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About Us

Improvised Music Company (IMC) is a not for profit organisation for jazz and related music, established by Irish jazz musicians and supporters in 1991. Today, we’re Ireland’s largest specialist music producer and resource with a hands on involvement in many aspects of music making throughout the island from festival programming, concert promotion, touring, recording, education and audience development.

Our Concert Programme

With over 100 shows annually, IMC’s concert programme is the backbone of the live scene for jazz and related music in Ireland. We believe jazz is a broad church that embraces many different accents and we’ve had the pleasure of working with some of its greatest voices, from musicians of now historical significance like Elvin Jones and NHOP to presenting Irish debuts by emerging artists like Chris Potter, Bugge Wesseltoft and EST, all of whom we’ve continued to work with and develop. Our jazz presentations range from intimate spaces like Dublin’s JJ Smyths and Whelans to major venues like Vicar Street, which played host to our award winning ECM:05 Concert Series with major European artists like Tomasz Stanko and Louis Sclavis.

We’re also Ireland’s foremost producer of world music, though we confess that it’s a term with which we’re rather uncomfortable. We like to think of it as other people’s folk music, though we often present our own, including groups like Altan and The Kilfenora Ceili Band. We view our work in this area as socially significant, both as an endorsement of Ireland’s growing multiculturalism, and as a contributor to the conservation of musical diversity in a time of increasing global homogeneity.

To help us, we enlist great artists who articulate a simple and very old truth about music and its ability to move audiences regardless of language, race, faith or gender. Mariza, Youssou N’Dour, Tinariwen, Hermeto Pascoal, Mahala Rai Banda, Afel Bocoum, Frifot and Chris Wood are among the great artists from across the globe who’ve recently illuminated Dublin stages for us. We don’t confine our activities to Dublin however, and our Soundings Touring partnership delivers tours nationally and includes venues such as Bray's Mermaid, Cork’s Triskel and Navan’s Solstice, and independent promoters like Sligo Jazz Project and Limerick Jazz Society.

Our Festival

Previously, IMC has been the producer of ESB Dublin Jazz Festival, the last edition of which took place in 2003. Artistically successful as EDJF was, in 2007 we’ve replaced it with a new festival that we be believe will have important implications for jazz in Ireland and throughout the EU, and it takes place every March and is called 12 Points! While The title is an affectionate jibe at Eurovision, this is an ambitious event that brings twelve of Europe’s most exciting emerging jazz ensembles to Dublin for equal parts festival and industry showcase in a sociable environment that encourages cultural first contact for young musicians from across Europe. Highlights of our inaugural 12 Points! In 2007 included Stockholm’s Nils Berg, Berlin’s Carsten Daerr Trio and Helsinki’s Ilmiliekki, and we’re looking forward to what the class of 2008 will bring.

Our Club

There hasn’t been a Sunday night in the last decade when we weren’t hosting a concert as part of our Pendulum Club, first established in the basement of Brogans of Dame Street in June 1996, though our home for the last five years has been JJ Smyth’s of Aungier Street. With live performance seven nights a week, JJ’s is Dublin’s premier venue for jazz and blues and The Pendulum every Sunday is the jewel in its crown. At eighty seats, JJs allows the most intimate and creative exchange between artists and their audience, and the Dubliners who come here are both knowledgeable and appreciative of musical authenticity and creativity. In addition to playing host to the finest domestic working groups, The Pendulum has been the catalyst for many memorable encounters between leading Irish musicians and their international counterparts, and recent names added to its rollcall of illustrious visitors include Dutch guitarist Jesse Van Ruller and US saxophonist Loren Stillman.

Our Artist Services

While we’re primarily recognized for our concert programmes, IMC also provides important resource services to the Irish jazz community. We host an annual Irish Jazz Forum, and our RTS (Regional Touring Support) programme provides direct financial support to Irish based musicians for the delivery of exciting new touring projects. Working closely with educational institutions like Newark Music Centre, we present masterclasses and seminars for early/mid career jazz musicians, and our INTRO Development Tour, held every two years, provides young Irish players with a challenging and ultimately rewarding development opportunity under the mentorship of an internationally recognized jazz artist. Additionally, we’ve published eighteen CDs by Irish jazz musicians, and though less active in this area than in previous years, we do support young musicians in both recording and launching their debut CDs. Other recent initiatives include research on the economic environment for Irish jazz musicians, published in 2005.

Our Agency

Since 2006, IMC has been representing leading Irish musicians for the domestic and international market through our agency IMC Artists, and our roster embraces the best working groups in the island, including White Rocket, Microclimate, Dunne &[ Hernandez, Phil Ware Trio, Fuzzy Logic and others. IMC Artists is a dedicated bureau within our organization, and has enjoyed considerable success in generating performance opportunity for our artists at major festivals and venues.

Our Clients and Partners

IMC is revenue funded by The Arts Council, and we also work in partnership with a wide range of Irish agencies such as Culture Ireland to deliver our performance programmes. Our network of European partners is extensive, ranging from France’s AFIJMA to Sweden’s Rikskonserter, and we often co-operate closely with cultural agencies based in Ireland such as Alliance Francais and The Goethe Institute, while our media partners include The Irish Times and RTE Lyric FM. IMC is also the Irish representative of The Europe Jazz Network (EJN) the association of promoters, musicians' associations, artistic directors and festivals in Europe working in the field of jazz and improvised music.

IMC also has extensive experience in curating and producing bespoke music events, and our corporate sponsors and clients include ESB, with whom we had the great pleasure to present ESB Dublin Jazz Festival and the world music series ESB Routes in Rhythm, and Office of Public Works, for whom we currently produce The Farmleigh Affair, a free outdoor festival for an audience of 4,000 held in the picturesque Farmleigh Estate every August.

Recent Awards

IMC is recipient of The DAA Special Arts Award at The Allianz Business2Arts Awards 2006 for its work with The Jazz Architects, a grouping of seven leading Irish architectural practices, to present a concert series focusing on the renowned European record label ECM. IMC was commended by the judges “for creating an imaginative sponsorship programme of collective support for jazz events in Ireland. The support of the Jazz Architects, along with other cultural and media support, helped to give Dublin audiences access to an international concert programme of the highest calibre.”