Conor Guilfoyle (drums), Kelan Walsh (tenor sax); Patrice
Brun (alto sax); Yuzuha O’Halloran (flute); Mathew O’Connell (guitar); Scott
Flanigan (piano); Barry Rycroft (bass) + Barry McGovern (spoken word).
This concert was previewed on BSH and the re-mastered recording of the original event has also been reviewed here.
Although I had a ticket for this event, a number of practical factors (including the presence of the Irish Sea) meant that sadly I was not able to attend. However the co-opting of a Dublin-based honorary BSH assistant correspondent means that an on-the-spot, eye-witness account has now been received.
The concert took place in the Whyte Hall, a purpose built 300 seat concert hall in the Royal Irish Academy of Music, one of the oldest music conservatories in the world with 1,500 students.
Our reporter says:
‘In
a nice piece of synchronicity, the event was introduced by Jim Docherty, the
piano player at the original concert in 1982, who praised the quality of the
venue and said he was looking forward to hear how a hall built for chamber
music performances would take to modern jazz. (Note: In another ‘small world’ coincidence,
the flute-player, Brian Dunning, who also played at the original concert, had
been a student in Room 5, on the top floor of RIAM - JC).
The
concert began with esteemed Irish actor, Barry McGovern, reading the first
excerpt from Ulysses ‘Bronze by Gold’. Initially it was a surprise when the band
came in half way through but I quickly got used to how the spoken word/music
interacted.
All
the musicians performed well with the young guitarist, Mathew O’Connell,
apparently undaunted by stepping into some big guitarist’s shoes. Yuzuha O’Halloran
on flute has a key role in the composition which she carried out admirably and
Kelan Walsh on tenor saxophone showed some nice lyrical touches. A high point
was a long alto sax solo by Patrice Brun following the spoken word excerpt ‘W.B.
Murphy’.
The
rhythm section of Scott Flanigan on piano, Barry Rycroft (bass) and, of course,
band leader Conor Guilfoyle, drove the music along as well as adding their own
solos. One minor point was that I felt occasionally Guilfoyle was a little
over-enthusiastic on the drum kit.
As
the ‘voice of Joyce’ Barry McGovern was fantastic, adding a really
theatricality to the event.
Overall a really enjoyable event in a great new performance space, with exciting interactions between the readings and the band. It is also a great model for making Joyce accessible: some of the pieces were very funny, e.g ‘Night Town’ and ‘W.B. Murphy’. A pity Louis Stewart didn’t compose more often. A musical suite with another of his literary heroes, Ireland’s great comic writer Flann O’Brien, could have been quite something!’
(Many
thanks to our man on the spot, PK)
Note: It seems incredible to think that this was only the fourth performance of this major compositional work by Louis Stewart since 1982. A second Irish performance took place in 1991 and a third in Norway (with Norwegian text) in 1993. There is no doubt the north east has got the jazz musicians, actors and organisational ability to make it happen. Why not? JC
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