Nils Kavanagh is a young pianist and composer of Irish and Danish heritage.
Born in Sligo, a town that hosts its own Jazz Festival and Summer School, Kavanagh was drawn to the music through the Sligo Jazz Project and studied with local jazz pianists Kieran Quinn and Mark Murphy. He later studied with Scott Flanigan, an Irish jazz pianist with an international reputation.
In 2022 Kavanagh won the inaugural Young Irish Jazz Musician of the Year Award. He subsequently moved to Cardiff to study Jazz Performance at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff, where his piano tutors included Huw Warren and Elliot Galvin.
It was in Cardiff that he formed a trio with bassist Marcus Baber and drummer Sam Green and in 2023 the group undertook a six date tour of Ireland, recording this album in Limerick at the end of the tour. Featuring Kavanagh’s compositions exclusively it’s an outstanding debut and the album has been featured on Soweto Kinch’s late night jazz show ‘Round Midnight on BBC Radio 3.
Kavanagh is still based in Cardiff and divides his time between the UK and Ireland. UK based musicians with whom he has worked include saxophonist Tony Kofi, pianist / vocalist Liane Carroll and drummer / percussionist Paul Clarvis. He also leads an Irish piano trio featuring bassist Derek Whyte and drummer Miles Ronayne. In 2024 Kavanagh was a finalist in the 2024 BBC Young Jazz Musician competition
Kavanagh says of his music
“The music on the record was inspired by one main question, what is like to ‘dwell’. Being Irish and Danish and having moved to Wales to study my personal idea of dwelling has come to the forefront of my mind in recent years. The album intends to capture different places and feelings that I would associate with home, be it the joy of a peaceful walk in beautiful Hazelwood, the mythical, dramatic landscape of Maeve’s cairn on Knocknarea mountain, or the bittersweet passage of time , inspired by my Danish grandmother’s clock, which still manages to chime every half hour after all these years”.
His new trio album released in May 2025 is “No Expectations” https://nilskavanagh.bandcamp.com/album/no-expectations
Ursula Harrison, the bassist with the trio was BBC Young Jazz Musician 2024
Sam Green on drums is building a reputation for his creative, lyrical approach to playing the drums.
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