Sligo Jazz Project

I run Sligo Jazz Project which hosts an annual summer school (jazz camp for US readers!) in beautiful Yeats Country (yes Wynton is a fan of that poet!), in the North West of Ireland.Myself and a few other musicians decided in 2005 to start running workshops by bringing great musicians here to give workshops and perform. We enlisted the help of Sligo's greatest jazz export at that point, guitarist Mike Nielsen. So we started in OCtober 2005 with a small event with 5 tutors attended by 35 musicians. In 2006 we ran our first summer event and in April that year I returned from holidays having not secured a bass tutor for the August event. I'm a bassist and was delighted to find a package containing the DVD "The Evolving Bassist" by the great Rufus Reid. There was a link to his website, and there to his email. I wrote an email which began "Dear Mr Reid I know this is a long shot but a silent priest never got a parish..." and to my utter disbelief I got a reply within 10 minutes from the great man, "Dear Eddie, its just as well you're not a silent priest..." and so began the growth of a tiny event in the west of Ireland into one of Europe's biggest and most inclusive jazz education events, now happening each July and attracting about a third of its summer visitors from abroad. I've learned so much as a human being as well as a musician from Rufus and the other great musicians we have brought here since. Delighted to report that Rufus will be joining us as Guest of Honour in our 20th birthday celebrations this year (we were formed in 2005). OUr Artist in Residence this year is Melissa Aldana and our 33-strong faculty also includes Freddie Hendrix, Sasha Berliner and Pablo Held. Onwards and upwards!