BELFAST JAZZ SCENE

By Babbie De Derian, travel editor

with Linley Hamilton, jazz trumpeter extraordinaire

After a whirlwind breathtakingly beautiful scenic tour of Northern Ireland, I arrive back in Belfast, and check into The Merchant Hotel. Once a thriving bank with high vaulted ceilings, this historical building has been renovated into a five star hotel; it is home to the popular, elegant and lively BERT’S JAZZ BAR.

According to Adrian McLaughlin, manager of BERT’S BAR: “The jazz scene in Belfast is tiny. By packaging food, drink and jazz, I was able to create what I always wanted to have, an easy relaxed jazz bar like Bemelman’s at the Carlyle Hotel. in New York City”. We sit and chat as trumpeter Linley Hamilton takes the stage against the backdrop of Bert’s famous art deco Lady in Red. Adrian tells me, “Linley puts on jazz from mainstream to bebop and beyond; he’s our first call for backing vocalists who come into town”. The well dressed crowd quiets down to listen, as do I.

Linley Hamilton has been playing jazz trumpet for over 25 years; he’s a regular in the Dublin and Belfast jazz scenes. He has gigged or recorded with the highest profile musicians from the rock and pop world like Van Morrison, Paul Brady, Eleanor McEvoy, Juliet Turner, Foy Vance, and Duke Special, including Jean Toussaint, Alec Dankworth, Jacqui Dankworth, Ken Peplowski, Jim Mullan, and Elaine Delmar.

Linley has a 1st Class Masters, and is working on his PhD. Guests on his BBC radio show, “After Midnight” have included Walter Becker of Steely Dan, Wynton Marsalis, Bobby McFerrin, Bob Mintzer, Stacey Kent, Billy Cobham, John Abercrombie, Jan Garbareck and Richard Bona. His debut album “Up To Now” is being followed by “That’s the Way I like It”.

After I return to New York, Linley writes “jazz is a massively growing art form, with a wide array of styles, an active programme of regular gigs, and its very own annual Jazz Festival in Derry City during the first week in May. There are around 50 musicians on the scene, including professionals on the international circuit. Many musicians left the city to cut their teeth with the “big boys” in New York and London; including Drummer Darren Beckett who moved to New York, having played with everyone from Michael Brecker to Madelyn Pyreux.

“Guitarist Mark McKnight (possibly our greatest ever jazz musician) is cutting it with the likes of Will Vinson, Sam Yuhel, and tenor man Seamus Blake. Drummer David Lyttle (who has two acclaimed albums and tours to his credit) is playing with the likes of David Liebman, Jean Toussaint, Tim Warfield, Jaleel Shaw and Terrell Stafford. These two young men are putting us on the International jazz map.”

BELFAST’S JAZZ VENUES

Bert’s Bar, Merchant Hotel: Vocal Jazz every night with three and four piece bands, mostly standards with an occasional Blues and Stride slant. Feels like you’re in a high class New York Jazz Bar.

Teatro Restaurant, Vocal piano bar with a blues’ slant. Quite classy; host is piano man Kyron Bourke.

No Alibis Bookshop, Jazz from Ireland, US and Europe. Belfast’s answer to New York’s Greenwich Village In a friendly intimate atmosphere.

Belfast Boat Club, wonderful acoustics due to its timber ceiling and floor. Loved by visiting American musicians and singers.

Café Vaudeville, a former bank is one of the hippest venues in town.

The John Hewitt Bar, toe-tapping with the Panama Jazz Band, Trixie Hamilton and Jim McDermott.

The Europa Hotel showcases Belfast’s legendary saxophonist Gerry Rice.

AND NOT TO BE MISSED

THE ANNUAL DERRY CITY JAZZ FESTIVAL,

the first week in May.

www.discoverireland.com