Ronan Guilfoyle is a major figure on the Irish jazz scene and has developed an international reputation as a performer, teacher and composer.

He began his career with Louis Stewart’s group in the early 1980’s and studied at the Banff Centre for the Arts in 1986 and 1987 where his teachers included John Abercrombie, Dave Holland, and Steve Coleman.
Performing on the acoustic bass guitar since the early 1980s, Ronan is now one of the instrument’s leading exponents, and is now much in demand as a bassist, both in his native Ireland and on the international jazz scene. Among the people he has performed with are Dave Liebman, Kenny Werner, Joe Lovano, Kenny Wheeler, Keith Copeland, Brad Mehldau, John Abercrombie, Larry Coryell, Benny Golson, Jim McNeely, Sonny Fortune, Andrea Keller, Andy Laster, Emily Remler, Simon Nabatov, Richie Beirach, and Tom Rainey.

Copyright by Ronan Guilfoyle

He has also been leading his own groups since the mid 1980s, and his groups have toured extensively in Europe, Asia, and North America. He has recorded extensively both as a sideman and as a leader and his output includes the award winning “Devsirme” in 1997. Ronan has been composing for classical ensembles since 1993, specialising in compositions which feature both improvised and written music. He has had great success in this field and has now a large body of work that ranges from solo piano pieces, to chamber works, to orchestral compositions.

He has had commissions from a wide range of ensembles and organisations including the RTE Concert Orchestra in Dublin, The Opus 20 String Orchestra in London, and the European Jazz Youth Orchestra. He has also been commissioned to write works for many great soloists including the saxophonist David Liebman, the violinist Michael D’arcy and the virtuoso accordionist Dermot Dunne. Ronan has also acquired a formidable reputation as a composer in the world of contemporary jazz, and his music has been performed by such jazz luminaries as Dave Liebman, Kenny Werner, Kenny Wheeler, Keith Copeland, John Abercrombie, Andy Laster, Simon Nabatov, Richie Beirach, Tom Rainey, Julian Arguelles, Rick Peckham, and Sonny Fortune. In 1997 he won the Julius Hemphill Jazz Composition Competition in the United States.

Over the past 10 years Ronan has become very well known for the teaching of advanced rhythmic techniques for jazz improvisation and his book, “Creative Rhythmic Concepts for Jazz Improvisation” which covers such areas as metric modulation and odd metre playing, is now seen as the standard text for this area. He has been invited to teach this subject at many schools around the world including Berklee College of Music, The New School, and is an associate Artist of the Royal Academy of Music in London, and has also lectured on it for the International Music Congress (UNESCO) in Copenhagen. Ronan is the Director of The Centre for Jazz Performance Studies at Dublin City University, and is a member of Aosdána.

Martin’s uilleann piping has taken him throughout Europe and the UK, India, Australia, New Zealand, the USA and Canada, from the Lincoln Center for the Arts in New York to the national theatres of Ireland and England and concert halls across the Indian subcontinent.


Copyright by Martin Nolan

Respected in the Irish traditional scene, he has also played alongside jazz greats such as Dave Liebman, the late Michael Brecker, Ronan Guilfoyle, Conor Guilfoyle, Tommy Halferty, Michael Buckley and the Boclé Brothers. Other collaborative work includes virtuoso Hungarian violinist Zoltan Lantos and Japanese performance artist Keiji Heino. Born in Dublin, Ireland, it was here Martin took his first lessons from John Keenan Sr, the father of well-known piper Paddy Keenan. Martin’s playing is strongly influenced by the ‘travelling style’ of piping, which employs legato and staccato techniques, elements which are heard to great effect in his playing. ’Martin Nolan’s pipes… caught the eddies, ducking and diving alongside the jazz lines with nervy agility… The wedding of sax and pipes was particularly spectacular.’
Irish Times 

‘Martin Nolan is a noted piper and composer whose openness and receptiveness to new ideas has taken him and his pipes around the world.’
The Sunday Tribune (Dublin) ’Well-versed in the tradition of his instrument, Martin is constantly expanding its repertoire by playing in unusual contexts.’
The Event Guide (Dublin)

Peter Browne is an accordionist and composer from Dublin. He has been playing traditional music since the age of 6 and has won numerous Fleadhs and accordion competitions over the years.

Copyright by Peter Browne

Throughout his career he has found himself in an array of different musical settings such as traditional irish music, jazz, tango, Indian and free improvised line ups resulting in a multi-faceted approach on the instrument. He studied jazz at Newpark Music Centre and has given workshops at many festivals and colleges, and is currently the accordion teacher in Maynooth University. 

He has toured Asia, the US, and Europe and has performed and recorded with the likes of Arty McGlynn, Slide, Bully’s Acre, Camille O’Sullivan, At First Light, Stockton’s Wing, , Daoiri Farrell, Tony Kenny, Kila, The Fury Brothers, Janette Byrne The RTE Concert Orchestra, Khanda, Freddie White and more recently with his own self-titled band. He launched his debut solo traditional album Sidewinder in 2018 and is currently working on an album of his own works. He has played festivals such as the Ennis Trad Festival, the Frankie Kennedy Winter school, The Pan Celtic Festival, The Trip to Birmingham, Expo and The Cork Jazz Festival.