Page 51 - Guerin Media | Cork Airport Holiday & Destination Guide 2015
P. 51
relationship that was to continue unbroken for the from midday to the middle of the night. The Opera
next quarter of a century or so. In 1984 I formed House, The Everyman Palace Theatre and the City Hall
The Gripewater Blues Band and began playing with
jazz musicians in Dublin and beyond; that October I Terry Clarke
jammed for the first time in Cork. The following year I
was officially booked to play at the festival; we cooked hosted big names in concert. The Metropole Hotel in
the blues in an unlikely venue on the outskirts of the McCurtain Street was the centre-point, the official
“jazz-trail” while bemused locals sipped their pints or a festival club, the heart, lungs and liver of the festival.
Paddy. My blues band would now be on the same bill All the greatest musicians were there; even the biggest
as Jimmy Smith, Lionel Hampton, Buddy Rich and Billy superstars who topped the bill would be mooching
Eckstine; great guitarists like Louis Stewart, Mundell around the Metropole in the afternoon or late at night,
Lowe, Barney Kessel, Herb Ellis and Bireli Lagrene, and sitting in for a jam, enquiring as to where they might
blues great Lowell Fulson, who had given Ray Charles find Louis Stewart; wondering if the great drummer
his first break and would perform a legendary concert
in Dublin with my band a few years later. When I say Jimmy Smith
“on the same bill”, The Gripewater Blues Band could
well have occupied the bottom slot but we were high Johnny Wadham could join them for the rest of their
as kites - The Top of the Hill Bar, Gurraneabraher being European tour. Barney Kessel checked into the
the highest venue on the trail! Metropole and was politely informed that he was
in the wrong place; they would order him a taxi to
Over the next few years, the October bank holiday Blarney immediately. An exasperated Oscar Peterson
weekend became the most important time of the year pointed out that his contract stipulated “Grand Piano”,
for me. I was playing at the prestigious Cork Jazz only to be told “sure isn’t that a grand piano, boy?” By
Festival and I no longer had to pay to see my idols. the beginning of the ‘nineties, I was “hanging with the
Each summer I would receive my contract from cats”, soaking in the hubbub of the pub or club until
Guinness; each year as my career progressed I would the early hours. The camaraderie grew, the heads blew
be bumped up the bill; each year I learned more about and the cats knew that the bird never flew on one
jazz and my confidence and reputation grew. I met and wing.
made many friends playing in Cork - not only
Corkonians, but “heads” from Belfast, Limerick and all The Metropole Hotel hosted a fantastic roster of
corners of Ireland; English, Welsh and Scottish
musicians and fans, great legends from America whose high-quality gigs through a number of rooms from
records I had at home, young cats from New York set
to become the future greats. All the Dublin guys were lunchtime to 2am, with the evening sessions being
there; heads moaning about the sheer amount of gigs
they had. “Did you catch Louis with Tal Farlow?” - “No, ticket only. Around 2.15am would begin the merry-go-
I had to do the Savoy with the head…” The sheer scale
and breadth of the bill meant that if you were round that involved 51
watching one unmissable gig, you were certainly
missing another unmissable one elsewhere.
I have been to many jazz festivals abroad and I have
never seen any to
match Cork in its
heyday. The city
heaved with
jazz - every pub, hotel
and restaurant on the
“trail” around the city
centre had a Dixieland
band, a swing band,
beboppers,
hard-boppers, a blues
band or a jam session
next quarter of a century or so. In 1984 I formed House, The Everyman Palace Theatre and the City Hall
The Gripewater Blues Band and began playing with
jazz musicians in Dublin and beyond; that October I Terry Clarke
jammed for the first time in Cork. The following year I
was officially booked to play at the festival; we cooked hosted big names in concert. The Metropole Hotel in
the blues in an unlikely venue on the outskirts of the McCurtain Street was the centre-point, the official
“jazz-trail” while bemused locals sipped their pints or a festival club, the heart, lungs and liver of the festival.
Paddy. My blues band would now be on the same bill All the greatest musicians were there; even the biggest
as Jimmy Smith, Lionel Hampton, Buddy Rich and Billy superstars who topped the bill would be mooching
Eckstine; great guitarists like Louis Stewart, Mundell around the Metropole in the afternoon or late at night,
Lowe, Barney Kessel, Herb Ellis and Bireli Lagrene, and sitting in for a jam, enquiring as to where they might
blues great Lowell Fulson, who had given Ray Charles find Louis Stewart; wondering if the great drummer
his first break and would perform a legendary concert
in Dublin with my band a few years later. When I say Jimmy Smith
“on the same bill”, The Gripewater Blues Band could
well have occupied the bottom slot but we were high Johnny Wadham could join them for the rest of their
as kites - The Top of the Hill Bar, Gurraneabraher being European tour. Barney Kessel checked into the
the highest venue on the trail! Metropole and was politely informed that he was
in the wrong place; they would order him a taxi to
Over the next few years, the October bank holiday Blarney immediately. An exasperated Oscar Peterson
weekend became the most important time of the year pointed out that his contract stipulated “Grand Piano”,
for me. I was playing at the prestigious Cork Jazz only to be told “sure isn’t that a grand piano, boy?” By
Festival and I no longer had to pay to see my idols. the beginning of the ‘nineties, I was “hanging with the
Each summer I would receive my contract from cats”, soaking in the hubbub of the pub or club until
Guinness; each year as my career progressed I would the early hours. The camaraderie grew, the heads blew
be bumped up the bill; each year I learned more about and the cats knew that the bird never flew on one
jazz and my confidence and reputation grew. I met and wing.
made many friends playing in Cork - not only
Corkonians, but “heads” from Belfast, Limerick and all The Metropole Hotel hosted a fantastic roster of
corners of Ireland; English, Welsh and Scottish
musicians and fans, great legends from America whose high-quality gigs through a number of rooms from
records I had at home, young cats from New York set
to become the future greats. All the Dublin guys were lunchtime to 2am, with the evening sessions being
there; heads moaning about the sheer amount of gigs
they had. “Did you catch Louis with Tal Farlow?” - “No, ticket only. Around 2.15am would begin the merry-go-
I had to do the Savoy with the head…” The sheer scale
and breadth of the bill meant that if you were round that involved 51
watching one unmissable gig, you were certainly
missing another unmissable one elsewhere.
I have been to many jazz festivals abroad and I have
never seen any to
match Cork in its
heyday. The city
heaved with
jazz - every pub, hotel
and restaurant on the
“trail” around the city
centre had a Dixieland
band, a swing band,
beboppers,
hard-boppers, a blues
band or a jam session
