IT WAS pianist and founder of the modern piano trio tradition, Bill Evans, who said that he had more respect for the musician who had searched long for inspiration and worked hard to achieve their goals than for the prodigy. Evans felt he could discern in the former a depth of feeling that was harder to find in those for whom it all came too easily.

Though still in his early 30s, no one could accuse pianist Phil Ware of rushing into anything. He has certainly taken his own time about recording his debut album, appropriately titled In Our Own Time which will be released this month.

The recording also features bassist Dave Redmond and drummer Kevin Brady, and together, the Phil Ware trio have been responsible for repeatedly raising the standard of the piano trio in Ireland over the last few years.

Judging by advance tastings, it has been well worth the wait and there will be many who have enjoyed Ware's easy swinging style over the years who will be queuing up to get the record.

The first opportunity to do same will be at a special one-off concert to launch the CD in Whelans of Wexford Street on Thursday 12 April at 8pm.

What is it about bass players and social commentary? Looking for precedents for Ronan Guilfoyle's latest composition, Terms and Conditions Apply, which premieres in the Project Arts Centre this week, it is striking how many of the great political composers have been bass players. The great and turbulent Charles Mingus used the platform his music gave him to comment on race and politics in the US during the '50s and '60s, with compositions like 'Fables of Faubus' from Mingus Ah Um (Columbia, 1959) about school segregation in Arkansas, and the self-explanatory 'Oh Lord, Don't Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb on Me' from the album Oh Yeah (Atlantic, 1961). Champion of free music and the left, Charlie Haden, also a bassist, formed his Liberation Music Orchestra in 1969 to record the celebrated album of the same name which references the Spanish Civil War, the Vietnam conflict and the Cuban revolution. Still a radical, Haden reformed the LMO in 2005 to record Not in Our Name (Verve, 2005) as a protest against the invasion of Iraq.

Terms and Conditions Apply is Guilfoyle's musical response to modern Ireland, and with titles such as 'M50' and 'The Body Politic', it's probably safe to assume that it's not an entirely positive response.

To perform the music, the composer has assembled an impressive cast of long-term associates who should be able to do suitable justice to Guilfoyle's often challenging music.

The six-piece group includes guitarist Joe O'Callaghan and drummer Sean Carpio, who both play with Guilfoyle in the superb Microclimate group, and saxophonist Michael Buckley, now firmly established as the leading horn player of his generation.

Ronan Guilfoyle's Terms and Conditions Apply is at the Project in Temple Bar, Dublin, next Saturday 7 April at 8pm.

When it comes to entente cordiale, Tommy Halferty has been responsible over the years for opening lines of communication between the Irish and French jazz scenes. The guitarist spends most of his summers in France, touring and recording, and in the course of his travels, he has made some valuable and productive friendships with French musicians. One of the longest standing has been with the Marseillaise bassist Michel Zineno, who has toured Ireland several times with Halferty to great acclaim.

Zineno returns to Ireland this month with a fellow Marseille drummer Jean Pierre Arnaud for a few dates with Halferty. Between them Zineno and Arnaud have notched some impressive credits, including Lee Konitz, Steve Grossman and Toots Thielmans, so Halferty will find plenty of fire in his imported Gallic rhythm section.

They play the Galway Jazz Club on 10 April and JJ Smyths, Dublin, on 11 April.