Sligo Jazz Project’s annual event is one of Europe’s most unique festivals, built around Europe’s premier jazz summer school. This year Sligo Jazz Project has 33 tutors and attracts over one hundred and twenty participants annually, with six days of workshops, masterclasses, jam sessions and concerts. The core audience at all the events consists of musicians of all ages who are attending the summer school events, jamming the evenings away, and makes for an atmosphere like no other festival. As a consequence, the empathy that builds throughout this week is quite extraordinary. Participants attend workshops each day, perform together in ensembles, a wonderful facet of this week, when it spills over into our twice daily jam sessions, which feature participants and tutors alike.
But hang on, to use the term “tutors” is a massive understatement
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Sligo Jazz Project’s annual event is one of Europe’s most unique festivals, built around Europe’s premier jazz summer school. This year Sligo Jazz Project has 33 tutors and attracts over one hundred and twenty participants annually, with six days of workshops, masterclasses, jam sessions and concerts. The core audience at all the events consists of musicians of all ages who are attending the summer school events, jamming the evenings away, and makes for an atmosphere like no other festival. As a consequence, the empathy that builds throughout this week is quite extraordinary. Participants attend workshops each day, perform together in ensembles, a wonderful facet of this week, when it spills over into our twice daily jam sessions, which feature participants and tutors alike.
But hang on, to use the term “tutors” is a massive understatement. We really need to elucidate about the type of musician that spends the week teaching and performing at Sligo jazz each year. Our 2025 faculty features musicians who have performed with Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, Thad Jones, Michael Bublé, Paul McCartney, Hans Zimmer, Stevie Wonder, WDR Big Band, Kurt Elling, Cockney Rebel, Van Morrison, Mose Allison and Nina Simone. We’ve had Grammy winners and Golden Globe nominees. These are not mere educators but consummate composers, arrangers and performers across a range of idioms. In Sligo you get the opportunity to learn from the masters.
It is these amazing musicians that will perform for you this week, in ever so unpredictable combinations. Catch them jamming with participants and playing concerts, only five of which are pay-in events. With all the free music available, it is easy to avoid the main concerts, but we implore you to get your season ticket for the Hawks’ Well. Theatre, you will not regret it! From the opening concert by Matthew Halpin, our Young Artist in Residence, with a litany of amazing guests, to the annual SJP All Star bash which has become more and more of a sellout each year, with the sheer breadth and variety of our faculty members’ musical abilities on full show. Apart from those main gigs, there is so much great music in pubs and cafes and hotels, not least the amazing Sunday afternoon marathon concert by all the participants. We would recommend catching every minute that you can grab of this exhilarating week!
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