Cork Guinness Jazz Festival Is Bigger And Better In It's 34th Year

The 34th Guinness Cork Jazz Festival will take place from 28th – 31st October 2016 and features a host of amazing acts.

Over 40,000 people are expected to descend on Cork City for the bank holiday weekend to enjoy the popular Jazz festival. This year, the festival programme includes a wide and varied schedule of activity, with 1,000 musicians from over 20 countries, an extensive fringe programme and live music trails.

As always, music is at the soul of the festival, this year there will be hundreds of music sessions in over 60 pubs, theatres, clubs, hotels and venues in Cork City throughout the weekend.

Widely acknowledged as one of Europe’s premier Jazz festivals, the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival has previously attracted some of the biggest names in jazz to Cork. This year, American jazz pianist Justin Kauflin will open the festival at The Everyman on Friday 28th October, in a powerful double bill with contemporary jazz star Jacob Collier. Other jazz sensations headlining at the festival include Grammy Award winner, Robert Glasper, top American jazz vibist Jason Marsalis, Sheryl Bailey, The Hot Club of Cowtown and Kurt Rosenwinkel.

In addition to the jazzy line up, the Irish pop rock band Picture This will open an eclectic series of concerts at Cork Opera House on Friday 28th October, followed by an array of top attractions including Mexican superstars Rodrigo y Gabriela, hit makers BellX1, Cork soul sensation Brian Deady, and folk legend Loudon Wainwright III.

Commenting on the festival, Jason Marsalis said, “We are very excited to perform for the first time at the Guinness Cork Jazz festival. I’m really looking forward to visiting Cork and playing for the audience there, as well as getting into the city and enjoying the festival for myself!”

This year’s festival will include a myriad of events including the Jazz Fringe, which will feature free attractions all over the city including Big Band Jazz, Jazz on the Plaza and Street Bands. On Saturday, a record of six overseas marching bands will be a part of the ever popular parade, which will make its way through the streets of Cork City.

Music fans can also look out for hundreds of sessions on the Guinness Music Trail - featuring diverse sounds in over 60 pubs, clubs and hotels citywide. Over 95% of the sessions are free of charge to attend. Top names performing include Ben Waters Boogie Band, Interskalactic, the New York Brass Band, Holland’s Oriental Jazz Band, Jack L, Riptide Movement, Cathy Davey and Rob Strong.

For the budding enthusiasts, the state of the art Cork School of Music will play host to Jazz Camp during the festival, featuring numerous free of charge workshops and master classes, presented by many of the stars of the festival.

Commenting on the 2016 festival, Gemma Bell, Guinness Cork Jazz Manager, said,

“Guinness is delighted to continue to support the Guinness Cork Jazz festival. Our partnership with the Festival started back in 1982 and over the last 34 years, Guinness and the Cork Jazz Committee have worked closely together to ensure the festival continues to grow and support the local economy. It is brilliant to see the festival expand and continue to attract a bigger audience year after year.

2016 sees another fantastic line up, with jazz gigs taking place all over the city. The Cork Committee have done a great job adding even more to the festival programme, which will be music to the ears of jazz enthusiasts and beyond. The atmosphere at the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival is always electric and we are looking forward to another great festival ahead!”

For full festival details and to purchase tickets for the 2016 Guinness Cork Jazz Festival log onto www.guinnessjazzfestival.com and follow the festival social channels for the latest news:

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