Moises Dos Santos, Ivan Conti, Denise Chaila and Kiko Continentino from Ezymuth at the launch of the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival at the new Wavelength venue in Cyprus Avenue. Photo: Darragh Kane

Jazz good as it gets!

Tickets for the 44th Guinness Cork Jazz Festival will go on sale tomorrow, Friday, as Leeside tunes up for a much-need dose of jazz magic.

Guinness has confirmed the tickets will go on sale from 10am tomorrow on the festival’s official website guinnesscorkjazz.ie.

As always, the world renowned festival will take place over the October Bank Holiday Weekend from 27-30 October.

Promising a new vibrant look, this year’s festival will feature new locations, pop up events, late night parties, secret gigs, boat trips, collaborations, and on street activities. With some of the biggest names in the jazz world set to grace the stage, organisers are already calling this year’s event “the most magnetic Guinness Cork Jazz Festival we have seen yet”.

Rory Sheridan, Head of Partnerships at Diageo Ireland said: “This year will see us welcome a world class line-up of both music and art to Cork that represents, not just established artists, but also provides us with the opportunity to champion Irish and emerging talent on a global stage.”

Returning 32 years after they performed one of the most memorable gigs that Cork’s Páirc Uí Chaoimh has ever witnessed, New Power Generation, who were once the backing band for Prince, will be one of the standout highlights of this year’s Jazz Fest.

Also making the long journey to Cork is Brazilian living legend Hermeto Pascoal who Miles Davis once dubbed as “one of the most important musicians on the planet”. This will be Pascoal’s first return to Ireland in almost 20 years.

Winner of the Choice Music Prize Album of the Year for her mixtape ‘Go Bravery’, Denise Chaila is also set to perform this year, having headlined festivals across Ireland and the UK during the summer.

An expanded and improved programme will see artists like GOGO Penguin, Seun Kuti, Fela’s Egypt 80, and Jazzanova presenting a new live project, performing in intimate venues around Cork city. Audiences can also expect to see fresh musical talent from both up-and-coming and established Irish artists including LYRA, Toshín, Fehdah, Bricknasty, and the return of Mas Exodus, plus many more.

To top it all off, photographic exhibition, We Got The Jazz: The Music Photography of Chuck Stewart, will have its world premiere in Cork over the jazz weekend. The exhibition is carefully curated by Festival Director Mark Murphy and Irish photographer Brian Cross under their Choice Cuts/Mochilla monikers, documenting a storyboard of never-before-seen jazz photos focussing on the work of Chuck Stewart in association with his family.