisations from Izumi Kimura.

ZASKA serves up a feel-good blend of modern funk, neo-soul, and jazz. Max Zaska is the guitar-wielding songwriter at the helm of this supergroup of talent with a rotating roster of session players and rising stars from across genres in the Irish music scene.

Vocalist Dana Masters and her band capture audiences with searing story-telling, through Dana’s powerful voice and lyrics. Born and raised to the sound of soul, rhythm and blues in the deep south of the US, Dana is now at home in Northern Ireland, with a a hard grooving band at her back. Cian Boylan on keys, Dave Redmond on double bass and Darren Beckett on drums. Soul, jazz n’ easy listening fans take note!

H-ci (pronounced 'hah-chee') is an exciting electronic music project from jazz drummer Shane O'Donovan using an array of synthesisers and drums to create complex multilayers of rhythm, with a melodic content that is almost exclusively synthesiser based.

Japanese-born, Irish-based pianist Izumi Kimura has worked with many of the top names in contemporary and improvised music and performed all over the world, and is praised by the Irish Times for her “heroic level of technical fearlessness”.

Seating at The Cooler: There is some, but not complete seating available at The Cooler. Arrive early to be guaranteed a seat!

Where we are

The Cooler is upstairs at The Complex Arts Centre, Dublin 7. The Cooler is accessed via the Mary's Abbey door of The Complex (just off the LUAS tracks), NOT the Arran St East entrance to The Gallery.

On Google Maps, search for The Cooler or The Depot at The Complex (the main performance space downstairs at The Complex). On Google Maps, the address for The Complex generally will bring you to the gallery on Arran St East.

The red line of the LUAS runs very close to The Cooler, taking the stop at Jervis St or at Four Courts.

There is no customer parking available at The Complex. A small gated Dublin City Council car park can be accessed on Marys' Lane, around the corner at standard rates. Jervis Shopping Centre Car Park is also close by. Some street parking is available nearby - days and rates vary, please check signs.

Access notes

The performance space is up two flights of stairs and may be difficult to access for patrons with mobility issues. The space is fully seated. Gender-neutral toilet facilities are available upstairs (a few steps up from the level of The Cooler). Baby-changing facilities are available at The Gallery, downstairs at The Complex (using the Arran St entrance).

If you have any other queries regarding accessibility or require any accommodations for seating etc, please contact us at admin @ improvisedmusic . ie and we will do our best to assist you.