Down With Jazz, presented by Dublin’s Improvised Music Company, returns for a fifth edition this June Bank Holiday weekend.

A centenary celebration of rousing and rising, swinging and scatting at Down With Jazz this June Bank holiday weekend in Meeting House Square. This time 100 years ago, we witnessed the birth of jazz in the United States, and the setting of the scene for a new state for Ireland.

Within a decade or so, though, this ‘devil’s music’ had become demonised by the clergy, with both state and church joining forces to have the music banned from the airwaves and the dancehalls. Would those culturally and socially oppressive attitudes of the ‘30s have existed if history had allowed us to hold fast to the ideals of the Proclamation?

Fast forward one hundred years, and we have plenty to celebrate in the Irish music scene. Contemporary and inclusive, Down With Jazz is a celebration for open minds and open ears.

The two day festival kicks off on Saturday night with Stephen McHale’s Weird Glitches, Edel Meade performing a Musical Tribute to Lady Day, the two-horns-no chords quartet ReDiviDer, and Toot Sweet & the Shadow Man, an eight piece funk combo from New Orleans.

Snowpoet will open on the Sunday, followed by Matthew Halpin’s Last Chance Dance trio, and The Richie Buckley Quintet. Closing the festival will be Zaska, giving us one of their famous live performances with a feel good blend of Future Soul, Hip Hop and Funk.

Contemporary and inclusive, the festival welcomes musicians and music lovers of all persuasions, from funk and electronica, to chamber pop and free improv, with a line-up that reflects our diversity today.

Down With Jazz festival takes place on Saturday 4th, and Sunday, 5th June 2016 in Meeting House Square in Temple Bar. Tickets cost €15 per day or €25 for the weekend pass, and may be reserved online.

This June Bank Holiday Weekend, it’s going to be: Free State, Free Jazz, Free Minds.