Irish Women in Jazz

Join us in March 2025 at The Cooler, Dublin, where host Jennifer McMahon chats with Hayley Kavanagh (saxophone, Cookin' Dublin) for the Irish Women in Jazz podcast.

Get to know a bit more about Hayley's musical journey from Ireland to Prague, Berlin and back home again!

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Hayley can be found at @hayleykavanaghmusic and @cookindublinjazz on Instagram

Kindly supported by the Irish Arts Council

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Aleka Potinga is a classically trained cellist, jazz trained vocalist, lecturer at Dublin's DCU and director of The Dublin Jazz Co-op. Originally from Romania, Aleka has been living in Dublin for almost 15 years. She lives in the city with her husband, jazz guitarist Chris Guilfoyle. She is an active performer and composer and was our featured artist for the live Podcast and gig series at the Dublin Liberties Distillery back in early May 2025.

Join Aleka and our host, Jennifer McMahon (vocalist, performer and founder of IWIJ) as they discuss the gig, the unique set of music performed and topics around gender balance and questioning our biases.

Featuring a live version of 'Don't Explain' by Billie Holiday recorded for Kaleidoscope a couple of years back.

Follow Aleka for more on @alekapotinga

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https://irishwomeninjazz.ie/

https://www.instagram.com/irish_women_in_jazz/

The Irish Women in Jazz Podcast LIVE Presents Jazzabelles. 

Recorded on April 5th 2023 at Arthur's Jazz & Blues Club in Dublin. Hosted by Jennifer McMahon featuring guests from the evening's act, Jazzabelles. 

JAZZABELLES are an all-women Jazz collective including vocals (Pauline Quinn), Violin (Enid Conaghan), Saxophone (Hannah Levy), Trumpet (Aoife Cullen), Piano (Zane Lidaka), Bass (Beatrice Metzler) and Drums (Miranda Gallacher). Formed in 2021 the band’s aim is to make a difference and encourage more female artists to take part in Jam sessions, festivals and live events. 

Introducing Jazz to a wider audience is one of the paramount goals of their endeavour. Jazzabelles pride themselves on playing standards with a fresh, sensitive and collaborative approach so listeners can recognise and relate to the music instantly!

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On July 18th 2025, American vibraphone player Sasha Berliner played a solo set at Dublin's 'The Cooler', hosted by the Improvised Music Company. Irish Women in Jazz's Jennifer McMahon was invited along to have a chat with Sasha ahead of her debut Irish tour.

Stick on the kettle and join us....

Sasha Berliner
https://www.sashaberlinermusic.com
Instagram: @sashaberliner

Improvised Music
https://www.improvisedmusic.ie
Instagram: @improvisedmusic

With thanks to the Irish Arts Council for supporting this podcast

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Est. in January 2022, Irish Women in Jazz was created to empower, support and elevate female and female identifying jazz musicians in Ireland. It aims to be a place to connect and commune with fellow musicians, take part in educational and professional opportunities and advance a more balanced representation across the scene in terms of gender.

This podcast is an 8 episode series accompanying the IWIJ series at The Dublin Jazz Co-op curated by Jennifer McMahon in September/ October 2022.

Ahead of their performance at The Dublin Jazz Co-op, Jennifer spoke to ReRoute Duo, a Kildare based jazz duo comprised of vocalist Rufina Tishina and guitarist Emily O'Rourke. Often complimented on the warm and inviting atmosphere of their performances, ReRoute are best known for their intimate shows of lyrical, sincere music. 

ReRoute played The Dublin Jazz Co-op on September 25th 2022.

Follow ReRoute for more:
https://www.instagram.com/reroute_duo/

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Join our host, Jennifer McMahon as she chats with vocalist, educator and newly graduated music therapist, Fiadh Rua Gregg. 

Fiadh shares her journey so far, lets us into the Shy Mascot world and even gave us a sneak peak at the bands new single, Prince Lotor Flow- out May 1st.

If you're heading to Bray Jazz Festival this year, you can catch the band on May 2nd. 

Follow Fiadh for more delicious music here: https://www.instagram.com/fiadhruagregg/

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Ever wondered what it might be like to play the harp? Maybe more specifically, the jazz harp?

Join our host Jennifer McMahon as she chats with Irish harpist, Sorcha Mc Cague back in late 2025. 

Originally from Monaghan, Sorcha studied classical and Irish harp at both the Royal Irish Academy of Music and TU Dublin. Since 2018 though, she turned her focus to performing and popularising the inclusion of the harp in the more atypical world music and improvised music setting. She has collaborated with a host of rising jazz artists across Europe.

A featured artist in our musician-run series, Sorcha is making waves in the Irish jazz scene. Tune in to hear a bit about what she's up to, upcoming recording plans and the incredible diversity of the harp.

This podcast is kindly supported by The Arts Council Ireland 

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Tune in to the Irish Women in Jazz podcast from Dublin, where host Jennifer McMahon chats to vocalist, educator and community music practitioner, Pia Dunne about her life in music so far, facilitating the Peer 2 Peer workshop on 'Circle Songs' and what it means to share music with others. 

Read more about Pia here: https://pia-dunne.com/

This podcast is kindly supported by The Arts Council Ireland 

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Join us in Dublin in December where host, Jennifer McMahon chats with emerging artist Emily Jane about how 2025 saw her debut EP release, radio features and navigating a career as an independent musician having recently graduated from the DCU jazz and contemporary music programme. 

'To Promenade' is available to listen to and purchase from Bandcamp: https://emilyjane1999.bandcamp.com/album/to-promenade

More on Emily Jane: https://irishwomeninjazz.ie/home/featured-artists/emily-jane/

This podcast is kindly supported by The Arts Council Ireland 

Follow us for more: 

https://irishwomeninjazz.ie/

https://www.instagram.com/irish_women_in_jazz/