Who would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?
Who would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?
There seems to be quite a few really good Irish musicians who’ve seldom or never recoded their own CD. Take for example Charlie Harris, he’s a fabulous box player who has recorded on the Shaskeen albums but hasn’t done an album to showcase his own music. I think it’s about time he produced a solo album. His music and style of playing should be recorded for posterity, dare I say it, before it’s too late! In this day and age it seems scandalous that there are still many good musicians that haven’t produced solo albums.
Who else do you think should do a solo or showcase recording?
Re: Who would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?
NIGEL TUFNEL?
Born Nigel Sedgewick Tufnel in Squatney, East Londonon, February 8th 1945. After moving several tmes due to his father's occupation as a travelling Audiologist/painter, The Tufnel family eventually settled in Colchester, Sussex UK for health reasons.
The early years for Nigel involved attending the Convent of Jesus for Gels and Small Boys in Colchester England where he excelled in postures and was voted "most likely to be a future car park attendant or shoe clerk". By the age of 15, Nigel had saved up enough money from selling polished pebbles to buy a secondhand guitar, mostly for the purpose of attracting women, it was not a fruitful endeavor. In fact, most childhood friends thought Nigel might be a pervert (homosexual). When Nigel was 18, he had the good fortune of meeting David St Hubbins (Nee David Lodsy Downings, next door neighbor) in his 4th year 'occupationally inept and potentially detrimental to modern society' class, the two struck up a bond that would last over 40 years... off and on. They began jamming together in a toolshed in David's garden, influenced by early blues artists like Honkin' Bubba Fulton, Little Sassy Francis and particularly Big Little Daddy' Coleman, a deaf guitar player, and wrote their first song, (Cry) All the Way Home.
The two also developed a penchant for very tight trousers. An attribute which, in Colchester in 1966. made their prospective parents suspect homosexuality( due in part to their inability to have normal relationships with members of the opposite sex, neither were in fact homosexual... Just daft) this animalistic integrity would later become the very basis for all that was/is Spinal Tap. Incredibly, St. Hubbins and Tufnel were ahead of their time.
In April 1966, The Thamesmen had a minor hit with "This is the Sound of One Hand Clapping" (B side, "Marmite Stomp (tounging the toast)") which enabled them to gain the interest of major label Playtex Records. Several lukewarm tours of Bristol followed. The Thamesmen stayed with Playtex Records until the company introduce their line of feminine hygene products in 1968. However, their writing prowess grew and congeled with the addition of Derek Smalls on bass guitar in late 1968. Derek's joining the band (and the fact that he did indeed own a pair of tight leather trousers ) led a the name change. Spinal Tap was born, the name coming from the only thing that they could think of that was more painful than Mahler's 5th symphony (in C#m). The world was yet to take notice however.
As with many 60's bands that are still claiming to be relevant, Spinal Tap is constantly touring.
Nigel's hobbies include collecting guitars; particularly noteworthy is his un-played unlooked-at foam green six string Fender Bass VI. He also has Gibson Les Paul 1959 model, whose acoustic properties and "flame" he praises. He also plays mandolin, piano, and does backing vocals. He is currently writing a classical piece in D minor which he claims is the 'saddest of all keys' and is provisionally entitled 'Lick My Love Pump'.
Nigel has a great love for Gumby, carrying a figurine in his shirt pocket and wearing Gumby shirts frequently. He is also a self-proclaimed 'fish nut', liking cod and canned tuna because it has 'no bones'. Nigel currently sits on the Editorial Board of his preferred in-flight periodical, Car and Driver.
Tufnel has stated that if he wasn't in the music industry he would like to either enter the field of haberdashery, possibly sell shoes or become a surgeon: 'I like surgery'.
Re: Who would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?
Mairtin O'Connnor's first album "The Connaughtman's Rambles" is pretty much unaccompanied IIRC. I'd like to see one from Liam Lewis. Miriam Collins should be good for one as well
Re: Who would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?
So many great musicians around Ireland.
Thats what I love about it. There's always some one you've never heard of, you go into a pub, hear this person playing away and are blown away.
Love it.
Re: Who would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?
Bryan Gear. He co-taught my class at Fiddle Frenzy along with Violet Tulloch, and it was a brilliant week. I love his playing. He keeps saying that he's not good enough yet to make a CD.
BTW, this is Shetland, not Irish.
I'd like to see the wonderful Seamus Connelly make MORE CDs. As far as I know, there is only one.
The list so far, alphabetically - there must be more.
Aidan O'Neill o
Alan Morrisroe....and one is in the works!
Bryan Gear - Shetland, not Irish.
Charlie Harris,
Christy Barry
Conor Tully
Damian O'Kane on banjo.
Derek Hickey - box
Donough Hennessey
Liam Lewis.
Maeve Scahill
Mairtin O'Connor - Unaccompanied accordion
Marc Duff, though …one of the best whistle players in Scotland.
Marcus Maloney - banjo
Mark Donnelan -from Tulla Ceili Band
Mick O'Connor
Miriam Collins
Nigel Tufnel - ITM????
Paddy Maloney
Sean Vaughan, from Kilmaley
There has to be many more great Irish Traditional Musicians hiding away unrecorded, especially the older ones. Anyone have any more names to add to the list.
Re: Who would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?
gtag, have to agree with you about Charlie Harris, but more than a solo CD, I'd love to hear a duet recording with himself and Des Mulkere. They do play around Galway a fair bit, but not as much as one would like! Des is an institution on the banjo, having recorded the CD with the great Joe Cooley, and is also one of the most underated flute players in Ireland. There is one great clip of him playing flute on the Come West Along The Road dvd vol.1 with Paddy Moloney, Julia Clifford and Denis Murphy. It's actually the front cover for the dvd as well.
I think the extreme wide tuning in Charlie's grey paolo is a wonderful 'alternative' take on box playing, in comparison to the tightly tuned modern boxes, which seem to have become the norm with most young players, and very reminiscent of the 'old style' of Galway box playing. The way he plays is wonderful, brilliant music.
"In this day and age it seems scandalous that there are still many good musicians that haven’t produced solo albums."
Only thing i'd say against this statement is, now that it is so easy and cheap to record, maybe these people don't want to step into the studio, for their own reasons, and who are we to say they should if they choose not to.
That being said, I'd still love a recording of Charlie to come out.
Re: Who would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?
Wrozel Gummidge: Easy and cheap to record???!! No it's not! And are such musicians expected to have easy access to a cheap recording studio? Is 'cheap recording studio' an oxymoron? Are musicians expected to be graphic artists too? Good graphics do help sell any CD and DIY jobs are just such a deterrent..the ‘judging the book by the cover’ syndrome is still alive and well. Isn’t that one of the reasons there is so much money put into advertising and packaging any product?
As for Cheap!!
Costs to consider when recoding:
Recording studio/hr
Recording engineer/hr
Time to mix recording /hr
CD cover graphics
Cost of pressing CDs including the plastic jewel cases or some such covering. (Should one press 500 or 1000 or more or less initially?) and I'm sure there are some costs I'm missing.
Then there’s the hassle of selling the CD.
I can well see how musician are put off, they cannot be expected to be producers as well as fantastic musicians; to each his/her own talent.
Not that I want to put anyone off recording but that’s the reality. Wouldn't it better if someone to have someone else willing to do all the graf/administration and let the musicians be musicians.
It would be great to find a way to encourage good, highly respected musicians to record solo or showcase CDs to record for posterity their techniques, style and passion for Irish Traditional Music.
Maybe this could be the subject of another discussion.
Re: Who would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?
Maybe Worzel was referring to how accessible recording has become through digital recorders that can be used anywhere. We have one in our spare room/music room. There is certainly an abundance of do-it-yourself type of devices out there.
Of course, in-studio recordings are more expensive.
Re: Who would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?
Gtag,
In relative terms, it has become very much cheaper and easier to record a cd. Yes, there is still expensive involved, and if you break it down to the individual cogs in the system, there are many places where money can be spent in abundance.
Digital media has made it very accessible for many musicians to record. Pretty much any laptop you buy these days is capable of running industry standard audio software on it. You can buy an mbox interface, next thing you know you're running pro tools, and can save all your recordings in a format that can be brought into any decent studio in the world.
Mics have also considerably dropped in price; Rode, SE and a number of other companies are producing mics comparable to those of Nuemann and AKG for a fraction of the price.
In terms of cost for producing a CD, an independent artist in Ireland can complete his/her solo CD for somewhere in the region of €3-8k. Of course you can spend a lot more, depending on where you go to record, art work etc. This price structure is reflected in the amount given to artists to produce solo recordings by the Deis grant, a department of the Arts Council specifically geared towards the Traditional Arts. You can log onto the website and all monetary awards are listed for you to see.
Compare this to the likes of Arty McGlynn getting approx. 10k Irish punts in the 70s/80s to produce records, and you'll see that the relative price has dropped considerably.
And as wygal stated, it's much more accessible now that the recording gear can come to the musician, rather than the other way round. There are a large number of musicians of the older generation releasing recordings now that never would have 20 years ago, because they were recorded in their own environment, as opposed to the sterile environment of a commercial recording.
Re: Who would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?
€3-8k is as you say relatively cheap but still it's a lot of money to find, and a reluctant artist is definitely not going to fork out that much.
Nice info on DIY digital media, I consider myself computer literate but this is double Dutch to me and looks like it requires a PhD in geek to get to grips with so what hope does a good, perhaps older musician who generally spends his/her spare time playing their instruments rather than playing around on a PC have with using that?
Arts Councils grants are indeed wonderful, but proposals require a lot of thought, why would a musician who is reluctant in the first place bother? Anybody thinking of recording Irish Traditional Music should definitely look up http://www.artscouncil.ie/en/homepage.aspx
Maybe we should each adopt one hero and encourage them, including do all the organising and getting finances for them.
Perhaps this would be better posted in the other post "Ideas wanted - Encouraging reticent good Irish Traditional musicians to record solo" http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/18870
and leave this post for listing the "Who would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?"
Who would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?
Who would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?
There seems to be quite a few really good Irish musicians who’ve seldom or never recoded their own CD. Take for example Charlie Harris, he’s a fabulous box player who has recorded on the Shaskeen albums but hasn’t done an album to showcase his own music. I think it’s about time he produced a solo album. His music and style of playing should be recorded for posterity, dare I say it, before it’s too late! In this day and age it seems scandalous that there are still many good musicians that haven’t produced solo albums.
Who else do you think should do a solo or showcase recording?
# Posted on August 24th 2008 by gtag
Re: Who would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?
NIGEL TUFNEL?
Born Nigel Sedgewick Tufnel in Squatney, East Londonon, February 8th 1945. After moving several tmes due to his father's occupation as a travelling Audiologist/painter, The Tufnel family eventually settled in Colchester, Sussex UK for health reasons.
The early years for Nigel involved attending the Convent of Jesus for Gels and Small Boys in Colchester England where he excelled in postures and was voted "most likely to be a future car park attendant or shoe clerk". By the age of 15, Nigel had saved up enough money from selling polished pebbles to buy a secondhand guitar, mostly for the purpose of attracting women, it was not a fruitful endeavor. In fact, most childhood friends thought Nigel might be a pervert (homosexual). When Nigel was 18, he had the good fortune of meeting David St Hubbins (Nee David Lodsy Downings, next door neighbor) in his 4th year 'occupationally inept and potentially detrimental to modern society' class, the two struck up a bond that would last over 40 years... off and on. They began jamming together in a toolshed in David's garden, influenced by early blues artists like Honkin' Bubba Fulton, Little Sassy Francis and particularly Big Little Daddy' Coleman, a deaf guitar player, and wrote their first song, (Cry) All the Way Home.
The two also developed a penchant for very tight trousers. An attribute which, in Colchester in 1966. made their prospective parents suspect homosexuality( due in part to their inability to have normal relationships with members of the opposite sex, neither were in fact homosexual... Just daft) this animalistic integrity would later become the very basis for all that was/is Spinal Tap. Incredibly, St. Hubbins and Tufnel were ahead of their time.
In April 1966, The Thamesmen had a minor hit with "This is the Sound of One Hand Clapping" (B side, "Marmite Stomp (tounging the toast)") which enabled them to gain the interest of major label Playtex Records. Several lukewarm tours of Bristol followed. The Thamesmen stayed with Playtex Records until the company introduce their line of feminine hygene products in 1968. However, their writing prowess grew and congeled with the addition of Derek Smalls on bass guitar in late 1968. Derek's joining the band (and the fact that he did indeed own a pair of tight leather trousers ) led a the name change. Spinal Tap was born, the name coming from the only thing that they could think of that was more painful than Mahler's 5th symphony (in C#m). The world was yet to take notice however.
As with many 60's bands that are still claiming to be relevant, Spinal Tap is constantly touring.
Nigel's hobbies include collecting guitars; particularly noteworthy is his un-played unlooked-at foam green six string Fender Bass VI. He also has Gibson Les Paul 1959 model, whose acoustic properties and "flame" he praises. He also plays mandolin, piano, and does backing vocals. He is currently writing a classical piece in D minor which he claims is the 'saddest of all keys' and is provisionally entitled 'Lick My Love Pump'.
Nigel has a great love for Gumby, carrying a figurine in his shirt pocket and wearing Gumby shirts frequently. He is also a self-proclaimed 'fish nut', liking cod and canned tuna because it has 'no bones'. Nigel currently sits on the Editorial Board of his preferred in-flight periodical, Car and Driver.
Tufnel has stated that if he wasn't in the music industry he would like to either enter the field of haberdashery, possibly sell shoes or become a surgeon: 'I like surgery'.
# Posted on August 24th 2008 by Lint - upon - Tweed
Re: Who would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?
Banjo player Mick O'Connor.
# Posted on August 24th 2008 by whangee
Re: Who would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?
Christy Barry, from Doolin, on flute and tin whistle.
# Posted on August 24th 2008 by charliechamo
Re: Who would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?
oh and box player Sean Vaughan, from Kilmaley!
# Posted on August 24th 2008 by charliechamo
Re: Who would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?
Christy Barry, from Doolin, on flute and tin whistle.
# Posted on August 24th 2008 by David Levine
Re: Who would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?
Alan Morrisroe....and one is in the works! Archaic old style melodeon, rare tunes and rare settings, traceable to about 200 years back.
# Posted on August 24th 2008 by irisnevins
Re: Who would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?
Conor Tully
# Posted on August 24th 2008 by Red Robin
Re: Who would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?
Paddy Maloney. Obviously he's been recorded on 789689 Chieftains albums but I would love a whole album of nothing but his chanter, drones, and regs.
Also Marc Duff, though he is in theory working on producing one. I think he is one of the best whistle players in Scotland.
# Posted on August 24th 2008 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Who would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?
Donough Hennessey
# Posted on August 24th 2008 by Fishmonger
Re: Who would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?
Mairtin O'Connor - Unaccompanied accordion
# Posted on August 24th 2008 by dtb
Re: Who would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?
Damian O'Kane on banjo. Has some bits and pieces recorded with Shona Kipling but just not enough.
# Posted on August 24th 2008 by Newty
Re: Who would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?
Mairtin O'Connnor's first album "The Connaughtman's Rambles" is pretty much unaccompanied IIRC. I'd like to see one from Liam Lewis. Miriam Collins should be good for one as well
# Posted on August 24th 2008 by Patkiwi
Re: Who would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?
Maybe Aidan O'Neill or Maeve Scahill
# Posted on August 24th 2008 by dfiddle
Re: Who would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?
So many great musicians around Ireland.
Thats what I love about it. There's always some one you've never heard of, you go into a pub, hear this person playing away and are blown away.
Love it.
# Posted on August 24th 2008 by Hugo Chavez
Re: Who would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?
Bryan Gear. He co-taught my class at Fiddle Frenzy along with Violet Tulloch, and it was a brilliant week. I love his playing. He keeps saying that he's not good enough yet to make a CD.
BTW, this is Shetland, not Irish.
I'd like to see the wonderful Seamus Connelly make MORE CDs. As far as I know, there is only one.
# Posted on August 25th 2008 by cathrynb
Re: Who would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?
Mark Donnelan (from Tulla Ceili Band)
# Posted on August 25th 2008 by Hup
Re: Who would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?
Marcus Maloney, Derek Hickey.... banjo and box
# Posted on August 25th 2008 by fedorastain
The list so far, alphabetically - there must be more.
Aidan O'Neill o
Alan Morrisroe....and one is in the works!
Bryan Gear - Shetland, not Irish.
Charlie Harris,
Christy Barry
Conor Tully
Damian O'Kane on banjo.
Derek Hickey - box
Donough Hennessey
Liam Lewis.
Maeve Scahill
Mairtin O'Connor - Unaccompanied accordion
Marc Duff, though …one of the best whistle players in Scotland.
Marcus Maloney - banjo
Mark Donnelan -from Tulla Ceili Band
Mick O'Connor
Miriam Collins
Nigel Tufnel - ITM????
Paddy Maloney
Sean Vaughan, from Kilmaley
There has to be many more great Irish Traditional Musicians hiding away unrecorded, especially the older ones. Anyone have any more names to add to the list.
# Posted on August 25th 2008 by gtag
Re: Who would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?
Paddy Fahey, Denis McMahon, Yvonne Griffin, Willie Kelly, ...
# Posted on August 25th 2008 by GaryAMartin
Re: Who would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?
gtag, have to agree with you about Charlie Harris, but more than a solo CD, I'd love to hear a duet recording with himself and Des Mulkere. They do play around Galway a fair bit, but not as much as one would like! Des is an institution on the banjo, having recorded the CD with the great Joe Cooley, and is also one of the most underated flute players in Ireland. There is one great clip of him playing flute on the Come West Along The Road dvd vol.1 with Paddy Moloney, Julia Clifford and Denis Murphy. It's actually the front cover for the dvd as well.
I think the extreme wide tuning in Charlie's grey paolo is a wonderful 'alternative' take on box playing, in comparison to the tightly tuned modern boxes, which seem to have become the norm with most young players, and very reminiscent of the 'old style' of Galway box playing. The way he plays is wonderful, brilliant music.
"In this day and age it seems scandalous that there are still many good musicians that haven’t produced solo albums."
Only thing i'd say against this statement is, now that it is so easy and cheap to record, maybe these people don't want to step into the studio, for their own reasons, and who are we to say they should if they choose not to.
That being said, I'd still love a recording of Charlie to come out.
# Posted on August 25th 2008 by WorzelGummidge
Re: Who would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?
Wrozel Gummidge: Easy and cheap to record???!! No it's not! And are such musicians expected to have easy access to a cheap recording studio? Is 'cheap recording studio' an oxymoron? Are musicians expected to be graphic artists too? Good graphics do help sell any CD and DIY jobs are just such a deterrent..the ‘judging the book by the cover’ syndrome is still alive and well. Isn’t that one of the reasons there is so much money put into advertising and packaging any product?
As for Cheap!!
Costs to consider when recoding:
Recording studio/hr
Recording engineer/hr
Time to mix recording /hr
CD cover graphics
Cost of pressing CDs including the plastic jewel cases or some such covering. (Should one press 500 or 1000 or more or less initially?) and I'm sure there are some costs I'm missing.
Then there’s the hassle of selling the CD.
I can well see how musician are put off, they cannot be expected to be producers as well as fantastic musicians; to each his/her own talent.
Not that I want to put anyone off recording but that’s the reality. Wouldn't it better if someone to have someone else willing to do all the graf/administration and let the musicians be musicians.
It would be great to find a way to encourage good, highly respected musicians to record solo or showcase CDs to record for posterity their techniques, style and passion for Irish Traditional Music.
Maybe this could be the subject of another discussion.
# Posted on August 25th 2008 by gtag
Re: Who would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?
Maybe Worzel was referring to how accessible recording has become through digital recorders that can be used anywhere. We have one in our spare room/music room. There is certainly an abundance of do-it-yourself type of devices out there.
Of course, in-studio recordings are more expensive.
# Posted on August 25th 2008 by Wyogal
Re: Who would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?
Gtag,
In relative terms, it has become very much cheaper and easier to record a cd. Yes, there is still expensive involved, and if you break it down to the individual cogs in the system, there are many places where money can be spent in abundance.
Digital media has made it very accessible for many musicians to record. Pretty much any laptop you buy these days is capable of running industry standard audio software on it. You can buy an mbox interface, next thing you know you're running pro tools, and can save all your recordings in a format that can be brought into any decent studio in the world.
Mics have also considerably dropped in price; Rode, SE and a number of other companies are producing mics comparable to those of Nuemann and AKG for a fraction of the price.
In terms of cost for producing a CD, an independent artist in Ireland can complete his/her solo CD for somewhere in the region of €3-8k. Of course you can spend a lot more, depending on where you go to record, art work etc. This price structure is reflected in the amount given to artists to produce solo recordings by the Deis grant, a department of the Arts Council specifically geared towards the Traditional Arts. You can log onto the website and all monetary awards are listed for you to see.
Compare this to the likes of Arty McGlynn getting approx. 10k Irish punts in the 70s/80s to produce records, and you'll see that the relative price has dropped considerably.
And as wygal stated, it's much more accessible now that the recording gear can come to the musician, rather than the other way round. There are a large number of musicians of the older generation releasing recordings now that never would have 20 years ago, because they were recorded in their own environment, as opposed to the sterile environment of a commercial recording.
# Posted on August 25th 2008 by WorzelGummidge
Re: Who would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?
€3-8k is as you say relatively cheap but still it's a lot of money to find, and a reluctant artist is definitely not going to fork out that much.
Nice info on DIY digital media, I consider myself computer literate but this is double Dutch to me and looks like it requires a PhD in geek to get to grips with so what hope does a good, perhaps older musician who generally spends his/her spare time playing their instruments rather than playing around on a PC have with using that?
Arts Councils grants are indeed wonderful, but proposals require a lot of thought, why would a musician who is reluctant in the first place bother? Anybody thinking of recording Irish Traditional Music should definitely look up http://www.artscouncil.ie/en/homepage.aspx
Maybe we should each adopt one hero and encourage them, including do all the organising and getting finances for them.
Perhaps this would be better posted in the other post "Ideas wanted - Encouraging reticent good Irish Traditional musicians to record solo" http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/18870
and leave this post for listing the "Who would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?"
I'd like to see more names suggested.
# Posted on August 25th 2008 by gtag
Re: Who would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?
Oliver Diviney!
# Posted on August 26th 2008 by Button Box
Updated list - alphebetically by surname. Who else would you like to see record a solo or showcase CD?
Christy Barry
Miriam Collins
Oliver Diviney
Mark Donnelan
Marc Duff,
Paddy Fahey
Bryan Gear
Yvonne Griffin
Patsy Hanley
Charlie Harris,
Donough Hennessey
Derek Hickey
Willie Kelly
Liam Lewis.
Marcus Maloney
Paddy Maloney
Denis McMahon
Seamus Meehan
Alan Morrisroe
Mac Darra O Raghallaigh
Mairtin O'Connor
Mick O'Connor
Damian O'Kane
Aidan O'Neill
Maeve Scahill
Nigel Tufnel
Conor Tully
Sean Vaughan
# Posted on August 27th 2008 by gtag