The Goo 1
Interview Words: Billy O’Hanluain DAVE REDMOND Da
ve Redmond’s unmistakably rich tone and innate sense of groove have anchored the sound of many seminal Irish jazz combos over the past two decades, playing alongside Irish legends Louis Stewart, Tommy Halferty, and Phil Ware while also holding his own with international players, George Colligan, Larry Coryell, and Seamus Blake. Stepping into the limelight to launch his second album as leader “All in Motion”, and ahead of an Irish and UK tour with his new, allstar band, Redmond takes time out to talk to The Goo. This year has seen you packing out some of Europe’s most prestigious jazz clubs as part of the Dana Master’s quartet, touring with heavy weights Seamus 26 Blake and Bill Carrothers, and releasing your second album as leader “All in Motion”, but let’s rewind the clock a little and talk about how you first got started in music…. Sure, some of my earliest memories are listening to music, it was always on in the house, my mother had a big record collection with stuff like Stevie Wonder and Neil Young. I took up bass guitar around 15, a family friend Paul Ashford from the band Stepaside gave me my first lessons. I’d get the bus into his office on Westmoreland St and learn 3 chord blues lines. I still remember him saying “I think you have an aptitude for this”, it was a great feeling. From there I went to The Newpark Music Centre and got exposed to jazz. How important was Newpark to you in your formation as a musician? Many other players, who have since emerged as prominent Irish jazz musicians, were studying there at the same time as you, Darragh O Kelly, Justin Carrol, and Sean Carpio… Yep, Darragh and Sean were in my year along with many other great musicians, so it was very inspiring to not only have great teachers but to hang out and play with like-minded people, in fact I still play and hang out with them ha-ha! Myself, Justin and Sean even shared a house together in town for about a year. We often played together and discovered lots of new music together. I also met Phil Ware at this time, he was one of the teachers in Newpark, and through Phil I met Kevin Brady.