Nigel Mooney

Trying to find a home for Nigel Mooney's rich, luscious guitar licks and expressive vocals has always been a task that Mooney himself has claimed to be 'beyond his remit'. For arguments sake, we take jazz and blues, we bandy about the words guitarist, vocalist and bandleader. We settle on Nigel Mooney - Irish jazz and blues man.

When he first grasped a guitar at the tender age of twelve, Mooney hadn't even considered the social implications of musical genres, but he was damn sure that the guitar moves of Peter Green and Eric Clapton were far superior to the sounds of the more street-cred acts such as The Stranglers and The Sex Pistols. And so, braving the danger of a playground sanctioning for his offbeat musical bent, Mooney gathered a band of like-minded young souls and formed Addis Mopp, who turned out to be absolute legends in their own lunchtimes.

In '76, Mooney brought his blues leanings to the aptly named prog-rock outfit Xanex Overchew, a band ahead of their time if only for the fact that the tranquilliser 'Xanex' had not been invented at that point and their 'Xanex' was merely a made up word that sounded cool. Leaving school, Mooney joined the family wholesale business, but he clung furiously to the blues beat and in '84, having decided that a blues man has to face the music eventually, the day job was abandoned and the real work began. And so the The Gripewater Blues Band was formed. The group soon gathered a large and loyal following, spearheading the blues scene in Ireland and proving that your average white Dublin boy can hold his own when it comes to the blues. Mooney managed to barter a few gigs in J.J. Smyths on Dublin's Aungier Street - a Friday night show in the upstairs room, nestled between the Tuesday night darts and the Saturday night disco. Such was the response from the hungry and often sidelined Irish blues fans, that J.J. himself realised the demand for Gripewater and pints was not to be ignored and so Friday night became blues night and to this day J.J. Smyths is synonymous with the cream of jazz and blues events.

The Gripewater Blues band fuelled the musical passions of a blues starved Irish audience and quickly established themselves as the leading local exponents of the genre, often augmenting the band with the great Irish saxophonist Richie Buckley and English sax supremo Don Weller. As testimony to their genuine talent, The Gripewater Blues Band were invited to play alongside many visiting dignitaries - warming up the crowds for B.B. King at his legendary National Stadium shows, sharing the stage with Dr. John, working with the great blues legends Lowell Fulson and Louisiana Red.

In 1994, the widely acclaimed Irish bandleader Earl Gill was on the look out for a new guitarist and invited Mooney to join with him. Gill was the beloved godfather of the Irish band scene and Mooney decided that the invitation might afford him the opportunity to broaden his horizons and expand his musical style. He stayed with Gill for just under two years before hitting out in '96 with Justin Carroll on hammond organ and Myles Drennan on drums. With their trademark organ and guitar groove, they gave themselves the moniker Hammond Orgasm and became the house band for the Cork Jazz Festival club, a backstage pass that presented Mooney with the golden opportunity to jam with jazz greats such as Joey De Francesco, Russell Malone, Bill Mobley and Bobby Watson amongst numerous others.

It is the guitar that is Mooney's first passion and his musical cohorts in this arena read like a Debretts Who's Who of world renowned jazz guitarists - Mundell Lowe, Howard Alden and Ireland's own Louis Stewart, the list goes on…

Mooney has a long and close association with many jazz and blues men, not least the charismatic pop legend, Georgie Fame. The friends have shared many a stage - be it Mooney on guitars for Georgie at Ronnie Scott's or Georgie returning the favour at one of Mooney's late night sessions in Dublin.

In the late nineties, Mooney joined with Myles Drennan at piano, Dave Fleming on bass and the late great Johnny Wadham on drums. It was within this line up that the embryo of Mooney's current musical style was borne - the blues of the Gripewater Blues Band, the musical melange of his time with Earl Gill, the jazz groove of Hammond Orgasm - The Nigel Mooney Quartet mixed it all up and developed their own unique style and sound. When Irish jazz guitarist Hugh Buckley headed to New York to record an album with American jazz pianist James Williams, Dave and Johnny took the opportunity to travel with him. Ruaidhri O'Donovan replaced Fleming and Shane O'Donovan stepped in for Wadham and Nigel Mooney's band was complete.

The passionate, talented and ambitious four-piece performed a broad and impressive collection of blues and jazz repertoire, alongside some of Mooney's own compositions. The musicians gelled, the musical mix came together and after years as the best man and never the groom, Mooney decided it was time to take the plunge and in Summer 2001 began recording his debut album All My Love's In Vain. The current touring and recording line up is his good self as leader, guitar and vocals, Greg Felton on piano, Ruaidhri O'Donovan on bass and Shane O'Donovan on drums.

Mooney shirks off any aspirations of grandeur, neither claiming nor wishing to inherit titles such as 'Ireland's greatest...' or 'Ireland's most accomplished…' Making music, performing with his band member friends, the excitement of the live show, the rich experiences of playing with some of the world's greatest jazz and blues legends are enough for the Wicklow based artist. He is thoroughly content for his peers to make up their own minds with regards to his debut offering, All My Love's In Vain. The nine-track LP features six self-penned compositions, an original arrangement of a traditional Irish air plus two choice covers from the legendary Robert Johnson. The lead single, Beautiful Day is the opening track on the album and the perfect introduction to Mooney's beautiful record, marrying jazz and blues in one glorious, brazen, delicious sweep.

Dates:

UPCOMING GIGS AUTUMN 2010

Current residencies:

Tuesdays (mostly) 9pm International Bar, Wicklow St., Dublin 2.

Fridays 10pm Brook Lodge Hotel, Co. Wicklow.

Guinness Cork Jazz Festival, October Bank Holiday Weekend

SUNDAY 5th SEPTEMBER 1pm

Macreddin Market, Brook Lodge Hotel.

SATURDAY 11th SEPTEMBER 7.30pm

Goggin's of Monkstown

SATURDAY 18th SEPTEMBER 9pm

J.J. Smyth's, Aungier St., Dublin 2

FRIDAY 1st OCTOBER 9pm

J.J. Smyth's, Aungier St., Dublin 2

FRIDAY 8th OCTOBER 9pm

J.J. Smyth's, Aungier St., Dublin 2

FRIDAY 15th OCTOBER 9pm

J.J. Smyth's, Aungier St., Dublin 2

SATURDAY 23rd OCTOBER 3pm

Metropole Hotel, Macurtain St. Cork. (Cork Jazz Festival)

SATURDAY 18th DECEMBER 9pm

J.J. Smyth's, Aungier St, T.B.C.