“SKRATCH” music from old 12-inch vinyl records and experiments in “crackly drums, introspective lyricism and psychedelic improvisations” are promised at this weekend’s Galway Jazz Festival which opened last night.
The festival, which has an ethos of non-promotion of, or association with, alcohol, features the Rick Margitza Quartet as a headline act in the Druid Theatre and other venues over the weekend.
Margitza, a north American tenor and soprano saxophonist, is known as one of the “young lions” of the international jazz scene.
His grandfather was a cellist, his father a violinist with the Detroit Symphony, and the saxophonist began learning the violin at the age of four. He will be joined by some of Ireland’s leading jazz musicians – pianist Myles Drennan, bassist Dan Bodwell and drummer Shane O’Donovan.
An “art-science collaboration” involving artist Seán Taylor and computer scientist Mikael Fernstrom has also been booked. Known as “Softday”, the pair promise to explore the various “cracks” between media and creative genres. Taylor and Fernstrom have engaged with issues such as climate change, rainfall patterns and the lifecycle of the Atlantic salmon as part of their creative work.
The festival opened last night in the Town Hall studio in Galway with Deviant and Sebi C. It and continues today with Neofobic and Colm O’Hara, and Bulgarian pianist and composer Dimitar Bodurov.
German percussionist Jens Dueppe, Breton saxophonist Bertrand Huve and saxophonist, clarinettist and composer Matthew Berrill from Headford Co Galway, will also play.
