NAVIGATOR Residencies 2025 Expression of Interest Call-Out
12 Dec 2024
Looking back on 2024
Happy holidays from all of us at Improvised Music Company! As 2025 fast approaches, let's take a deep breath and reflect on the previous year's activities...
Ireland's jazz and improvising musicians brought out an incredible array of music this year. If you think you might have missed any releases you were looking forward to, have a look through this list...
- Stella Bass - Look for the Silver Lining (self-released, Feb) - LINK
- Notify - Airneáin (Liosbeg Records, Feb) - LINK
- Aleka - Romania: Songs of Love and Longing (self-released, Mar) - LINK
- Redmond/Mercier/Beckett - Centro (Step By Records, Mar) - LINK
- Louis Stewart - Louis the First (Livia Records, Mar) - LINK
- Adam Nolan - Are U Free (self-released, Mar) - LINK
- Chief Keegan - The Piles High Club (Singular Recordings/Gokuhi Ent, Mar) - LINK
- Aengus Hackett Trio - Aengus Hackett Trio (self-released, Apr) - LINK
- Zaska, Live at The Triskel (self-released, Apr) - LINK
- Cooks But We're Chefs - RoseGold (single, self-released, Apr) - LINK
- Kevin Lawlor - The Island (Records DK, Apr) - LINK
- Kimura/Guy/Hemingway, Six Hands Open As One (Fundacja Sluchaj!, Apr) - LINK
- Neil Ó Lochlainn & Cuar - Tairseach (Commissioned by the Solstice Arts Centre, Apr) - LINK
- Tommy Halferty - Contexts (self-released, May) - LINK
- Charlie Moon - Charlie Moon Sings & Plays (self-released, May) - LINK
- Shane Latimer - Residuum (Diatribe Records, May) - LINK
- Dana Masters - Real Good Mood (self-released, May) - LINK
- Lavery - Jade Garden (EP, self-released, May) - LINK
- Victor Lazzarini - Palimpsest (self-released, Jun) - LINK
- Il Ritorno Del Angelo - Spring & Asura (Diatribe Records, Jun) - LINK
- Fixity - Fixity 8 (self-released, Jul) - LINK
- Córas Trio - Córas Trio (Coracle, Jul) - LINK
- Passarim - The Jobim Songbook (Millau Records, Jul) - LINK
- Cathal Roche - Essential Tremors (Nyahh Records, Aug) - LINK
- Adjunct Ensemble - Habits Of Assembly, Live at Cafe OTO (Touch Sensitive Records, Aug) - LINK
- Jennifer McMahon - Willow (EP, self-released, Aug) - LINK
- Pizza Jazz - Home Delivery (self-released, Sep) - LINK
- Louis Stewart with Jim Hall - The Dublin Concert (Livia Records, Sep) - LINK
- Bricknasty - XONGZ (FAMM, Oct 2024) - LINK
- Niwel Tsumbu - Milimo (Diatribe Records, Oct) - LINK
- Karl Clews & Joseph Yianna - Broken Angel (self-released, Oct) - LINK
- Qbanaa - Demons in the Liffey (EP, self-released, Oct) - LINK
- Hugh Buckley’s Purple Dayz (self-released, Oct) - LINK
- Mary Coughlan - Repeat Rewind (self-released, Oct) - LINK
- John Donegan - We Will Meet Again, Sometime (self-released, Oct) - LINK
- Sue Rynhart - Say Pluto (self-released, Oct) - LINK
- Oceanna - For the Stars (single, Nov) - LINK
- Daniel Jacobson ZOiD, ZOiD Vs Musicians Vol 2 (Zoitrax, Nov) - LINK
- Louis Stewart and Martin Taylor, Acoustic Guitar Duets (Livia Records, Nov) - LINK
Or if you prefer a real browse through a record shop, some of our favourites are:
In January we presented BAN BAM at the Smock Alley Theatre with new music by Meilana Gillard, Carole Nelson Trio and Bianca Gannon, who narrowly avoided a storm to drive on to a second performance in Belfast, presented by Moving On Music. Many thanks to Philip Watson for the 2-page feature in The Irish Times ahead of that. And many thanks to the musicians who each wrote and performed beautiful new compositions.
For St. Brigid's Feast in February, we hosted a fantastic Cooler Jam led by guitarist Emily O'Rourke, and a Cooler clinic covering EPKs, newsletters, and finding words for your own music, with a listening circle for everyone to hear some of each other's songs and help with finding a few words for them.
The David Duffy Quartet touched down at The Cooler in early March, followed by Zenith Award winners Nout visiting from France as part of a Better Live tour. We filmed David Duffy’s spellbinding performance which then went semi-viral on Facebook amassing almost 30K plays across 4 songs. David’s quartet was composed of Emil Nerstrand on saxophone, Marc Martin on piano, Davie Ryan on drums and of course, David Duffy on bass. We also caught up with him for a chat prior to the show.
The following week NOUT put on one hell of a show at The Cooler! NOUT combine a unique combination of instruments and influences with Delphine Joussein playing flute, Rafaëlle Rinaudo on electric harp and Blanche Lafuente on drums. Truly mesmerising! NOUT also facilitated an improvisation workshop at The Cooler for musicians, and finished their Better Live tour with performances in Cork and Belfast.
In March we were excited to announce the Liv Andrea Hauge Trio as winners of this year’s Zenith Award, a collaboration between IMC’s 12 Points Festival and the European Jazz Network. The Zenith Award recognises excellence and innovation in emerging European artists working in creative jazz and improvised music.
April saw the Aengus Hackett Trio launch their album at The Cooler with a stunning performance featuring Aengus Hackett on guitar, Derek Whyte on bass and Matthew Jacobson on drums.
Earlier that day, also in the Cooler, special guest, and IMC board member, Dermot Rogers kindly gave a presentation and spoke about his experiences releasing music with his Livia Records imprint, which has gone from strength to strength since its inception. Dermot hosts two weekly radio shows on DublinCityFM, The Night Train and Jazz Time. Check them out:
Later in April we were lucky enough to have the Mikkel Ploug Trio join us for a very special show at The Cooler, featuring Mikkel on guitar, Sean Carpio on drums and Jeppe Skovbakke on bass. We had a chat with Mikkel ahead of the show too, check it out here.
April always sees the biggest jazz trade fair in Europe at Bremen's jazzahead! and this year we were fortunate to work with Culture Ireland to support four amazing musicians to attend. Sue Rynhart, Kevin Brady, Jamie Thompson and Conor McAuley all attended to meet with programmers and pin down some European dates for their projects. We can't wait to hear more incredible Irish music making it overseas!
Also in April we were fortunate to have the opportunity to introduce the Improvising Across Boundaries project at New Music Dublin. Improvising Across Boundaries is a research project led by Dr. Sarah Raine, with IMC as industry partners, exploring the experiences of women and gender-diverse musicians in the improvising world. Check out more about the project here.
In May the prodigious Dublin guitarist Matthew O’Connell played his debut performance at The Cooler to mark his being awarded the ‘Excellence in Ensemble Performance Award’, a partnership between DCU’s Jazz & Contemporary Music BA program, IMC and Magy’s Farm. Ahead of the show, IMC interviewed longstanding Irish jazz musician and director of Jazz at DCU Ronan Guilfoyle. We also caught up with Matthew O’Connell himself to learn about his background and musical influences. Matthew was joined onstage by Aidan Gray on bass, Michael McCarthy on drums and Darragh Hennessey on piano for a truly awesome performance.
At the end of May, our BAN BAM performers took their new works on another outing at the prestigious Manchester Jazz Festival, thanks to support from the PRS Foundation's Beyond Borders programme.
May also saw All City Records host composer, keyboardist & producer Roger Doyle at The Cooler to mark the 25th anniversary reissue of his mammoth BABEL opus.
Our Cooler Clinic for the month focused on the Arts Council's new Music Policy, which specifically mentions strengthening the jazz and improvised music scene - something to focus on in any funding applications!
Then as June rolled around, IMC’s resident photographer Louis Scully ran another free photoshoot for local jazz & improvising musicians at The Cooler, with drummers Niall Crichton and Miles Ronayne, vocalist Ronan Murphy, guitar & vocal duo Ben Prevo & Aoife Moriarty taking up the opportunity to be photographed for various purposes throughout the day.
Also in June, Izumi Kimura & akiko played an interesting show at The Cooler featuring Japanese folk songs, children's songs, modern songs, jazz standards and poetry.
A few days later, the Navigator residency series kicked off with So Young Yoon heading up to Letterkenny to spend some time at An Grianán Theatre. This resulted in a fruitful collaboration, with So Young now set to perform with Seamus Gibson as part of trad week this coming January.
In July it was time to run our annual Jazz Camp For Girls project, this year expanding the initiative out to two additional locations, making three camps in total; DCU, UCD School of Music and MTU Cork School of Music. We're very grateful to DCU and Fingal Arts Office for supporting the camp at DCU, and to the Irish Research Council, Improvising Across Boundaries, and UCD for supporting the camps in Cork and UCD.
Jazz Camp for Girls is a 3 day music summer camp where girls aged 11-15 can explore and learn about jazz music and improvisation in a supportive and fun environment. What’s not to love!
In August we had the inimitable Córas Trio down from Belfast to launch their album at The Cooler. The lads went on to perform at this year’s Womex Festival and Jazz Promotion Network Conference, and are supporting The Ollam this Feb 16th in Mandela Hall, Belfast. Well worth a gander if you’re up Belfast way!
August also saw the fourth Navigator residency of the year kick off with composer & percussionist Éamonn Cagney heading to the Riverbank Arts Centre, Newbridge. It was wonderful to see Éamonn’s new musical direction incorporating original electronic music with live percussion, alongside his collaboration with dancer Mintesinot Wolde.
In August we also had the pleasure of welcoming young Nils Kavanagh to The Cooler for a standout performance, accompanied by Derek Whyte on bass and Miles Ronayne on drums. IMC caught up with Nils for a chat ahead of the show. Nils was also interviewed on film, check out some clips in our instagram reels here.
In September the fifth Navigator of the year kicked off with percussionist Sarah Grimes heading north to spend some time at the Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast. Check out her reflective article about the experience here.
September also saw a feature with Cork’s Dan Walsh aka Fixity in The Goo ahead of his gig at 12 Points Festival. IMC’s Louis Scully had the pleasure of visiting his studio to photograph and interview him. A sounder, more hard-working lad you will not meet!
Later in September, IMC team members Kenneth, Caitriona and Louis took up camp in Tampere, Finland for IMC’s flagship 12 Points Festival & Jazz Futures Conference – 4 days & nights of live music from Europe’s top young jazz artists. It was a pleasure to see and hear so many amazing performers, and to work alongside one of the best teams to ever do it (really) at G Livelab. If you ever find yourself in Finland, be sure to check out their incredible venues in Tampere and Helsinki. Hats off to the G Live family!
And congratulations again to the winners of this year’s Zenith award, SC’ÖÖF from Switzerland. Stay tuned to hear more on that front!
In October, it was a pleasure to host Italian trombonist Filippo Vignato at The Cooler for an evening of solo trombone, followed by pan-European jazz group AERIE the following week. Many thanks Totally Dublin for the preview and half-page mini feature on the latter.
October also saw The Goo run a feature with Conor McAuley of Córas Trio, who had been photographed and interviewed by IMC’s Louis Scully. Many thanks to The Goo for the ongoing support.
October also saw the second last Navigator residency of the year with Dave Flynn heading south-east to spend time at Garter Lane Arts Centre. As part of Waterford’s IMAGINE Festival, members of the public were invited to join Dave in a workshop called ‘Musical Pathways’ whereby he guided the creation of new spontaneous compositions, in the spirit of the improvisational TV show ‘Whose Line is it Anyway?’. Dave also performed work developed from these ideas at the Waterford Gallery of Art, with accompaniment by percussionist Cion O’Callaghan. Many thanks Dave, Cion and all involved.
In November, harpist, composer and improviser Sorcha McCague participated in the final Navigator residency of the year at Tinahely Court House, Co. Wicklow. Read her reflective article here. Always great to have more jazz harpists on the scene!
The Jazz Promotion Network Conference in Bristol for 2024 hosted two incredible performances from Adjunct Ensemble and Córas Trio as part of the 2024 showcases. We look forward to seeing these ensembles taking their work further afield!
November also saw IMC’s Louis Scully run another free photoshoot for local jazz & improvising musicians, this time photographing Meilana Gillard, Kevin Brady & Dave Redmond (aka The RGB Trio) and guitarist & vocalist Zoe Basha. This was followed by Aleka Potinga taking her ‘Cailleacha agus Bandia’ project, developed during last year’s Navigator residency at Garter Lane, to The Cooler for a live show, with visuals by Waterford artists Burke and Maddie Cahil Byrne.
This year’s Ban Bam commissioned artists Meilana Gillard, Bianca Gannon and Carole Nelson performed at the EFG London Jazz Festival this November too, which was by all accounts, a fabulous success.
Then in December we had 2023’s Zenith Award winners the Liv Andrea Hauge Trio perform a beautiful live show at The Cooler. The trio also gave a masterclass to the next generation of jazzers at DCU's Centre for Jazz Performance, with thanks to Cormac O'Brien, and completed their Better Live tour with a performance at Westport Jazz. Thanks to all of our partners in Better Live and Creative Europe for supporting this foray into greener touring.
This was followed a few days later by special guest Matthew Jacobson leading a Cooler Clinic about his experiences releasing music as an artist and co-director of Diatribe Records. Later that day IMC presented the first annual Cooler Christmas Jazz Fair, with a vinyl DJ and live music by PowerNap. This was a big success due to the fantastic community of jazz musicians who participated, and you, the wonderful community of jazz supporters who attended. We ran a raffle in aid of Dublin Simon Community which raised €300 too, due to the very generous donations by stall holders and eager ticket buyers! So, many thanks all, and here’s to many more!
Thanks again folks and happy Christmas from all the team at IMC, we look forward to welcoming you back to The Cooler in 2025 for our series of Spring concerts.
