The Hot Box

In this episode of The Hot Box there is an hour-plus of new recordings from at home and abroad, celebrating the return to both collective recording and live performance.

This episode of the Hot Box sets the scene for Jazz Legends – Charles Mingus 100th and Miles Davis Kind of Blue.   21st April – National Concert Hall – Dublin 22nd April – Cork Opera House – Cork City On the centenary of his birth, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra & Big Band pays tribute to Charles Mingus. In an imaginative first, the RTÉ CO has joined forces with its counterpart the BBC Concert Orch...

This episode of the Hot Box sets the scene for Jazz Legends – Charles Mingus 100th and Miles Davis Kind of Blue.   21st April – National Concert Hall – Dublin 22nd April – Cork Opera House – Cork City On the centenary of his birth, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra & Big Band pays tribute to Charles Mingus. In an imaginative first, the RTÉ CO has joined forces with its counterpart the BBC Concert Orch...

A complete departure for our 80th birthday, with wall-to-wall vocal groups, stimulated by a positive reaction to the all-vocal content of the 77th Hot Box. So, for the first time, we have an hour of the best harmony vocalising in jazz, from the streets of New Orleans to Carnegie Hall.

A complete departure for our 80th birthday, with wall-to-wall vocal groups, stimulated by a positive reaction to the all-vocal content of the 77th Hot Box. So, for the first time, we have an hour of the best harmony vocalising in jazz, from the streets of New Orleans to Carnegie Hall.

Once again, the central preoccupation is the amazing roster of guitar players, this time those filed under the letter H. And under that heading the music world was blessed for many years with the presence of Jim Hall. So there’s some great straight ahead jazz from him, and some less straight ahead from Joel Harrison and Charlie Hunter.

Once again, the central preoccupation is the amazing roster of guitar players, this time those filed under the letter H. And under that heading the music world was blessed for many years with the presence of Jim Hall. So there’s some great straight ahead jazz from him, and some less straight ahead from Joel Harrison and Charlie Hunter.

Listen back to the live broadcast of The Hot Box on Jazz Radio Ireland for New Year’s Eve 2021. This is a 2-hour special edition of The Hot Box presented by Donald Helme.

Listen back to the live broadcast of The Hot Box on Jazz Radio Ireland for New Year’s Eve 2021. This is a 2-hour special edition of The Hot Box presented by Donald Helme.

The Hot Box #77……What’s Inside? Taking a leaf out of the book of jazz station WBGO Newark New Jersey, this edition of The Hot Box presents “Singers Unlimited”. So if vocal jazz sets your pulse racing, this one’s for you. And there’s a little nod in the direction Christmas as well. Every one of these great singers has appeared in Ireland over the years. (And of course, some of them are Irish!)

The Hot Box #77……What’s Inside? Taking a leaf out of the book of jazz station WBGO Newark New Jersey, this edition of The Hot Box presents “Singers Unlimited”. So if vocal jazz sets your pulse racing, this one’s for you. And there’s a little nod in the direction Christmas as well. Every one of these great singers has appeared in Ireland over the years. (And of course, some of them are Irish!)

In The Hot Box number 76 we delve into the Guitar Files labelled “G”. The towering figure of Grant Green seems to dominate this file, maybe the most productive guitarist of the 1960’s, who sounded then, and still sounds, like nobody else. Then we have the young bloods, Alex Goodman from Canada and Riccardo Grilli from Brazil, both fully paid members of the New York jazz scene today. So the 76th Ho...

In The Hot Box number 76 we delve into the Guitar Files labelled “G”. The towering figure of Grant Green seems to dominate this file, maybe the most productive guitarist of the 1960’s, who sounded then, and still sounds, like nobody else. Then we have the young bloods, Alex Goodman from Canada and Riccardo Grilli from Brazil, both fully paid members of the New York jazz scene today. So the 76th Ho...

The Hot Box number 75! What’s in it this time? We have tried to be quite noisy in celebration of our 75th edition - a “milestone”. The celebration starts with the Chuck Owen Jazz Surge with more from Lonnie Smith, Eddie Daniels, The Big Phat Band, and Steve Slagle throughout the show.

The Hot Box number 75! What’s in it this time? We have tried to be quite noisy in celebration of our 75th edition – a “milestone”. The celebration starts with the Chuck Owen Jazz Surge with more from Lonnie Smith, Eddie Daniels, The Big Phat Band, and Steve Slagle throughout the show.

The main event in The Hot Box 074 is a move to the Guitar Files Letter F. So we feature 3 greats from that file, Tal Farlow, Bill Frisell and Chris Flory. But there’s other stuff too. An exciting taster from Aoife Doyle’s upcoming new album, the single Strength to be Strong, and a track from Kevin Brady’s Electric Quartet upcoming world release “Plan B”. Plus we find an amazing young guitarist fro...

The main event in The Hot Box 074 is a move to the Guitar Files Letter F. So we feature 3 greats from that file, Tal Farlow, Bill Frisell and Chris Flory. But there’s other stuff too. An exciting taster from Aoife Doyle’s upcoming new album, the single Strength to be Strong, and a track from Kevin Brady’s Electric Quartet upcoming world release “Plan B”. Plus we find an amazing young guitarist fro...

The 73rd episode of The Hot Box…… This time around the jazz hour has some swing classics and samples from two new albums that amount to “jazz archaeology”. A compilation of 1930’s recordings by very underappreciated trumpeter and singer Valaida Snow, and a - literally - lost session by the NEA Jazz Master - Sheila Jordan. This episode also breaks the record for the number of tracks played in a Hot...

The 73rd episode of The Hot Box…… This time around the jazz hour has some swing classics and samples from two new albums that amount to “jazz archaeology”. A compilation of 1930’s recordings by very underappreciated trumpeter and singer Valaida Snow, and a – literally – lost session by the NEA Jazz Master – Sheila Jordan. This episode also breaks the record for the number of tracks played in a Hot...

The exploration of the Guitar Files reaches the Letter E in the 72nd edition of The Hot Box and although few in number, guitarists in this file are very big in reputation, especially for those of us who like the straight-ahead, post bebop styles. The next edition of The Hot Box will be posted in about 2 weeks, and the next Guitar File (the letter F) in September.

The exploration of the Guitar Files reaches the Letter E in the 72nd edition of The Hot Box and although few in number, guitarists in this file are very big in reputation, especially for those of us who like the straight-ahead, post bebop styles. The next edition of The Hot Box will be posted in about 2 weeks, and the next Guitar File (the letter F) in September.

A great mix of big band and a nod in the direction of classical influences in jazz, with the first time on Hot Box, tracks from Maria Schneider’s multi-award winning masterpiece Data Lords. And the very last piece of the jigsaw puzzle that enveloped the Jazz Worms.

A great mix of big band and a nod in the direction of classical influences in jazz, with the first time on Hot Box, tracks from Maria Schneider’s multi-award winning masterpiece Data Lords. And the very last piece of the jigsaw puzzle that enveloped the Jazz Worms.

In this edition we head into the Guitar Files once again, focussing on the letter D. It’s a sparse file, so we’ve looked back and found a couple of fine players omitted from the C file, and looked forward with an appetiser for the E file to come……. And we talk some about  the Fund for Phil as well as two other funding endeavours for Nigel Mooney’s upcoming album and Jazz Ireland.

In this edition we head into the Guitar Files once again, focussing on the letter D. It’s a sparse file, so we’ve looked back and found a couple of fine players omitted from the C file, and looked forward with an appetiser for the E file to come……. And we talk some about  the Fund for Phil as well as two other funding endeavours for Nigel Mooney’s upcoming album and Jazz Ireland.