Tom Cole

Next Thursday, Tom will be showcasing his love for swing music at the National Concert Hall

Tom Cole Junior started his career in a completely different genre of music: DJing at the now-closed Redbox club.

‘‘I got into the DJing out of the love of music,’’ said Cole, ‘‘I had a wonderful 12-14 years on the scene, playing first and foremost commercial music. And then I was invited to play in the Red Box, and I had a residency in three sections there: the Redbox, the Pod, and the Chocolate Bar.’’

Cole also played festivals such as Creamfields and Homelands, opening for some of the top DJs of the time. ‘‘That was fantastic. But that came to an end, as, indeed, the dance scene did, it kind of dwindled out in 2001 [or] 2002.’’

After the dance scene fizzled, Cole found himself in the printing industry, ‘something that was brought to me, and I was told I could do, and I did it, and it was very successful at it,’ according to him.

He found his career in swing music in quite a similar fashion: ‘‘I was introduced to a girl who introduced me to the sing along crowd in Dublin. And I entered this particular pub one Sunday afternoon and noticed that it was packed up and there was some great bar singers performing there with live musicians. It was very shortly after that, that somebody put my name up.’’

This alarmed Cole, who claimed that ‘‘I'd never sung before; I mean, like everybody, I sang at home and in the bath, and my father was always trying to get me up to sing in his local GAA club. But I was always retorting with, look, I don't sing, I can't sing, I don't want to sing.’’

‘‘This band called me up and I said, listen, I don't really know any songs. The guy said in on the drums, Barry Teeling, he said, you must know one song, and I said, well, I kind of know a half a song that my father kind of sings and listens to at home. It's a Frank Sinatra number, I've got you under my skin. You'll have to prompt me from the back, because I don't know all the lyrics.’’

Despite his hesitation, Cole’s set was a success, and he soon had residencies in pubs such as the Raheny Inn, Glenside, and Taylors Three Rock.

Like everyone in the live industry, Cole’s work was hindered by the pandemic. In the 90s, he had a show on East Coast radio called The Hits of the World Countdown, and a conversation with presenter Joe Harrington pushed the idea of his return to radio.

‘‘He decided to meet me for a drink, and said to me ‘I really think you should come back on radio. You’ve got a great radio voice already, and I think it’s a waste.’’

Like when performing live, Cole was hesitant on taking Harrington up on this offer, telling Harrington ‘I don’t know, I don’t really want to go back on radio, I’m bored with that’.

But then he went to the bathroom and had a ‘kind of epiphany’. ‘‘What came to my mind was, growing up with my mom and dad, [they] were always listening to all these greats...from Frank Sinatra, Matt Monroe, Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald. So, it was kind of getting into my DNA.’’

He floated the idea to Harrington, still unsure of it himself, but he bit at it immediately. By the next week, Harrington had set Cole up with a show called Saturday Night Swing. This then turned to two hours on a Sunday, which later became four.

‘‘I really wasn't happy with Sunday nights. I didn't think anybody would be listening to the radio on a Sunday night. But Joe said to me, ‘this is a golden opportunity. I believe a great portion of people on a Sunday night, just want to relax and listen to the radio, and your kind of music is really gonna fit a bit.’’

Harrington wasn’t lying to him; Sunshine Swing with Tom Cole Junior has been the number one most listened to music show in Dublin on a Sunday for years now.

It was clear in my conversation with Tom, which took place the day after Father’s Day, how much influence his own father had over his view of swing music: “When I was younger, I was buying records by Gilbert O'Sullivan, Status Quo, and the Eagles. This wasn't on my radar. It certainly was coming into my zone because my family were playing it. My father listened to all this great swinging jazz.

“It deserved respect. Because of the way it was written, composed, and delivered by all these greats. I mean, it was the pop music of the day, I suppose, but it's kind of vintage wine”

Next Thursday, Tom will be showcasing his love for swing music at the National Concert Hall, with his show Songs That Shaped the World. Joining him will be his usual accompanying band, as well as some special guests: “I normally play with the Shane O'Connor quartet; I'm now expanding that to the Shane O'Connor quintet.

"We'll have one of the most revered trumpet players in Ireland and the British Isles, Lynley Hamilton. We'll also have one of the most famous saxophone players in Ireland, and across Europe, Derek O'Connor, and his brother, Gary, on drums. We’ll have the fantastic Neville Lloyd on double bass, and Shane on piano.

“Embellishing the whole thing, I'm bringing in a lady I have worked with before who's been in the business for 40 years, and who very much fits like a glove when it comes to my kind of music: Flo McSweeney. Then somebody in the National Concert Hall said to me ‘I think it would be lovely to bring a choir in’, and I have the incredible pleasure of bringing in the 50-piece Ceol Aoine Choir; I performed with them only in the last few weeks at a church show in Walkinstown, and I was blown away by them. They're absolutely brilliant. It’s going to be wonderful.’’

Cole has ‘no future ambitions’ following this show, as of yet. “I take each show individually. I absorb myself in everything that's necessary with this, be it the radio, be it live shows, be it private parties, be it spots on shows. I do what my father taught me to do, and that is, apply myself 100%, if you're gonna do a job correctly. I think that's paid off. I think people feel the genuine passion for it.”

Cole’s genuine passion for the genre of swing music has most certainly paid off, allowing him to meet big names in the industry, such as his hero, Tony Bennett.

The show has spread to all parts of the world, including to the late television presenter Michael Parkinson, who frequently got in touch with Tom with praise or inspiring words:

“He said to me, ‘keep at it. You're keeping this music alive. Don't compromise. Don't try to be everything to everybody. Do what you do and do it how you're doing it.’”