ZoiD
Zoidan Jankalovich landed on earth in 1979. Since then he has been multiplying rapidly, growing new cells and mutating at the rate of about a few inches a year.
He co-founded Diatribe Recordings to give an avenue of output to the more creative musicians of Ireland. In 2007 he released his debut album "ZoiD Vs the Jazz Musicians of Ireland Vol 1" on Diatribe.
He has been commissioned by The Kai Big Band, Yurodny, The Rise Quartet and Spatial Music Collective. He has received grants from the Arts Council, Music Network and The Improvised Music Company.
He is currently working on a piece entitled "Chamber of Death, Life and the Flow of Consciousness through Time", for piano, drums, cello and violin, which will be completed in 2010.
Tommy Halferty
Born in Derry, Tommy began his musical career in the late 70's taking jazz guitar lessons with Louis Stewart. His initial public appearances were in jazz fusion groups and later a trio with flute, double bass and guitar. Most of the material here was drawn from classical, folk and jazz music.
Tommy is currently a member of the Keith Copeland Trio. They have recorded two CD's for the famous Steeplechase Label in 1996 and 1997. As part of L'Imaginaire Irlandais in April 1996 Tommy travelled to France to play concerts in Nantes, Morlaix and Treguier.
As a composer he has had many of his pieces recorded over his impressive discography as well as writing longer commisions for RTÉ in 1991 celebrating Dublin's tenure as Cultural Capital of Europe. He was also commisioned to write a thematic piece for Bloomsday in 2006 in Paris.
Ronan Guilfoyle
Ronan Guilfoyle is a major figure on the Irish jazz scene and has developed an international reputation as a performer, teacher and composer. He began his career with Louis Stewart's group in the early 1980's and studied at the Banff Centre for the Arts in 1986 and 1987 where his teachers included John Abercrombie, Dave Holland, and Steve Coleman.
Performing on the acoustic bass guitar since the early 1980s, Ronan is now one of the instrument's leading exponents, and is now much in demand as a bassist, both in his native Ireland and on the international jazz scene. Among the people he has performed with are Dave Liebman, Kenny Werner, Joe Lovano, Kenny Wheeler, Keith Copeland, Brad Mehldau, John Abercrombie, Larry Coryell, Benny Golson, Jim McNeely, Sonny Fortune, Andy Laster, Simon Nabatov, Richie Beirach, and Tom Rainey.
He has also been leading his own groups since the mid-1980s, and his groups have toured extensively in Europe, Asia, and North America. He has recorded extensively both as a sideman and as a leader and his output includes the award winning "Devsirme" in 1997.
Greg Felton
Greg Felton is a piano player, a composer and a teacher who is making a real reputation as Ireland's foremost jazz pianist. The premiere of his commissioned piece 'Dark Horse' was performed by White Rocket to critical acclaim at the RTÉ Living Music Festival in February.
Michael Buckley
The saxophone star of the Irish jazz scene, horn player and composer Michael Buckley has been playing professionally since the age of six. Michael first came to prominence in 1984 when, aged thirteen, he played flute with the legendary saxophonist George Coleman in the National Concert Hall in Dublin. Though largely self-taught, his obvious talent has been developed by Pat LaBarbera, Enrico Pieranunzi and Milt Hinton.
Michael has toured the world four times with The Mingus Big Band, Dave Liebman, Kenny Wheeler, Lee Konitz, Grant Stewart, Ingrid Jensen, Florian Ross (soloist with the BBC big band), Louis Stewart and Gerard Presencer among others. At Dublin Jazz Week 2000 he performed the jazz suite, Octagon, by German composer Florian Ross which was specially commissioned for The Michael Buckley Quartet with Strings. As well as frequent radio spots, he has made numerous television appearances, regularly works on film and television scores and has collaborated on recordings with Donovan, The Cranberries and Jerry Lee Lewis.
Mike Nielsen
Jazz Guitarist/Composer Michael Nielsen was born in Sligo, and started playing the ukulele at the age of four. Michael won a scholarship and Jim Hall incentive award in 1982 to attend Berklee College of Music, Boston, where he studied from '83-'85. He holds a classical performance diploma, LTCL (Licentiate of Trinity College of Music, London) and a Masters degree, M.Phil, in music and physics from the DIT School of Physics, Dublin.
Equally innovative on acoustic and electric guitars, Michael has gained a reputation as one of the leading guitarists in European jazz. He has performed with international artists including; Kenny Wheeler, Larry Coryell, Kenny Werner, Jason Moran, Simon Nabatov, Eric Revis, Michael Moore, Joe Lovano and Dave Liebman with whom he toured Europe in 2001 and New Zealand/Australia in 2004. He has also performed with contemporary classical ensembles VOX21 and Crash Ensemble and was guest soloist on two occasions with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.
Michael features on over fifteen recordings including two with Dave Liebman. Teaching since 1979, he lectures worldwide on jazz guitar, improvisation and microtonal composition. He currently teaches at DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama, Bray VEC Music Centre and Newpark Music Centre.
Seán Carpio
A talented and spirited jazz percussionist, Seán Carpio graduated from Dublin's New Park Music School in 2001 and has since made a career of performing and teaching music. In Ireland, Seán has performed with some of the country's leading musicians, as well as with the National Symphony Orchestra and the National Concert Orchestra. He has been privileged to perform with David Binney, Bill McHenry, Ernst Reisijer, and Paul Bollenbeck.
Eager to grow musically and artistically, Seán studied Carnatic classical percussion for three months in India under Sri T.A.S Mani. He also travelled to Canada to attend Dave Douglas's International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music at The Banff Centre in 2003 and 2005, where he was privileged to perform with Vijay Iyer and the Banff Faculty.
Seán's debut album as a co-leader is soon to be released in the summer of this year with the group Red Rocket, and an album with Mark Turner and guitarist/composer Mikkel Ploug on Fresh Sound Records.
Shane Ingersoll
hello. my name is shane ingersoll and i was one of five kids born in a 15th century barn
in the cultural capital of the world, Cavan, Ireland. i got an awesome art degree which has
opened many doors in the dishwashing community. i currently live in New York where
i pop lock everyday and fight CHUDs. its a nice life. please look at my website.
www.dwarfbaby.org
thanks.