Paul G. Smyth at 50

About the event

Doors 7:45 PM, Music 8:30 PM - 3 set(s) of music Line-up: Paul G. Smyth - piano Benedict Taylor - viola Daniel Thompson - guitar Áine O’Dwyer - harp John Edwards - bass Mark Sanders - drums About “one of the great contemporary pianists” - The Free Jazz Collective To mark his 50th birthday, one of Ireland's most distinctive improvising pianists, Paul G. Smyth, returns to the Vortex for an evening of sets with old friends and close collaborators. Described by The New York City Jazz Record as "a revelation" whose "approach to the piano is utterly original," Smyth has released critically acclaimed albums with Peter Brötzmann, Evan Parker, Chris Corsano, John Wiese and John Russell on his Weekertoft label and has performed across Europe with Charles Gayle, Derek Bailey, Keiji Haino, Wadada Leo Smith and Okkyung Lee. The evening opens with Smyth’s “newest trio with oldest friends,” featuring violist Benedict Taylor and guitarist Daniel Thompson. Taylor is a composer and improviser whose work extends across contemporary dance, film, theatre and art installation. Thompson, founder of Empty Birdcage Records and co-organiser of the Shoreditch Church Concert Series alongside Taylor, has collaborated with Evan Parker, John Edwards, Steve Noble and Alex Ward among many others. Áine O’Dwyer is a multi-disciplinary artist, a musician, composer and performer whose work is informed by both the conceptual concerns of sound-art and traditional compositional techniques, embracing the broader aesthetics of sound and its relationship to environment, time, audience and architecture. The breadth of her practice makes this first-time duo a very exciting prospect. Smyth’s long-standing trio with bassist John Edwards and drummer Mark Sanders has been making what The Morning Star called the “music of an awakened universe” for more than a decade. Edwards, active since the 1980s, is one of Europe's most renowned players in creative free jazz, with collaborations including Peter Brötzmann, Joe McPhee, Evan Parker and Roscoe Mitchell. Sanders brings a career spanning multiple genres to his free improvisation work, having performed with Roscoe Mitchell, Wadada Leo Smith, Derek Bailey and Shabaka Hutchings, and appears on over 170 releases. This trio continues to push their music into deeper levels of interplay and imagination with each reunion. Join us at the Vortex on 11 June to celebrate fifty years of one of Ireland's most distinctive musicians. Photo credit: Dawid Laskowski