Cork City Jazz Band
The Cork City Jazz Band’s founding players evolved from other bands in the Cork area and only three of the original remain, namely, Marco Petrassi, Billy Crosbie and Gerry Walsh. They have been playing together for twenty-five years, twenty of which has seen them delight the crowds at Actons Hotel every Sunday and during the Kinsale Fringe Festival.
Today’s line-up includes Marco Petrassi on trumpet; Billy Crosbie on piano, Gerry Walsh on keyboards, Michael O’Brien on drums, Frank Ireland and Michael Lynch on saxophone/clarinet and Susan Crosbie singing.
The Cork City Jazz Band was at the instigation of the Kinsale Fringe Jazz.
Billy Crosbie and the band bring some of the most famous household names to the festival - Paddy Cole, Sonny Knowles, Joe Mac, Don Long, and Jack Brierley. Also they have helped the careers of Brid McKenna, Sharon Crosbie, Susan Crosbie and Ronnie ‘Sinatra’ Costley.
The band has been invited to play all over the world - from Belgium to New York - and have performed with such greats as Kenny Ball and Acker Bilk.