Yurodny

As depicted in the memoirs of Dmitri Shostakovich, the Yurodny were nomadic bards who collectively embodied the folk music of ancient Russia, similar to the traveling musicians of Irish folklore. It's also the latest project from the ever productive Nick Roth, whose positivity has yielded a diverse range of Irish music collectives, including the boundary stretching Kai Big Band and the Balkan inspired group Hora.

Yurodny takes up where Hora left off, and represents a further expression of Roth's emerging identity, where the rich folk music of the East creates the context for jazz improvisation and composition. With its unusual but highly effective palette of two violins, cello, double bass, saxophone, trombone and drums,

Yurodny doffs its cap to the angular line ups of New York's downtown scene, but bittersweet melodies and infectious Balkan rhythms put paid to the notion that this is an exercise in heavily coded materials.

Together, this septet drawn from the growing cohort of exceptional young European players based here will take you down the road less traveled, borrowing freely from the rich traditions of Eastern Europe's gypsy and Jewish diasporas with their own Irish jazz flavour.

L'Chaim!