Ralph Jordan Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 At one point Al Day was thinking of cutting down the Duet International CD release to 1 instead of 3 discs, because he didn't think that there was enough players around.... I think he's changed his mind now! Is that so? I didn't realise he'd been so successful in rooting players out. So we're not as obscure as we thought then? Not sure whether to be pleased or sorry about that. How many likely participants have you got Al? Is that a dark secret too? I don't know how many he's got so far, He's keeping news strictly on a need to know basis! But, he must have at least 2 CD's sorted by now, from the little information I've got. And Duet players seem to be coming out of their various closets in droves! Must be the onset of Spring! (BTW My audio links on the other thread are seperate to the tracks I've offered to Al. It didn't seem fair to let them escape just yet!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Day Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 At one point Al Day was thinking of cutting down the Duet International CD release to 1 instead of 3 discs, because he didn't think that there was enough players around.... I think he's changed his mind now! Is that so? I didn't realise he'd been so successful in rooting players out. So we're not as obscure as we thought then? Not sure whether to be pleased or sorry about that. How many likely participants have you got Al? Is that a dark secret too? Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irene S. Posted January 17, 2010 Author Share Posted January 17, 2010 Al Who is that masked man??? Didn't have you figured for such a sneaky tease Al !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Day Posted January 17, 2010 Share Posted January 17, 2010 Al Who is that masked man??? Didn't have you figured for such a sneaky tease Al !!! I didn't have time to give a proper explanation of this yesterday so decided to have a bit of fun. With the Internationals I find the artists and get, or organise the recordings. Graham Bradshaw (Roots records) gets all the recordings from me and vets them all and compiles the CDs which includes sound engineering. It is only when I receive his final selections that I publish to everyone who is on it. There are a number of artists sending me recordings which still need more work. In the past even some of the well known artists have had some of their recordings returned as not being good enough. A classic example of this was John Kirkpatrick's recordings for Anglo International where Graham on his quality equipment picked up JK's sound engineer having a conversation in the background.So some artists sadly do not make the final cut, so it would be wrong for me to publish names before hand and then those artists do not appear on the collection.For most of the time Graham will go with my selection ,we both like the same things and although G has come up with a few surprises in general I have a pretty good idea of the final line up and the recordings that are going to be used.I know G so well now I do not even send some recordings to him until I feel certain that he is going to accept them.This gives me the chance to work with a few players that initially are not good enough,but with a bit of work make the cut. This excites me as much as the player. New players have been found that I did not know about, all the famous players known to you all will be included. Jim Ward has every A Prince record ever made so what a selection there. Ernest Rutterford , Perci Honri are also in Jim's collection of 78s. There is still much work to do however, but Graham is very pleased with the way the collection is shaping up, so we are moving in the right direction. As soon as we finalise the line up I will let you all know what it will be. Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irene S. Posted January 18, 2010 Author Share Posted January 18, 2010 Interesting ... I was just leafing through some comments on a new thread on chords (for Anglos), and half way through came across a query from the original poster(s?) in response to the comment "Don't be in a hurry to rush out and buy a duet" ..... and the query was "What is a duet concertina?" Even if, as has already been suggested elsewhere on this thread, there are more duet players around (or in evidence) than there were 20 years ago, it sounds as though it is still the case that there is not a very elevated level awareness of the existence of duets, let alone what they can do. (Nice to know that I was not alone in my ignorance of their existence three years ago !) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Hersh Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 It's my impression that duets and duet players are a more common in the UK than here in the US (though I don't know where the "what is a duet" poster is located). Interesting ... I was just leafing through some comments on a new thread on chords (for Anglos), and half way through came across a query from the original poster(s?) in response to the comment "Don't be in a hurry to rush out and buy a duet" ..... and the query was "What is a duet concertina?" Even if, as has already been suggested elsewhere on this thread, there are more duet players around (or in evidence) than there were 20 years ago, it sounds as though it is still the case that there is not a very elevated level awareness of the existence of duets, let alone what they can do. (Nice to know that I was not alone in my ignorance of their existence three years ago !) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph Jordan Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 It's my impression that duets and duet players are a more common in the UK than here in the US (though I don't know where the "what is a duet" poster is located). Hi Daniel. Maybe duettists are just more isolated in the US? There aren't that many players here in the UK. I can think of about 15 or 16. It's just that we bump into each other at festivals/sessions etc more often. Also, until the forthcoming CD release appears, there hasn't been much in the way of recordings available. Certainly not of tune playing. It has made numerous appearances as an accompanying instrument (Chris Coe etc), but apart from Iris Bishops band album of a few years ago (which may not have made it across the pond), I can't think of many others. It would be interesting to know, just how many were made in the past, and I'm sure that a lot of them are just languishing in an attic somewhere. Maybe Crane Duets are rarer because of their Salvation Army connection, and tend to become family heirlooms "We must keep that, Grandad used to play it in the band" sort of thing. Cheers Ralphie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Hersh Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 Well, I know of about 50 concertina players here in the San Francisco Bay Area (it's a bit of a concertina hotbed) and I'm the only one I know of who's playing duet, and I've been playing it for just a few months. In the US as a whole I can think of just 7 or 8 duet players, though there are probably others who I don't know about. True, not many commercial duet recordings are available -- but YouTube (Jeff Lefferts [boney], Robert Dawson) and the lamented C.Net Recorded Links Page have been new sources of recordings in recent years. Daniel It's my impression that duets and duet players are a more common in the UK than here in the US (though I don't know where the "what is a duet" poster is located). Hi Daniel. Maybe duettists are just more isolated in the US? There aren't that many players here in the UK. I can think of about 15 or 16. It's just that we bump into each other at festivals/sessions etc more often. Also, until the forthcoming CD release appears, there hasn't been much in the way of recordings available. Certainly not of tune playing. It has made numerous appearances as an accompanying instrument (Chris Coe etc), but apart from Iris Bishops band album of a few years ago (which may not have made it across the pond), I can't think of many others. It would be interesting to know, just how many were made in the past, and I'm sure that a lot of them are just languishing in an attic somewhere. Maybe Crane Duets are rarer because of their Salvation Army connection, and tend to become family heirlooms "We must keep that, Grandad used to play it in the band" sort of thing. Cheers Ralphie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m3838 Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 Maybe duettists are just more isolated in the US? There aren't that many players here in the UK. I can think of about 15 or 16. It's just that we bump into each other at festivals/sessions etc more often. Not sure If I get the point. Not so long ago I was informed that at every festival one duet player is likely to bump into 20 others, therefore Duet Concertina is far from been in decline, esp. compared to 20 years ago. Looks like it IS in serious decline, considering that 100 years ago every second professional concertina performer was Duet player. Unfortunately due to financial circumstances I will not be able to afford Duet International, but hopefully I'll see more exciting clips on Youtube. I would also like to remind Ralph to please supply more direct link to his submissions. I wasn't able to find the clips so far, but am very interested. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph Jordan Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 Maybe duettists are just more isolated in the US? There aren't that many players here in the UK. I can think of about 15 or 16. It's just that we bump into each other at festivals/sessions etc more often. Not sure If I get the point. Not so long ago I was informed that at every festival one duet player is likely to bump into 20 others, therefore Duet Concertina is far from been in decline, esp. compared to 20 years ago. Looks like it IS in serious decline, considering that 100 years ago every second professional concertina performer was Duet player. Unfortunately due to financial circumstances I will not be able to afford Duet International, but hopefully I'll see more exciting clips on Youtube. I would also like to remind Ralph to please supply more direct link to his submissions. I wasn't able to find the clips so far, but am very interested. Thanks. Well in the UK, I've never met 20 other Duet players. 3 maybe 4 at a time? I did a workshop at Sidmouth (mid 70's) English players? 30 people. Anglo players? 40 maybe.....Duet....? Well, me and this bloke went for a coffee! (and he played a Crane as well which I couldn't play. Not much of a workshop really!) As for linking to the clips.....Irene?? where are you. I can use a computer for mixing audio, but I'm rubbish at this http stuff! failing that, go to the ONMVOICE website, search for my name Ralph Jordan, amd all will be revealed, (I hope!) As for your comment about professional players, well, you are correct. 100 years ago, The Duet was the instrument of choice in the Music Halls, and various classical settings. Prince, Honri, and others made a fine living. Sadly, the music halls are no longer with us. But, you have to remember that the Duet was very expensive to buy in those days. I get the impression that only posh people could afford them. Funny how nowadays, a good Jeffries Anglo can command a price of up to 4000 (UK pounds), and you can still find Duets (occasionally, it has to be said) for 1 to 2000 pounds. How the mighty have fallen. Put it down to market forces I suppose. Cheers Ralphie 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leonard Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 I would also like to remind Ralph to please supply more direct link to his submissions. I wasn't able to find the clips so far, but am very interested. http://www.onmvoice.com/Ralphie01 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael sam wild Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 Interesting ... I was just leafing through some comments on a new thread on chords (for Anglos), and half way through came across a query from the original poster(s?) in response to the comment "Don't be in a hurry to rush out and buy a duet" ..... and the query was "What is a duet concertina?" Even if, as has already been suggested elsewhere on this thread, there are more duet players around (or in evidence) than there were 20 years ago, it sounds as though it is still the case that there is not a very elevated level awareness of the existence of duets, let alone what they can do. (Nice to know that I was not alone in my ignorance of their existence three years ago !) After hearing Michael Hebbert's LP in the 70s (Free Reed, the Ramping cat) and being knocked out I could never find one to try out and went on to melodeon. They seemed rarer than Chocolate Teapots or rocking horse droppings so i let the enthusiasm drift sadly What does Michael H play? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Day Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 Interesting ... I was just leafing through some comments on a new thread on chords (for Anglos), and half way through came across a query from the original poster(s?) in response to the comment "Don't be in a hurry to rush out and buy a duet" ..... and the query was "What is a duet concertina?" Even if, as has already been suggested elsewhere on this thread, there are more duet players around (or in evidence) than there were 20 years ago, it sounds as though it is still the case that there is not a very elevated level awareness of the existence of duets, let alone what they can do. (Nice to know that I was not alone in my ignorance of their existence three years ago !) After hearing Michael Hebbert's LP in the 70s (Free Reed, the Ramping cat) and being knocked out I could never find one to try out and went on to melodeon. They seemed rarer than Chocolate Teapots or rocking horse droppings so i let the enthusiasm drift sadly What does Michael H play? Michael - Mike Hibbert plays a Jeffries Duet At the last count I have on my list 40 Duet players (Including archives ) that will possibly get on Duet International We are not far away with that number to get to three CDs ,but it is early days yet, I still have a hell of a lot of loose ends to tie up and we are still waiting to receive a number of players recordings.It is the first time I have done a list and it is starting to look interesting. Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael sam wild Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 Interesting ... I was just leafing through some comments on a new thread on chords (for Anglos), and half way through came across a query from the original poster(s?) in response to the comment "Don't be in a hurry to rush out and buy a duet" ..... and the query was "What is a duet concertina?" Even if, as has already been suggested elsewhere on this thread, there are more duet players around (or in evidence) than there were 20 years ago, it sounds as though it is still the case that there is not a very elevated level awareness of the existence of duets, let alone what they can do. (Nice to know that I was not alone in my ignorance of their existence three years ago !) After hearing Michael Hebbert's LP in the 70s (Free Reed, the Ramping cat) and being knocked out I could never find one to try out and went on to melodeon. They seemed rarer than Chocolate Teapots or rocking horse droppings so i let the enthusiasm drift sadly What does Michael H play? Michael - Mike Hibbert plays a Jeffries Duet At the last count I have on my list 40 Duet players (Including archives ) that will possibly get on Duet International We are not far away with that number to get to three CDs ,but it is early days yet, I still have a hell of a lot of loose ends to tie up and we are still waiting to receive a number of players recordings.It is the first time I have done a list and it is starting to look interesting. Al thanks Al How many active Jeffries duet players are there? I missed one on eBay a bit back.. On sale from Sheffield actually where I live. Someone told me they get converted to Anglos or have reeds removed for Anglos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Day Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 Interesting ... I was just leafing through some comments on a new thread on chords (for Anglos), and half way through came across a query from the original poster(s?) in response to the comment "Don't be in a hurry to rush out and buy a duet" ..... and the query was "What is a duet concertina?" Even if, as has already been suggested elsewhere on this thread, there are more duet players around (or in evidence) than there were 20 years ago, it sounds as though it is still the case that there is not a very elevated level awareness of the existence of duets, let alone what they can do. (Nice to know that I was not alone in my ignorance of their existence three years ago !) After hearing Michael Hebbert's LP in the 70s (Free Reed, the Ramping cat) and being knocked out I could never find one to try out and went on to melodeon. They seemed rarer than Chocolate Teapots or rocking horse droppings so i let the enthusiasm drift sadly What does Michael H play? Michael - Mike Hibbert plays a Jeffries Duet At the last count I have on my list 40 Duet players (Including archives ) that will possibly get on Duet International We are not far away with that number to get to three CDs ,but it is early days yet, I still have a hell of a lot of loose ends to tie up and we are still waiting to receive a number of players recordings.It is the first time I have done a list and it is starting to look interesting. Al thanks Al How many active Jeffries duet players are there? I missed one on eBay a bit back.. On sale from Sheffield actually where I live. Someone told me they get converted to Anglos or have reeds removed for Anglos. You are testing my memory here, definitely two I can name these as Mike Hibbert and Gavin Atkin and possibly one other at this stage. Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LDT Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 How many active Jeffries duet players are there? I missed one on eBay a bit back.. On sale from Sheffield actually where I live. Someone told me they get converted to Anglos or have reeds removed for Anglos. Has anyone done the reverse? Anglo to Duet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Day Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 (edited) How many active Jeffries duet players are there? I missed one on eBay a bit back.. On sale from Sheffield actually where I live. Someone told me they get converted to Anglos or have reeds removed for Anglos. Sorry miss read this one. Because I converted my Duet to Anglo I did it in such a way with minimum reed work to Bp FC that it could be converted back again. It is the ones that are converted up to CG that are difficult to put back again Al Edited January 18, 2010 by Alan Day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leonard Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 How many active Jeffries duet players are there? I missed one on eBay a bit back.. Do they sell players as well?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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