The Riverbank Arts Centre in Newbridge has an exciting season of music coming up, featuring Sharon Shannon, Gerry Diver's Speech Project, Scullion and the Gloaming, the Unusual History of Ether, Julie Feeney, Mick Coady's Synergy

Composer, multi-instrumentalist and tireless cross-platform collaborator, Seán Mac Erlaine has released a new solo album, on the Ergodos label, called Long After The Music Is Gone.

Australian improvising trio play Whelan's in Dublin, without support, on 15 September.

The Improvised Music Company plays with the anti-jazz protests in 1930s to promote contemporary Irish jazz acts in a Temple Bar festival.

Chris Guilfoyle's arrangement for jazz quartet of Gaspard de la nuit will be performed on 15 August.

Composition-driven jazz group Rhombus will play a selection of original music that explores the connections between jazz and contemporary classical music at the National Concert Hall.

The Classical, Music and Wired strands all focus on artists that fuse or defy genres, with an eclectic mix of international and Irish music.

International jazz and world music acts come together for a week of fusion concerts and masterclasses in Sligo.

Dublin jazz ensemble Rhombus, led by Dennis Wyers, will perform a concert exploring the connection between meditation and improvisation on 10 July.

Ensemble Ériu is a new project developed by concertina player Jack Talty and double bass and flute player Neil O’Loghlen to combine a wide range of influences and musicians from many backgrounds and create 'contemporary settings for Ir

Leafzang is an instrumental sextet led by Paddy Groenland on guitar, with Lioba Petrie, Matthew Berrill, Matthew Halpin, Neil O'Loghlen, and Andre Antunes, which takes its cue 'from ECM European jazz and soundrack-like atmospheric

The long-running weekly jazz session at JJ Smyths jazz and blues venue will come to a close with a final gig on Thursday, 7 June.

Irish jazz festival awarded for its innovative and adventurous programming

Improvising drummer known for collaborations with Evan Parker and Harry Beckett died from cancer earlier this month in London.

Peruvian singer Susana Baca and Norwegian Tord Gustavsen Trio to headline Bray Jazz Festival 2012

The line-up has been announced for the Ballydehob Jazz Festival in May.

Recent recordings by RedivideR, Lauren Kinsella and Alex Huber, and Francesco Turrisi's Zahr suggest three different leadership styles in improvised music.

Whirligig, one of a series of similar events organised by the Improvised Music Company, will feature two groups on Thursday, 29 March, at the Workman's Club, Dublin.

The Radisson Blu Hotel, Golden Lane, Dublin 8, is hosting live jazz, swing and bossa nova performances every Friday in March, April and May. Admission is free.

American jazz trio the Bad Plus will perform Stravinsky's Rite of Spring in Dublin.

Stephen Graham talks to composer and jazz musician Dylan Rynhart ahead of his Fuzzy Logic 3D Audio concert at Dublin's Centre for Creative Practices on 29 February.

The Dutch-based jazz group is co-led by Irish bassist Johnny Daly and New York guitarist Dan Nicholas, performing a one-off concert in Dublin on Saturday, 4 February.

Patrick Groenland talks to the young virtuoso pianist shortly before a performance in the John Field Room at the NCH

Patrick Groenland rounds up Jazz and World music concerts and a number of opportunities for musicians.

Patrick Groenland on upcoming improvised music events and jazz news including Ana Moura, Reggie Watts, Tigran Hamasyan and win tickets to 12 Points! in Portugal.

Patrick Groenland listens to five recent releases by Tigran Hamasyan, The Unusual History of Ether, Sinikka Langeland, Keith Jarrett and Graham Reynolds.

Patrick Groenland on upcoming improvised music events and news, competition and performance opportunities and news from the Arts Council.

Patrick Groenland listens to the latest Béla Fleck and the Flecktones studio album, ahead of their Dublin performance in January.

What has happened to the solo in jazz?

She is the recipient of numerous awards for her music, including Michel Legrand's Personal Award in Vitebsk in 1994, several Polish music awards and multiple gold and platinum records.

Each year, young Irish musicians travel to Banff for the three-week course, and has resulted in many musical collaborations and relationships. Applications to this year's program are now being accepted.

A champion of the American Songbook, the many musicians he played with regularly included the saxophonist Joe Lovano and the guitarist Bill Frisell; pianists and Masabumi Kikuchi; saxophonists Greg Osby, Chris Potter and Mark Turner.

The mini-festival will highlight the wide range of jazz and improvised music that is already happening in Dublin, as well as showcasing bands and musicians from Leeds, Cork and Paris.

Playing solo brings a whole set of musical problems. How do you balance the musical elements? How do you develop ideas?

Irish jazz musicians could be contributing a distinct Irish sound to the international scene, writes Patrick Groenland after a hearing a festival of European jazz.

Counterpoint in music – as much a concept as a technique – has been with us for centuries, from the twelfth-century vocal music of Léonin to the playlists on our iPods. But what is really at the heart of the idea?

Mary Halvorson's music expands the definition of free jazz rather than fitting neatly into the genre.

Commissioned to compose a work in response to 9/11, John Adams confronted the question: can modern classical music still be the transcendental force we need it to be? by Barra Ó Séaghdha

Kevin Stevens travels to Ethiopia to find a tradition that has flourished against the odds.

The digital medium will set radio free, but will it change the essence of radio, asks Benedict Schlepper-Connolly

The direct impact the new digital culture is having on music, in terms of access, dissemination and copyright, is well documented, but the indirect impact less so.

Breandán Ó hEaghra tells how he discovers new sounds

When innovative music is seen as a moral threat to society

Classical/Early   CD Review Andrew McGregor Sat, 9:00am www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/cdreview/Classical Collection Sarah Walker Mon–Fri, 10:00am www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/classicalcollection Composer of the Week Donal...

Mark O’Leary, Glucksman Gallery, Cork, 27 August 2009