Freddie Hendrix at Lillies

Stephen Graham
Jazz: The river runs through it. All this week in Sligo – down by the Garavogue

Hard bop’s the highway down at Lillies in the West

The blistering power and contrastive touch of tender is the night balladry from Freddie Hendrix on trumpet and flugelhorn kicked off the 2026 Sligo Jazz Festival yesterday afternoon at Lillies.

They’re behind you: John Goldsby and Darren Beckett are ready for Freddie running through a few tunes before the gig. The Chico Hamilton and Kenny ‘Klook’ Clarke jazz loving Charlie Watts (fourth left in the picture on the wall) with Wyman, the Glimmer Twins and Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones.

Flamboyantly trousered stout sipping Freddie sporting some great eyewear delivered a first set that featured his own organically styled compositions, including ‘Hard Bop Benny‘ and ‘Barbara’ a dedication to the hard bopper’s wife.

The band had the Irishman Paul Dunlea from Cork on trombone; Englishman Gareth Lockrane – no Ron Burgundy, he, and yet the Box of Tricks man, mercifully not literally as per Ron, was on fire – played some jazz flute; Belfast’s Scott Flanigan was on electric piano; Hendrix’ fellow American John Goldsby, known for long tenure in top German outfit the WDR Big Band played double bass; and Flanigan’s fellow Nordie Darren Beckett was on drums. Beckett was on last year’s very wonderful Matt Benson album Sit Back Down Again.
Study in Brown – classic Clifford Brown. Hendrix’ ‘Blues for Clifford B’ still unrecorded inhabited the domain beautifully flavoured in the FH directed setting by trombone, flute and the rhythm section and lit up by a responsively alert Beckett on the kit at Lillies. When Freddie wanted more of a heavy “bomb” drop bebop-functioning motor in the accents the Northern Ireland sticksman was happy to oblige. That’s as witnessed when the band were doing a bit of rehearsal post soundcheck before the main body of punters filed in.

Dedicated to Brownie and lil darlin’ Babs

Fred thread, l-r: Gareth Lockrane, John Goldsby and Darren Beckett. Photos: marlbank

Other highlights featured ‘Blues for Clifford B,’ a piece written to honour Clifford Brown’s legacy by imagining what he would have sounded like had he lived into the 1960s, and a lilting slow-paced song dedicated to Freddie’s wife, Barbara, that utilised such an unsual three-part horn & woodwind front line, like a capsule, slimmed down glimpse of a fuller sound, like you’d get in a nonet or big band ideally. Tunes often sprouted from a strong triplet feel, rippled with Afro-Cuban rudiments, and weren’t afraid to burst into exuberant refrain built from the ground up riding the roiling rhythmical undertow like surfers jumping for joy heading for a wave that’s like an A-Frame in the foam out there as if the optimum water itself is dreaming for the freedom and wildness of the wide Sargasso sea.

Elbow room only at Lillies, Stephen Street entrance, above. Punters were more than ready for Freddie. The Teaneck, New Jersey jazzer returns to the town for a third year running. The annual summer school and festival continues later today.

Notable contributions from the ensemble included Stoke man Lockrane switching to piccolo best of all and the pulsating drive of ex-Madeleine Peyroux player Beckett who was never the miserabilist at this feel good showing. But sometimes the trombone lines didn’t quite pan out in the arrangement it seemed in a couple of places I note without really raining on any one’s parade. Freddie is still fine tuning it all, and a quick pencil mark or two added to the drummer’s charts scribbled out made a few small alterations before the punters landed in showed attention to detail and a dedication to mould the material more in his own image through the vehicle of the fine players beside him. Let’s hope some knowing A&R minded soul attached to a top straightahead label has the wit and wherewithal to entice Freddie into the studio to get these sounds out there for a wider Brownie loving audience some day soon.

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