Jazz breaking news: Herbie Hancock Goes Down A Storm At The Cork Jazz Festival

Today’s Irish Times even has Herbie Hancock on the front page reflecting the high profile nature of the festival this year and the impact the great jazz pianist and composer made at his Imagine Project-themed concert at the Everyman Palace theatre on Saturday night. Hancock was followed as headliner last night by Steve Winwood who like Hancock before him sold out the Everyman and created with a great swell of organ, guitar and conga grooves a remarkable feeling of wellbeing in the theatre that swept over the audience like a great tide.

Studded with big names and with ticket sales at Cork reported 10 per cent up on last year, Hancock was given a special legend award by the organisers as jazz styles of every conceivable kind could be heard at dozens of venues across the city meaning that the fest covered the waterfront in more senses than one, with the river at times resembling a beautiful silver sheet as the weather stayed fine replacing the initial rain on Friday.

Hancock’s concert itself followed on from the opening set by the impressive meta-Monk and post hip hop vision of Jason Moran and the Bandwagon. Taking the stage and smiling after spending the afternoon with students at the Cork School of Music where facilities include a bass suite and no fewer than 58 Steinway pianos, Hancock took little time in introducing newcomer singer Kristina Train to an Irish audience for the first time. She sang in Irish and also played excellent violin on Dylan’s ‘The Times They Are A’ Changin’ and her presence worked like a charm with the audience. With a voice a little gutsier than Norah Jones and wonderfully poised on Joni Mitchell’s ‘Court and Spark’, the band with drummer Trevor Lawrence Jr completely in the zone playing some mighty funk, and Herbie switching from his Korg Oasys keyboard workstation to Fazioli grand was on great form. Greg Phillinganes’ powerful vocal on ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’ was another highlight.

The audiences at the Everyman were very warm over the weekend and Charlie Haden even complimented the Saturday afternoon house which had stayed on from hearing the elegant bop of Charles McPherson for their skill in listening which he reflected was so important to him and his fellow musicians on stage. Celebrating 25 years of Quartet West ‘Lonely Woman’ was a special moment in the programme as it allowed Ernie Watts’ wonderfully lived-in sound to illuminate a song more usually identified with the avant garde. Watts has that ultimate quality that many saxophone players strive to achieve: the ability to tell a story with every solo, while Haden as ever with his sublime tone meant that the concert reached some impressive peaks at key points throughout.

On the opening day of the festival following a well received set from the Neil Cowley Trio, it was the turn of Robert Glasper to introduce a new drummer from St Louis to Cork by the name of Marc Colenberg, a broken beats stylist, who in hip hop has worked with the likes of Q-Tip. Glasper told Jazzwise later that Colenberg will be appearing with the band on tour and will be in the UK next month for the London Jazz Festival. The pianist who also received an award from Cork was able to build his own very expressive sound around Colenberg, alighting at times abruptly with Colenberg’s former flat mate bassist Derrick Hodge to embark on a capsule groove. But Casey Benjamin was the star turn of the show as the flamboyantly coiffured saxman sang strongly using a Vocoder for effect projecting some customised songs chief of which was ‘All Matter’, the choice ballad from Double Booked. As a tip of the hat to Hancock Glasper played ‘I Have A Dream’ from Blue Note late-1960s album The Prisoner and quoted a little bit later on from ‘Butterfly’, Hancock’s tune that Glasper interprets so well and which Hancock himself improvised on the next day during his own show.

Yesterday afternoon BBC Radio 3’s Jazz-Line-Up show was recording from the large atrium of the Clarion Hotel to air next Sunday on the show. Julian Joseph played a superb solo version of ‘The Language of Truth’ in 7/4 while Christine Tobin demonstrated what a fine interpreter of Leonard Cohen she still is on ‘Everybody Knows’. Finally, everyone at Cork was talking about the Wes Montgomery-influenced teenage Slovakian gypsy guitarist Andreas Varady with punters craning around the door at the Windsor Inn on MacCurtain Street to hear him. Check out Brian Priestley’s full review of the festival in the December issue published on 26 November.

– Stephen Graham