The 11th edition of The Hot Box takes a new turn on the A-Z of pianists, and digresses to pay tribute to the recently deceased guitar hero Larry Coryell, who died on February 19th, not long after declaring that he wished to come and settle in Ireland! His dislike of the recent political events in the USA were well publicised. He is a sad loss to the jazz world, and The Hot Box has mined the archives for 2 pieces recorded with a quartet (including Fintan O’Neill) in Dublin back in 2004.

On the keyboard front, we feature New York-based Dubliner Justin Carroll, both in quartet format on piano and with his well-liked organ trio Organics. Other C pianists are Chick Corea, with his double Grammy-winning album Trilogy, Bill Charlap who has a beautiful new album out entitled Notes from New York, Gerald Clayton, Billy Childs (also a new album, Rebirth), Michel Camilo, and the wildest card, Ray Charles. The latter features on the show in a reminiscence of his band’s stay in Dublin whilst making a movie in Ardmore in 1964. Happily, this month also coincides with a never-before released recording by that big band, of a concert in Zurich in 1961.

A great mix of music running 80 minutes.