I have been a member of the Dublin Jazz Co-op for a couple of years now; a group of musicians curating and hosting events on the Dublin Jazz scene. The main event at the co-op is on Sunday evenings from 7.30pm in The Vintage Room at The Workman’s Club in Dublin City Centre. Now and then I get the chance to curate a series of gigs, like the one back in 2019 that featured my buddy Mauricio Ribeiro who flew in from Valencia, Wire-Me; a guitar and vocal duo based in Dublin and our ‘Swing for Simon’ charity event in aid of the Simon Community, among others. And now it’s my turn to curate again.
Back in January of this year, struck down with a minor case of Covid and filled with ‘new year’ energy, I launched the website http://www.irishwomeninjazz.ie. I was feeling the lack of interconnectedness and community with musicians, possibly as a result of the pandemic and, it seemed as I spoke with peers about it, so was everyone else! This was an attempt to remedy that, a place where we could find each other. The plan was to create a platform where Irish and Ireland-based female musicians could be featured, connect and collaborate. And so far it’s working! We’ve grown a lovely warm audience on Instagram and are slowly making connections offline too. Here’s where The Dublin Jazz Co-op and Irish Women in Jazz meet…
Throughout the months of September and October I will be curating a series of gigs with the aim of featuring some of our Ireland- based female musicians, vocalists, composers, bandleaders etc The point is this: women are a gender minority in music, specifically in jazz music. Some might say that is because historically less women played the music…. fair point, some say women are forced out of a career in music because of other responsibilities… possibly a factor too. But, and this is not just in music of course, history shows us that women have been there all along, playing a part, creating the music, innovating, breaking boundaries and at the same time were not given the space or recognition that they deserved. So, rather than fight with that fact we are here simply to do exactly what should have been done all along- we’re going to give women a space.
We have so many incredible female artists here in Ireland whose musical practices span the definition of jazz. Of course, we only have 8 weeks to fill and how could we ever fit in the immense talent that spans the island in 8 weeks? We can’t. But, we have jam-packed the program with great female talent and hard-working musicians to share with you. Click the image below for tickets and more info.
Jennifer McMahon 