Ronan Guilfoyle profile picture

Ronan Guilfoyle

Ronan Guilfoyle

About Me

Welcome to my Myspace page - there's some music and videos here, and there's a lot more on my website - www.ronanguilfoyle.com

Acoustic bass guitarist Ronan Guilfoyle is a major figure on the Irish jazz scene and has developed an international reputation as a performer, teacher and composer. He began his career with Louis Stewart's group in the early 1980's and studied at the Banff Centre for the Arts in 1986 and 1987 where his teachers included John Abercrombie, Dave Holland, and Steve Coleman.

Performing on the acoustic bass guitar since the early 1980s, Ronan is now one of the instrument's leading exponents, and is now much in demand as a bassist, both in his native Ireland and on the international jazz scene. Among the people he has performed with are Dave Liebman, Kenny Werner, Joe Lovano, Kenny Wheeler, Keith Copeland, Brad Mehldau, John Abercrombie, Larry Coryell, Benny Golson, Jim McNeely, Sonny Fortune, Andy Laster, Simon Nabatov, Richie Beirach, and Tom Rainey. He has also been leading his own groups since the mid 1980s, and his groups have toured extensively in Europe, Asia, and North America. He has recorded extensively both as a sideman and as a leader and his output includes the award winning "Devsirme" in 1997.

Ronan has been composing for classical ensembles since 1993, specialising in compositions which feature both improvised and written music. He has had great success in this field and has now a large body of work that ranges from solo piano pieces, to chamber works, to orchestral compositions. He has had commissions from a wide range of ensembles and organisations including the RTE Concert Orchestra in Dublin, The Opus 20 String Orchestra in London, and the European Jazz Youth Orchestra. He has also been commissioned to write works for many great soloists including the saxophonist David Liebman, the violinist Michael D'arcy and the virtuoso accordionist Dermot Dunne.

Ronan has also acquired a formidable reputation as a composer in the world of contemporary jazz, and his music has been performed by such jazz luminaries as Dave Liebman, Kenny Werner, Kenny Wheeler, Keith Copeland, John Abercrombie, Andy Laster, Simon Nabatov, Richie Beirach, Tom Rainey, Julian Arguelles, Rick Peckham, and Sonny Fortune. In 1997 he won the Julius Hemphill Jazz Composition Competition in the United States.

Over the past 10 years Ronan has become very well known for the teaching of advanced rhythmic techniques for jazz improvisation and his book, "Creative Rhythmic Concepts for Jazz Improvisation" which covers such areas as metric modulation and odd metre playing, is now seen as the standard text for this area. He has been invited to teach this subject at many schools around the world including Berklee College of Music, The New School, and is an associate Artist of the Royal Academy of Music in London, and has also lectured on it for the International Music Congress (UNESCO) in Copenhagen. Ronan is the founder of and head of the jazz department at Newpark Music Centre in Dublin, the only school offering post-secondary jazz education in Ireland.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 11/18/2006
Band Website: ronanguilfoyle.com
Record Label: unsigned
Type of Label: None

My Blog

The Art and Science of Time II

Over the course of the next 6 to 8 months I'll be putting together my next book and DVD on rhythm, which will be entitled 'The Art and Science of Time". Unlike Creative Rhythmic Concepts for Jazz Impr...
Posted by Ronan Guilfoyle on Thu, 13 Sep 2007 03:20:00 PST

Latest News and Upcoming Events

Premiere of 'Hand Head Heart'On August 25th next, as part of a week of celebrations in Dublin of the great Dave Liebman's 60th Year, Ronan will perform the premiere of 'Hand Head Heart', an extended s...
Posted by Ronan Guilfoyle on Sat, 18 Aug 2007 11:37:00 PST

Videos on Youtube

Hi everyone,Just a quick note that I've uploaded some videos onto Youtube:Two excerpts from a performance by Simulacrum, my double trio (stringand guitar) featuring Dominique Pifarély (vln), Tanya Kal...
Posted by Ronan Guilfoyle on Sun, 29 Apr 2007 12:15:00 PST

Ronan has been appointed Artistic Director of the 2007 RTÉ Living Music Festival!

Ronan has been appointed Artistic Director of the 2007 RTÉ Living Music Festival in Dublin. The 2007 event in this highly prestigious and successful contempory music festival series will be a major ce...
Posted by Ronan Guilfoyle on Fri, 01 Dec 2006 05:57:00 PST

What is Jazz?

This question has not only been asked ever since the J word was associated with an emerging musical form, but is also almost certainly guaranteed to raise a groan from the reader of any essay which us...
Posted by Ronan Guilfoyle on Sat, 18 Nov 2006 01:48:00 PST