The Hot Box

In the 69th episode of The Hot Box we follow the trail of the Jazz Worms, only to find it leads back to The Fox Inn at Ashbourne, County Meath, via Denver, Colorado. The Worms have just released their second album - after a pause of 30 years! The 69th Hot Box also features music by Brazilian pianist and arranger Antonio Adolfo, and some previously unreleased music from Wes Montgomery and also from...

In the 69th episode of The Hot Box we follow the trail of the Jazz Worms, only to find it leads back to The Fox Inn at Ashbourne, County Meath, via Denver, Colorado. The Worms have just released their second album – after a pause of 30 years! The 69th Hot Box also features music by Brazilian pianist and arranger Antonio Adolfo, and some previously unreleased music from Wes Montgomery and also from...

In this series of glimpses into the world of jazz guitar, Hot Box 68 finds perhaps the most important guitarist of them all - Charlie Christian. He was born in 1916 and sadly died of tuberculosis when just 25 years old, but he’d already established the amplified guitar as a permanent part of the instrumental repertoire of jazz, and gone part of the way in leading jazz out of the Swing Era and into...

In this series of glimpses into the world of jazz guitar, Hot Box 68 finds perhaps the most important guitarist of them all – Charlie Christian. He was born in 1916 and sadly died of tuberculosis when just 25 years old, but he’d already established the amplified guitar as a permanent part of the instrumental repertoire of jazz, and gone part of the way in leading jazz out of the Swing Era and into...

After the last edition of Hot Box Xtra, remembering the great Chick Corea (1941 - 2021), Donald Helme returns to some “New Stuff“ with a varied programme from jazz-funk to lush vocals, from the valedictory saxophone of Jimmy Heath to brilliant solo piano.

After the last edition of Hot Box Xtra, remembering the great Chick Corea (1941 – 2021), Donald Helme returns to some “New Stuff“ with a varied programme from jazz-funk to lush vocals, from the valedictory saxophone of Jimmy Heath to brilliant solo piano.

Chick Corea 1941-2021 A Hot Box Xtra checks out the music of one of the most important musicians in jazz. Sadly, he passed away in February this year aged 79. A pianist, composer and bandleader who visited all corners of the music box from Hispanic to Fusion, from Jazz to Classical. Chick Corea collected an amazing 23 Grammy Awards over his career - probably more than any other musician - deliveri...

Chick Corea 1941-2021 A Hot Box Xtra checks out the music of one of the most important musicians in jazz. Sadly, he passed away in February this year aged 79. A pianist, composer and bandleader who visited all corners of the music box from Hispanic to Fusion, from Jazz to Classical. Chick Corea collected an amazing 23 Grammy Awards over his career – probably more than any other musician – deliveri...

  In this edition we once again visit the alphabetical countdown of prominent jazz guitar players, taking a few more filed under the letter B. And we indulge in a little repetition to celebrate Ireland’s guitarist Hugh Buckley . Included is one piece by the late Chick Corea who died on February 9 2021.

  In this edition we once again visit the alphabetical countdown of prominent jazz guitar players, taking a few more filed under the letter B. And we indulge in a little repetition to celebrate Ireland’s guitarist Hugh Buckley . Included is one piece by the late Chick Corea who died on February 9 2021.

  After too long a gap, The Hot Box returns with tracks from recently released albums by Christian McBride , John Beasley , Chick Corea and the Cuban wonder Harold Lopez Nussa amongst others.   There’s an emphasis on big bands, with among others, selections from the “tribute” album “For Jimmy, Wes and Oliver” by Christian McBride.  

  After too long a gap, The Hot Box returns with tracks from recently released albums by Christian McBride , John Beasley , Chick Corea and the Cuban wonder Harold Lopez Nussa amongst others.   There’s an emphasis on big bands, with among others, selections from the “tribute” album “For Jimmy, Wes and Oliver” by Christian McBride.  

The Hot Box 64th edition…in which we check out guitar players filed under the letter B. The file must run to two editions, so popular is that letter in the array of surnames. The letter B starts to illustrate the diversity and depth of the guitar’s contribution to the jazz music we love.

The 63rd edition of Hot Box reminds us of the importance of Charlie Parker as we celebrate his 100th anniversary, we mark the death of one of the greatest of bass players Gary Peacock, we offer a shout-out for Sonny Rollins whose 90th birthday has just passed, and we revel in a massive re-release of long unavailable albums by the self-taught genius of the piano, Errol Garner. In between all of tha...

The 62nd edition of The Hot Box opens up the guitar files for an alphabetical series that will cover a wide range of eras and styles in the very wide world of the guitar in jazz. By some margin the guitar is the most popular of all musical instruments, and its presence in jazz is no less widespread, blossoming when someone had the bright idea of amplifying its sound. Right now, there are over 30 p...

It seems that this is a time for memories of the great jazz musicians of yesterday who have “left the building” during the current pandemic (but not necessarily as a direct result of it), and in The Hot Box #061 we celebrate the music of saxophonist Jimmy Heath, singer/pianist Freddy Cole and singer Annie Ross. And we find some new music from Brazilian, New York based guitarist Riccardo Grilli.

  The final episode of The Piano Files A-Z. The Z File Not too may surnames start with the letter Z but here we find 4 amazing piano players that give us a wide spectrum of style and content……the majority of tracks included here were recorded live, in front of an audience. Remember those days? Joe Zawinul, the former Miles Davis collaborator and founding member of Weather Report. Denny Zeitlin, pr...

In this episode of the Hot Box we celebrate the life of Jimmy Cobb who died last month aged 91, and legendary pianist McCoy Tyner who recently passed away. We also sample three new albums (*), two of which have diverse Irish interest!

Welcome to The Hot Box #058 in which we delve further into the alphabetical piano files with Part 2 of the File for W. There are some amazing artists in the episode. Be sure to listen out for an interview where Marian McPartland hosts the great Mary Lou Williams on her long running radio show “Piano Jazz” on NPR in October of 1978. It is quite wonderful to hear Mary Lou Williams chat about music a...

Over an hour of jazz music from Ireland, America, South Africa and Brazil, wide ranging in style and mood. You can hear tracks from The Duke Ellington Orchestra, Basil Coatzee, Dianne Schuur, Count Basie Orchestras, Christine Tobin, Scott Flanagan and more.

In this episode of The Hot Box we celebrate the music of four amazing musicians who have sadly left the stage in the past few weeks, Bucky Pizzarelli, Lee Konitz, Wallace Roney and Ellis Marsalis.

Selected for the times we are living in, Xtra tracks from The Hot Box that should immediately improve your blood circulation and set the mood firmly to positive.

In this episode of the Hot Box we celebrate the life and music of Art Blakey whose centennial was not so long ago. We find ourselves in very unfamiliar times, gigs and festivals have been cancelled the wold over which means no work for thousands of jazz musicians who rely on live performances to earn a crust. Perhaps we can help by purchasing their recordings so check out the  Jazz Ireland Shop fo...

Welcome to The Hot Box #056 where we delve into the Piano in the key of W. We are getting to the end of the piano files and who knows what comes next. The W file is a very big file with so many great players that we might run into two episodes, which it gives us an opportunity to hear some slightly longer pieces that we would have had to cut out for the sake of time.

A nice big band welcome to the 55th edition of the Hot Box. The big success of Zandra Queen of Jazz from Darn Skippy Productions at the Smock Alley Theatre Dublin put me in mind to make an edition of the hot box centred on women in jazz. A fascinating glimpse into another world and caused me to reflect on the status of women in the jazz world over time. So far as I am aware there are no recorded p...