The enchantment of traditional Irish music with all its mystery and beauty in the ancient sounds, and the power of jazz-rock, came together last night in the Hawk's Well at the Sligo Jazz Festival in a double bill that saw the live debut of The Olllam, and a rare glimpse of London-born bassist Janek Gwizdala appearing in a trio with Sligo guitarist and educator Michael Nielsen and drummer Stephen ‘Dakiz’ Davis, best known for his work with Matthew Bourne.

The two bands could not have been more different. The Olllam, an old Irish word, according to the festival programme “which refers to a master of a particular trade or skill”, are a new six-piece Irish-American band based around the front line of the great Belfast uilleann piper John McSherry, who is revered for his work with Lúnasa in the late-1990s, and relative newcomer Detroit piper/whistler Tyler Duncan. McSherry and Duncan played unison low whistle for much of the early part of the set before McSherry began to switch to the pipes although sometimes the two would play gloriously in unison on pipes as well at great tempo with nuanced expression and formidable control while the drums of Michael Shimmin, the keyboards, electric bass, and guitar supported this virtuosity. The sound successfully merges say the 1980s folk-rock of Moving Hearts with alt.rock or even pop. Occasionally the keyboards provided some darker textures, almost in a Lana Del Rey ‘Video Games’ vein, and McSherry and Duncan were ably supported by some very listenable acoustic guitar. Highlights for me included the catchy ‘Bridge of Glllass’, (the band likes its triple ‘l’s) which appeared on The Olllam’s eponymous debut last year. The sections when McSherry was on pipes and Duncan low whistle really caught fire.

Gwizdala, a different kind of jazz rock fusion player to Victor Wooten performing the previous night (he shares more similarities with Richard Bona perhaps), opened last night’s concert in a highly confident manner, and early on in the trio’s set there was a long stretched out rocket science improvisation that augured well based around a tantalising laidbeat beat. It became more of a Gwizdala show later as the electric bassist showed off his considerable chops on his own sometimes using pre-recorded sounds to improvise against as well as adding his own vocals in places. He was best on the more ballad-like numbers, and songs in the relatively short set included ‘Chicago Opener’ from his new album Theatre by the Sea.
Stephen Graham