Neil Ó Lochlainn & Cuar, a wonderful chamber jazz & traditional music trio from Ireland, renowned experimental harpist Rhodri Davies across from Wales and celebrated Bristol trumpeter Pete Judge in a rare solo performance, all framed by Bristol-based Scottish Gaelic singer Ewen MacIntyre.

“Cuar is redefining the possibilities of Irish traditional music and taking it into haunting, imaginatively fertile new terrain” Ian Patterson, All About Jazz 

Neil Ó Lochlainn & Cuar have a searching acoustic approach that stretches and dissolves distinctions between composition & improvisation within Irish traditional music, chamber classical, South Indian Carnatic music & jazz.

Neil draws from a deep well of listening and study; from the traditional music of his county Clare, the fiddle playing of Tommy Potts & Martin Hayes, sean-nós singing and uilleann pipe music to Carnatic Indian classical and the stillness & shaped compositions of Morton Feldman, the folk classical repertoire of Béla Bartók and even downtown jazz adventurism.

For this tour & latest album, Cuar is a trio made with two equally captivating musicians, saxophone & clarinetist Sam Comerford & fiddle player Ultan O’ Brien. Originally from Dublin, Sam is active across Europe’s jazz and improvised music scene, including representing Ireland for two years in the European Saxophone Ensemble. Alongside experimental film & music composition, Ultan released his acclaimed debut album, Dancing the Line, last year on Nyahh Records, and has a rich line of collaborations including Martin Green (Lau), Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin, John Francis Flynn & Laura Jurd.

Cuar have released three albums, including 2022’s Umhaill, which was an Irish Times album of the year. Their most recent work, Tairseach (liminal space), is an imaginative musical conversation with the great fiddle player Tommy Potts’ solo album The Liffey Banks.

“Neil has an instinct and a feel for different strands of music that allows him to create uncompromised musical worlds that speak with real depth and authenticity” - Martin Hayes (The Gloaming)

Harpist Rhodri Davies has been immersed in improvisation, musical experimentation, composition and contemporary classical performance for several decades. With an ever curious & open approach, Rhodri moves through countless sound worlds, across borders both imagined & actual, and brings the harp into new musical territories.

He is one of the leading players in composition and free improvisation and has amassed a diverse catalogue of over 60 recordings including work by Cornelius Cardew, and extensive collaborations including Hen Ogledd, David Toop, Max Eastley, David Sylvian, John Butcher, Derek Bailey & Angharad Davies. Rhodri has had compositions for him by leading avant-garde composers Eliane Radigue, Mieko Shiomi, Phill Niblock & Christian Wolff.

“electrifying, destroying, and rediscovering…arcane forms” The Quietus

Pete Judge

Renowned trumpeter, multi-instrumentalist & composer Pete Judge, of Get The Blessing, Three Cane Whale & JOW, amongst many others, opens the evening with a  rare solo trumpet set, a clarion call for the new year. Stately trumpet lines of lament & renewal which share the grace & reflective air of Norwegian trumpeter Arve Henriksen. A chamber folk music drawing on West Country landscape and the natural world with a delicate focus.

“sounds somewhere between Don Cherry and the UK’s Harry Beckett” -John Fordham, The Guardian

Ewen MacIntyre is a Scottish unaccompanied singer, story teller and versed in the sean-nós tradition too. A strong participant in Bristol song circles & traditional sessions for the last number of years, Ewen's unhurried presence, wit & low drawl takes the floor and echoes balladeers from a long, long tradition.