Hello everybody. Here are some details of my musical activities over the coming months, I hope you find something here to enjoy and if I’m playing in your area, please do come and say hello. You can reach me at ronan@ronanguilfoyle.com and please feel free to write and connect, I love hearing from you!
Touring and Performances
I have a busy summer and autumn coming up, beginning in June when I’ll be performing the music of Thelonious Monk with the trio Evidence, and shortly after that I’ll have a performance of my big band piece ‘Howya Folks’ performed by the New Irish Jazz Orchestra. In late June I’ll be performing at Ronnie Scott’s with Carlos Ezequiel’s band, and in July I’ll be touring in Crete with the great vocalist JD Walter, and with the wonderful Outward Bound Trio. In October I’ll be directing a ten-piece band in Switzerland, featuring ten of the finest students from the five Swiss jazz schools playing my compositions. Also in the works are performances with my new Brazilian band Tudo Bem, and with a new trio featuring two legends of improvisation, Christy Doran and Gerry Hemingway. Details of all these can be found on my website Dates page
Composition
I’m working on some new piano music at the moment to be performed early next year by the wonderful classical pianist Conor Linehan, and am also working on some piano music for another wonderful pianist Svetlana Rudenko. Another piece in the works is ‘A Shy-Going Boy, Part 2’ (working title). This is a continuation of the piece I wrote in 2016, based around the life of my grandfather, and this continuance will feature musicians from Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England. Nick Smart (trumpet), and Chris Guilfoyle (guitar), and myself from the first iteration, will be joined by Huw Warren (piano), Rachael Cohen (alto), and Darren Beckett (drums). Watch this space for more details of this project as it develops
Recording
In March I released a solo bass recording ‘Rinse and Repeat’ which you can download for free here There are plans to go into the studio in the late summer with the Guilfoyle/Nielsen Trio to record a new album – our first in 25 years! More on that as it develops. I’ve also added my album ‘Hands’ (With Dave Binney, Tom Rainey and Chris Guilfoyle) to my Bandcamp page and you can download the whole album or individual tracks for a small fee.
Some Rhythm Stuff
For the rhythm aficionados amongst you, I have done a little blog post showing a step-by-step approach on how to work with unusual note groupings in jazz improvisation. It links to my Youtube Channel, and I’m always adding new videos to that, so please do check it out
See you out there!