The Session >> Discussions >> Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
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Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
I gotta say that The Bothy Band would've been a dream sessiun for me.....but who am I kidding, I would've gotten so pie-eyed that I probably would never remember it.
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
HEY! Wow! I haven't been a member of this board for more than a day or two now of course, but The Bothy Band is one of the major contributors to my passion for the whistle... especially wanting to learn and play the Low whistle in fast jigs and reels... and BOY can they!
I haven't heard many people reference them on other boards. Nice to hear them brought up!
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
Nice to know I ain't the only one diggin 'em...........I dabble in the whistle myself (when I break a fiddle string). Yeah,man, The Bothy Band is all I would listen to as a wee lad trying to find a style of my own. Couldn't read any music so I would listen to them for hours trying to figure out what the F@#! it was they were doing (beside all the drugs). They'd still kick any Irish Super Group's asses out there now.
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
Yeah - heard that about the chieftans too!
Thats a pretty full on call about bothy beating any super group now days dinjosra...how about 'In your opinion'. ?Personally I like the bothy band stuff alright, but I like Tommy's other albums better - just personal taste mind you.
If I could sit and play tunes with one band or player?? Who knows? That would be like asking if I prefer to eat chocolate mud cake or a gorgeous tasting triple choc bikkie.......
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
I'd love to sit down with a seven layer "Death by Chocolate" cake myself. It'd be kind of hard to get a good reel out of it though. I'd agree with ya that I shoulda stated it was merely this fat guy's opinion. Had the honor of meeting and sitting down with Mr. Peoples once....a long time ago...he was the judge at the Fleadh Ceol in Co.Listowel. I was competing in the under 12 fiddle. Man, I didn't realize who he was at the time....sure wish I could've played at a sessiun with him.
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
Heh - Ive never heard of a 7 layer cake before.....It sounds sickening!
I saw Tommy play once years and years ago, with the young lad from the UK - the young one was very good...my friend was saying 'get your fiddle, join in, he wont mind' I wouldve rathered poke my eyes out with my bow that to play with Tommy P, I wouldve just hyperventilated or something - or forgot which way was up on the fiddle. Ugh. Too nerve racking!
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
The Bothy Band and The Chieftains, and many others for that matter, were and are easy to sit and play with - they're just the same as us, and like a tune and the 'craic'.
Their generosity of spirit and encouragement is like that of so many players, and I have seen various of these players take time out to sit with a youngster and have a tune with them.
As for whether or not they needed other substances is not of relevance, I can vouch for some great sessions with just a cup of tea!
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
It's vital to keep going back to the Bothy Band. I meet so many youngsters these days praising this and that group and when I tell them that their this and that group are just bad copies of the Bothy Band, they often go, "Bothy who?"
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
Where would Irish trad be without Donal Lunny, he's the genious behind the Bothy Band's arrangements, but the special chemisty of the band was indispencible.
I had the pleasure of meeting Paddy Keenan many years ago at the Newcastle Irish festival. At the time I had a set of 3/4 sized Pakistani GHB that I had managed to cajole into concert A. I was playing them in a session and Paddy asked if he could play the chanter while I blew the bag. Of cause I agreed and it souned great.
He's a great player who takes lots of musical risks, and a realy down to earth bloke.
I think somebody videod it.
Now that would be interesting to see.
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
Re the Bothy Band ...
I'd like to make it clear from the outset that I have nothing but admiration for the Bothy Band and their brand of high-energy, sincere music. For their broad musical vision which allowed them to include "staples" alongside the unfamiliar (e.g "Fionnghuala", "The Death Of Queen Jane").
However, one of the legacies that they've left us with is the notion of the "supergroup" to which many players aspire and which sometimes casts the individual player - the very bedrock of the tradition - in a shadow. Many people, having been turned on to Irish music through the Bothy Band seek out other groups (the Dan
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
The Bothies are/was without question talented and all that, but my opinion is that ie. Lunasa, Flook, Danu, Dervish and many many more these days are equally - or even more - gifted. I think that more experienced (read: older) people were introduced to ITM via Bothy Band, Planxty, Chieftain et.al. and therefore sees them and their style as "the way to do it". I've feel exactly the same way about the above mentioned groups...... and I too like the Bothy Band
I'd like to jam with Cathal Hayden on fiddle, Enda Scahill on banjo, Sharon Shannon on the box and John Joe Kelly as goat-beater........... and myself of course on the guitar!
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
RE: the Chieftains... Paddy Maloney is a very nice guy as well that's true. I live in Rogersville, MO which is very close to Springfield, MO and they were in Springfield recently. I got to play on stage (I'm not worthy!!) with them during their jam session at the end of the concert where they have local musicians come up.
After the show, although their manager rushed them off too quickly, he and the others were quite amiable to put it mildly. Got my personal Low A signed by He and Matt Molloy too by the way!!
Sure wish I could've met any one of the Bothy Band though too! But I don't believe they ever made it to Springfield :D
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
Just in case that came out wrong... I should add there were about 10 other local musicians up there also. I didn't get to play with them exclusively or anything like that, but hey... I still got a great memory to keep!
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
Maybe it's middle age talking, but I'd love to travel back in time to the seventies and play with some of the bands who were starting to pull their act together at that time. Clannad in '75 or thereabouts, when they were trying to merge Irish stuff into a Pentangle-style band. The beginnings of Planxty, as they appear on the Christy Moore "Prosperous" album.
They weren't polished by any means, and they were all trying something new and exciting, while apparently having amazing fun at the same time.
Or, maybe, I just want to reclaim my lost youth...
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
Tusong... well this is true... but I guess I was thinking more along the lines of maybe Paddy Keenan... or others, I mean Matt Molloy is a part of the Chieftains and more readily accessible nowadays! I don't keep up enough to know where everone else went... I'm always busy making whistles or playing at the local hoolie down here! ;)
I know Keenan tours on his own sometimes, but I don't keep up like I say. One of these days maybe
Hmmm...I'd love a few hours of playing with a pre-famine 19th century professional piper like Paddy Conneely of Galway or Maurice O'Farrell of Limerick. Bet I'd pick up a few tunes long forgotten.
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
I would love to invent a time machine so that I could use it to travel 10 years into the future and sit down with Whistleman-of-the-future and see if he's any good. Maybe he could tell me what kind of stupid habits to avoid before Whistleman-of-the-present falls into them. Actually, if I were ten-years in the future I would actually be doing research for Whistleman-of-the-past which would actually be there in the present only ten years from today, so I guess at that time I could refer to myself as Whistleman-of-the-present. But wait--Whistleman-of-the-future would also exist in the present (which, again, is to say ten years from today) and, hence, would also be deserving of the same designation--so Whistleman-of-the-present will be learning from the other Whistleman-of-the-present and maybe absolutely nothing would be accomplished! Arrrghhh!
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
Hi! Catching up with what you've all written while it's been night time here!
Yes! Some of today's bands/acts have bright, new innovative ideas, skills (rediscovered, rather than new...remember Peter Brown and his notes on Matt Molloy Cranning. Everyone who didn't play flute thought Matt invented it as a result, when you heard most flute players in Roscommon doing it!) and tunes.
But the Chieftains, (emanating from Sean O'Riada's passion for Irish Music lest we forget!), Planxty, Bothy Band, Clannad... these formed a vanguard which meant that it was accessible to the public, and not just the local ceili or house music like it was called. Maybe that's why it was and is attractive.
Personally speaking, I reckon BB collectively was possibly one of the greatest groups of individually talentd musos, whoever was on fiddle, to do it again and again on stage, not just on a recording!
Brianx
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
Zina - I'd been by his site before a while back last year, but it looked like he was moving on over seas after the end of the year. I might be mistaken though.. it was a while back. I'll be sure to stop back by, and take a look at your link while I'm there!
Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
I gotta say that The Bothy Band would've been a dream sessiun for me.....but who am I kidding, I would've gotten so pie-eyed that I probably would never remember it.
# Posted on January 28th 2004 by dinjosra
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
HEY! Wow! I haven't been a member of this board for more than a day or two now of course, but The Bothy Band is one of the major contributors to my passion for the whistle... especially wanting to learn and play the Low whistle in fast jigs and reels... and BOY can they!
I haven't heard many people reference them on other boards. Nice to hear them brought up!
Take care,
John
# Posted on January 28th 2004 by McHaffie
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
Nice to know I ain't the only one diggin 'em...........I dabble in the whistle myself (when I break a fiddle string). Yeah,man, The Bothy Band is all I would listen to as a wee lad trying to find a style of my own. Couldn't read any music so I would listen to them for hours trying to figure out what the F@#! it was they were doing (beside all the drugs). They'd still kick any Irish Super Group's asses out there now.
# Posted on January 28th 2004 by dinjosra
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
The Bothy Band was into drugs?
# Posted on January 28th 2004 by Harper_Lad
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
Yeah - heard that about the chieftans too!
Thats a pretty full on call about bothy beating any super group now days dinjosra...how about 'In your opinion'. ?Personally I like the bothy band stuff alright, but I like Tommy's other albums better - just personal taste mind you.
If I could sit and play tunes with one band or player?? Who knows? That would be like asking if I prefer to eat chocolate mud cake or a gorgeous tasting triple choc bikkie.......
# Posted on January 28th 2004 by bb
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
I'd love to sit down with a seven layer "Death by Chocolate" cake myself. It'd be kind of hard to get a good reel out of it though. I'd agree with ya that I shoulda stated it was merely this fat guy's opinion. Had the honor of meeting and sitting down with Mr. Peoples once....a long time ago...he was the judge at the Fleadh Ceol in Co.Listowel. I was competing in the under 12 fiddle. Man, I didn't realize who he was at the time....sure wish I could've played at a sessiun with him.
# Posted on January 28th 2004 by dinjosra
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
Heh - Ive never heard of a 7 layer cake before.....It sounds sickening!
I saw Tommy play once years and years ago, with the young lad from the UK - the young one was very good...my friend was saying 'get your fiddle, join in, he wont mind' I wouldve rathered poke my eyes out with my bow that to play with Tommy P, I wouldve just hyperventilated or something - or forgot which way was up on the fiddle. Ugh. Too nerve racking!
# Posted on January 28th 2004 by bb
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
The Bothy Band and The Chieftains, and many others for that matter, were and are easy to sit and play with - they're just the same as us, and like a tune and the 'craic'.
Their generosity of spirit and encouragement is like that of so many players, and I have seen various of these players take time out to sit with a youngster and have a tune with them.
As for whether or not they needed other substances is not of relevance, I can vouch for some great sessions with just a cup of tea!
Brianx
# Posted on January 28th 2004 by briantheflute
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
It's vital to keep going back to the Bothy Band. I meet so many youngsters these days praising this and that group and when I tell them that their this and that group are just bad copies of the Bothy Band, they often go, "Bothy who?"
# Posted on January 28th 2004 by ...
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
Ah,the Bothy Band.Often imitated,never equalled.
# Posted on March 1st 2003 by dafydd
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
Michael and Brian...
I couldnt agree more ..... I was in a session where people were constantly refering to Dan
# Posted on January 28th 2004 by DeffGoat
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
Where would Irish trad be without Donal Lunny, he's the genious behind the Bothy Band's arrangements, but the special chemisty of the band was indispencible.
I had the pleasure of meeting Paddy Keenan many years ago at the Newcastle Irish festival. At the time I had a set of 3/4 sized Pakistani GHB that I had managed to cajole into concert A. I was playing them in a session and Paddy asked if he could play the chanter while I blew the bag. Of cause I agreed and it souned great.
He's a great player who takes lots of musical risks, and a realy down to earth bloke.
I think somebody videod it.
Now that would be interesting to see.
TTFN
PP
# Posted on January 28th 2004 by Pied Piper
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
Re the Bothy Band ...
I'd like to make it clear from the outset that I have nothing but admiration for the Bothy Band and their brand of high-energy, sincere music. For their broad musical vision which allowed them to include "staples" alongside the unfamiliar (e.g "Fionnghuala", "The Death Of Queen Jane").
However, one of the legacies that they've left us with is the notion of the "supergroup" to which many players aspire and which sometimes casts the individual player - the very bedrock of the tradition - in a shadow. Many people, having been turned on to Irish music through the Bothy Band seek out other groups (the Dan
# Posted on January 28th 2004 by Aidan Crossey
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
The Bothies are/was without question talented and all that, but my opinion is that ie. Lunasa, Flook, Danu, Dervish and many many more these days are equally - or even more - gifted. I think that more experienced (read: older) people were introduced to ITM via Bothy Band, Planxty, Chieftain et.al. and therefore sees them and their style as "the way to do it". I've feel exactly the same way about the above mentioned groups...... and I too like the Bothy Band
I'd like to jam with Cathal Hayden on fiddle, Enda Scahill on banjo, Sharon Shannon on the box and John Joe Kelly as goat-beater........... and myself of course on the guitar!
/Soren
# Posted on January 28th 2004 by DADdyGADdy
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
RE: the Chieftains... Paddy Maloney is a very nice guy as well that's true. I live in Rogersville, MO which is very close to Springfield, MO and they were in Springfield recently. I got to play on stage (I'm not worthy!!) with them during their jam session at the end of the concert where they have local musicians come up.
But I don't believe they ever made it to Springfield :D
After the show, although their manager rushed them off too quickly, he and the others were quite amiable to put it mildly. Got my personal Low A signed by He and Matt Molloy too by the way!!
Sure wish I could've met any one of the Bothy Band though too!
# Posted on January 28th 2004 by McHaffie
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
Just in case that came out wrong... I should add there were about 10 other local musicians up there also. I didn't get to play with them exclusively or anything like that, but hey... I still got a great memory to keep!
# Posted on January 28th 2004 by McHaffie
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
McHaffie, you've already met "one of the Bothy Band ", in fact you've got his signature on your low A.
# Posted on January 29th 2004 by Tusong200
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
Maybe it's middle age talking, but I'd love to travel back in time to the seventies and play with some of the bands who were starting to pull their act together at that time. Clannad in '75 or thereabouts, when they were trying to merge Irish stuff into a Pentangle-style band. The beginnings of Planxty, as they appear on the Christy Moore "Prosperous" album.
They weren't polished by any means, and they were all trying something new and exciting, while apparently having amazing fun at the same time.
Or, maybe, I just want to reclaim my lost youth...
# Posted on January 29th 2004 by grego
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
Tusong... well this is true... but I guess I was thinking more along the lines of maybe Paddy Keenan... or others, I mean Matt Molloy is a part of the Chieftains and more readily accessible nowadays! I don't keep up enough to know where everone else went... I'm always busy making whistles or playing at the local hoolie down here! ;)
I know Keenan tours on his own sometimes, but I don't keep up like I say. One of these days maybe
# Posted on January 29th 2004 by McHaffie
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
McHaffie, http://www.paddykeenan.com/ -- welcome to the WWW!
(Shameless self promotion: read the Celtic Cafe article.)
# Posted on January 29th 2004 by Zina Lee
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
nice article Zina... very interesting, and well written too!
# Posted on January 29th 2004 by rog
Back to the question:
Hmmm...I'd love a few hours of playing with a pre-famine 19th century professional piper like Paddy Conneely of Galway or Maurice O'Farrell of Limerick. Bet I'd pick up a few tunes long forgotten.
# Posted on January 29th 2004 by Hanley
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
I would love to invent a time machine so that I could use it to travel 10 years into the future and sit down with Whistleman-of-the-future and see if he's any good. Maybe he could tell me what kind of stupid habits to avoid before Whistleman-of-the-present falls into them. Actually, if I were ten-years in the future I would actually be doing research for Whistleman-of-the-past which would actually be there in the present only ten years from today, so I guess at that time I could refer to myself as Whistleman-of-the-present. But wait--Whistleman-of-the-future would also exist in the present (which, again, is to say ten years from today) and, hence, would also be deserving of the same designation--so Whistleman-of-the-present will be learning from the other Whistleman-of-the-present and maybe absolutely nothing would be accomplished! Arrrghhh!
# Posted on January 29th 2004 by whistlemanhimself
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
whistleman needs a drink
# Posted on January 29th 2004 by dinjosra
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
Hi! Catching up with what you've all written while it's been night time here!
Yes! Some of today's bands/acts have bright, new innovative ideas, skills (rediscovered, rather than new...remember Peter Brown and his notes on Matt Molloy Cranning. Everyone who didn't play flute thought Matt invented it as a result, when you heard most flute players in Roscommon doing it!) and tunes.
But the Chieftains, (emanating from Sean O'Riada's passion for Irish Music lest we forget!), Planxty, Bothy Band, Clannad... these formed a vanguard which meant that it was accessible to the public, and not just the local ceili or house music like it was called. Maybe that's why it was and is attractive.
Personally speaking, I reckon BB collectively was possibly one of the greatest groups of individually talentd musos, whoever was on fiddle, to do it again and again on stage, not just on a recording!
Brianx
# Posted on January 29th 2004 by briantheflute
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
Zina - I'd been by his site before a while back last year, but it looked like he was moving on over seas after the end of the year. I might be mistaken though.. it was a while back. I'll be sure to stop back by, and take a look at your link while I'm there!
Take care,
John
# Posted on January 29th 2004 by McHaffie
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
Thanks, Rog. John, Paddy Keenan lives in New Hampshire still, I think...has for a while...
# Posted on January 29th 2004 by Zina Lee
Re: Ah, man, If I could sit down with one player/group and jam...................
I'm with Aidan on this, I'd rather sit down w/ you lot. I'd leave the "big" names for listening.
Deb.
# Posted on January 30th 2004 by Agnes Nutter