One of Ireland’s most exciting musical exports is set to wow Bay audiences with their fresh, funky sound at this year’s MTN Nelson Mandela Bay Splash Festival.
The Organics Jazz Trio is a successful young band drawing on several influences to create its unique sound, including blues, soul and groove and improvised melody.
Established in the late 1990s, the group comprises Kevin Brady on drums, Justin Carroll on Hammon organ and keyboards and guitarist Bjorn Solli, a Norwegian now firmly established on the Irish music scene.
“Organics have a distinguished and varied jazz lineage, including a swinging format with an infectious beat,” says band spokesman Stella Konik.
They’ve played as opening act for leading international groups such as Gil Scott-Heron in Vicar Street, Dublin, Swedish piano trio EST, the legendary Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters and electronic pioneer Bugge Wesseltoft at the 2005 Bud Rising Festival.
“The trio were critically acclaimed for their performance with international saxophonist Bobby Watson at the 2004 Cork Jazz Festival and made their debut performance at the Glasgow International Jazz Festival in 2007,” says Konik.
The musicians have won several awards for their work, including Carroll’s accolade as Best Young Irish Musician at the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival and a Young Norwegian Jazz Musician of the Year award for Solli in 2002.
Brady has also completed an extensive performance and recording project with legendary American pianist Bill Carruthers and attended jazz workshop and community outreach events in Mexico and Cuba.
“Organics has a contemporary, delicately ambient sound and a very unusual combination of instruments – Hammond organ, drums and guitar,” says Konik.
“Since the early 1990s, the Hammond has re-entered the mainstream, both as a continuation of the soul-jazz groove and as an application of its unique palette of colours and textures within the exploration of new musical horizons.
“Organics is Ireland’s finest contribution to this tradition and, over the last decade, has been pleasing audiences with a rousing offering of swinging, gospel-inspired tunes and more adventurous originals.”
The trio’s visit to the Eastern Cape is the first activity of a broader, Ireland-Eastern Cape music exchange project initiated this year by Dublin-based organisation Artery (Arts Management) and supported by Culture Ireland.
During their tour of the Eastern Cape, the band will play at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (March 31), a community outreach activity at Red Location Museum (April 1), the Beethoven Room in Grahamstown (April 3) and at the Splash Festival’s main arena on Sunday, April 4 (5pm).
At the festival, the band will be joined by a powerful line-up of local acts as part of a lazy Sunday jazz event, including Bluenote, J Zone and Nubox Jazz Band.
The Splash Festival takes place from April 2 to 5 at Hobie Beach and boasts 190 stalls, live entertainment including a Comedy Festival, international water sport events and children’s activities.
For more information, contact the festival office on 041 393 4844 or visit www.splashfestival.com. Alternatively, follow the event on Twitter or Facebook.
Issued by:
Full Stop Communications
Coetzee Gouws
041 368 4992
082 575 7991
coetzee@fullstopcom.com
www.fullstopcom.com
On behalf of:
MTN Nelson Mandela Bay Splash Festival