Irish folksinger Cathy Jordan.

Irish folk music meets jazz as Freight Train trio pulls onto Jazz Hastings’ stage

Jazz Hastings kicks off 2023 by bringing a unique musical collaboration between a major star of the Irish folk music and two of the most sought-after UK jazz musicians to its stage – and in a departure from its own tradition, on a Sunday, 8 January. Julian Norridge supplies the background.

Born in County Roscommon, Cathy Jordan is a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, playing guitar, bodhran, bones and bouzouki. She has been the lead singer with the traditional Irish band Dervish since 1991, recording 16 albums and playing in thousands of concerts in 40 different countries.

Among their most notable performances were The Great Wall of China and the biggest rock music festival in the world – Rock in Rio – where she sang to more than 250,000 people.

At the end of 2019 Dervish received a prestigious lifetime achievement award from the BBC, a fitting tribute to the band after over 30 years of recording and performing all over the world. They were described by the BBC as “an icon of Irish music.”

Pianist Liam Noble and drummer Paul Clarvis met while playing and touring in Moondog’s band in New York. Liam was the regular pianist with Stan Sulzmann while working in many other leading bands.

Paul has played drums with some of the world’s best composers and performers, from Sir Harrison Birtwistle and John Adams to Stevie Wonder and Mick Jagger. He is also a professor of drum set, Latin American and ethnic percussion at the Royal Academy of Music. The late Leonard Bernstein’s preferred percussionist in London, he is now the regular percussion player on Strictly Come Dancing.

Paul first heard Cathy sing five years ago in a pub in Sligo and was immediately drawn to the directness of her voice, with a dynamic range from a whisper to seemingly louder than Concorde. The following year they played a gig together at the Sligo Jazz Festival and met up with Liam. They were looking for an opportunity to work together and a lockdown commission to create a new big sound from small resources seemed like the perfect opportunity.

What emerged was this unique and exhilarating trio. They have now recorded their unique set of tunes under the name Freight Train and embarked on a nationwide tour, of which this is one of their first dates.

Freight Train Jazz Hastings, Sunday 8 January, East Hastings Sea Angling Association (on the Stade behind the lifeboat station). Doors open 7.45pm for 8.30 start, tickets £15 on the door.

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