Concertina Music?

[Susanne]

For every other instrument I've played, it's good to listen to as much mandolin/fiddle/whistle music as possible. so I guess this is good when learning the concertina too. But what concertina greats are there out there? I don't know of any, more than that I've seen the name Noel Hill being mentioned here and there. What recordings should I get? What would your suggestions be of good concertina music for listening?

[Samantha]

For every other instrument I've played, it's good to listen to as much mandolin/fiddle/whistle music as possible. so I guess this is good when learning the concertina too. But what concertina greats are there out there? I don't know of any, more than that I've seen the name Noel Hill being mentioned here and there. What recordings should I get? What would your suggestions be of good concertina music for listening?

 

Morgana has begun to list concertina CDs in this thread. Happy hunting!

Samantha

[semaj1950]

At the risk of redundancy, here's a list which Frank Edgely kindly sent me 2 years ago:

 

BERNARD O”SULLIVAN & TOMMY McMANN – Clare Concertinas” (Green Linnett)

CATHY CUSTY – "An Ceoltoir Fanach”

CHARLIE COEN (FR.) – “The Branch Line”

CHRIS DRONEY – “The Fertile Rock” (Clo lar Chonnachta)

_ “Irish Dance Music” (Copley 5007) (tape only)

ELIZABETH CROTTY – “Concertina Music from West Clare” (RTE 225 CD)

FRANK EDGLEY – “Bridges” (available through performer cbraz@sympatico.ca)

- “Strathmore, The Full Whack”

GEAROID OHALLMHURAIN – “Trad. Music from Clare & Beyond”

- “Tracin” with Patrick Ourceau

GERARD (GERDIE) COMMANE – “Two Gentlemen from Clare” (custys.ennis@eircom.net)

JACQUELINE McCARTHY – “The Wind Among the Reeds” (Maree Music)

- “The Hidden Note”

JACKIE DALY – “Music from Sleive Luacra” (Green Linnett)

- “Jackie Dali & Seaumus Creagh” (Gael Lynn)

JASON O’ROURKE – “The Bunch of Keys”

JOHN WILLIAMS – “John Williams” (Green Linnett)

- Steam”

LORETTO REID & Brian Taheny – “The Golden Dawn” (Reta Ceol 1-800-633-8282)

- “Celtic Mettle”

- “From the Inside Out”

MARY MacNAMARA – “Traditional Music from West Clare” (Claddagh)

- “The Blackberry Blossom”

NOEL HILL – “The Irish Concertina” (Shanachie)

- “In Knocnagree”

- “Noel Hill & Tony Linnane”

- “Music of Dreams”

PAKIE RUSSELL – “The Russell Family” (Green Linnett)

PADRAIG RYNNE & Others – “Turas” (Dolmen)

- “Cian” (timmurray@tinet.ie)

TOMMY McCARTHY – “Sporting Nell” (Maree Music)

MICHAEL O’RAGHALLAIGH – “The Nervous Man” (info@ossianusa.com)

NIALL VALLELY – “ Beyond Words”

TERRY BINGHAM – “Trad. Music from Doolin”

THE MacNAMARA FAMILY – “Leitrim’s Hidden Treasure”

[Richard Morse]

What concertina greats are there out there? I don't know of any, more than that I've seen the name Noel Hill being mentioned here and there. What recordings should I get?

I would imagine that that would depend heavily on what type of music you like and what you'd like to play. My concertina favorites list looks very different:

 

Dave Townsend - Portrait Of A Concertina

John Kirkpatric - (has lots and lots of albums)

Alistair Anderson - (has many albeit mostly out of print albums)

Jody Kruskal - Grand Picknic

Michael Hebbert - The Rampin' Cat

The New Mexborough English Concertina Quartet

[JimLucas]

What concertina greats are there out there? I don't know of any, more than that I've seen the name Noel Hill being mentioned here and there. What recordings should I get?

I would imagine that that would depend heavily on what type of music you like and what you'd like to play.

And if the aim is to learn to play by imitating recordings, it could matter what kind of concertina was recorded. ET (EnnisTraveler) has an ET (extended-treble) English.

 

My concertina favorites list looks very different:

Dave Townsend - Portrait Of A Concertina

John Kirkpatric - (has lots and lots of albums)

Alistair Anderson - (has many albeit mostly out of print albums)

Jody Kruskal - Grand Picknic

Michael Hebbert - The Rampin' Cat

The New Mexborough English Concertina Quartet

Dave Townsend and Ali Anderson play Englishes, as does the New Mexborough quartet.

John Kirkpatrick and Jody Kruskal are both anglo players, and Michael Hebbert plays a Jeffries duet.

None of the latter three play arrangement styles that are readily adaptable to the English, and I think it's only some of Alistair's stuff on the English that a beginner might try to imitate.

 

All those on the list attributed to Frank Edgley's and nearly all those in the Morgana thread linked by Samantha -- Bertram Levy and those in Robin Madge's post are exceptions -- are Irish-style anglo. Though they are anglo, the mainly-melody-with-sparse-harmony style is readily adaptable to the English.

 

There are a number of recordings by players of the English. I don't have time to work up a list at the moment, but there have been other threads listing them, so if you use the search facility here you should be able to find them. I suspect that few are available from Amazon.com, but many may be available through The Button Box (in the US) or other small shops that do mail order.

 

For those who want recordings of duet players, I know of a few where it's used for song accompaniment, but I think there must be some of solo work on Macann, Crane, Jeffries, or Hayden. Can anybody here confirm that with specifics?

[GrahamBradshaw]

All those on the list attributed to Frank Edgley's and nearly all those in the Morgana thread linked by Samantha -- Bertram Levy and those in Robin Madge's post are exceptions -- are Irish-style anglo. Though they are anglo, the mainly-melody-with-sparse-harmony style is readily adaptable to the English.

 

You could do worse than get a copy of Anglo International, which includes most of the anglo players mentioned. Available from Button Box in the USA or from the dedicated website www.angloconcertina.co.uk

[John Wild]

For those who want recordings of duet players, I know of a few where it's used for song accompaniment, but I think there must be some of solo work on Macann, Crane, Jeffries, or Hayden. Can anybody here confirm that with specifics?

 

 

I do not have specific recording details to hand, but currently active duet players to look out for are:

 

Iris Bishop (McCann)

Tim Laycock (Crane) - Tim is also performing/recording as leader of the New Scorpion Band

David Cornell (McCann)

 

- John Wild

[David Barnert]

For a good general collection of various concertina types and playing styles, try the multi-CD set called "This Label Is Not Removable: A Celebration of 25 Years of Free Reed."

 

Edited for typo.

Edited November 18, 2005 by David Barnert

[Larry Stout]

Take a look at the c-net recorder tunes link page

http://home.planet.nl/~aalte099/links.htm

I particularly like the set of tunes that Danny Chapman put together in the tunes for Louise link.