Resonant Constellation

I have strange musical tastes, ranging from classical to rock to bluegrass and most recently blues.  But my favorite type of music is Irish/Scottish Traditional.  My interest started when I took a summer class on Irish music in middle school.  It was only later that I realized that I am a quarter Irish.  Since the very early days of my acquaintance with this music, my favorite band has been the Old Blind Dogs, a scottish folk group hailing mostly (or at least they used to) from Aberdeenshire and Northern Scotland (as opposed to another of my favorite bands, Breabach, a newer discovery).  OBD have been an inspiration to me musically, nearly every member of the band contributing significantly to how I play.

When I went to see the Dogs in concert last year, they were as awesome as ever, even though their piper and whistle player Rory Campbell had just left the band and the lead singer Jim Malcolm had left in 2006.  The new piper, Ali Hutton, acquitted himself excellently, and the band played many of my old favorites.  However, there were a few new tunes, and one particularly stood out.  It was a quiet vocal number called “Saints and Sinners.”  I went home humming the tune and playing it over in my mind with the few lyrics I remembered.  Thus began a several-month-long-quest to find a recording of this tune, finally ending in this album by Aaron Jones (Old Blind Dogs guitar and bozuki player and sometimes lead singer), and Claire Mann, an award-winning flute player, fiddler, and singer with an impressive list of accomplishments.  Despite this high level of achievement and the high expectations, they managed to exceed anything I could have hoped for.  I may have bought it for one track, but I keep listening to it for the rest: this is simply a great album.

It begins with a moderately paced set of three reels called McElvogue’s between fiddle, flute, and bozuki.  These tunes show off exactly what I love about Aaron Jones’ accompaniment.  It drives the melody forward, but isn’t overbearing.  The middle reel is wonderfully minor and twisty, switching back to a wholesome major key for the finish.

The next set, The Smiling Bride, is a mixture of jigs in about the same tempo as the first set.  A bit of bodhran changes up the pace nicely, however, and the sudden transition to a minor slip-jig (one that I know but can’t for the life of me place the name of) fits perfectly with the flavor of the album so far.  Back into another 6/8 jig with a vaguely minor B part for that intensely celtic feeling.

The third track, Saints and Sinners, I’ve mentioned before as being the reason I bought the album, and it doesn’t disappoint.  I must say, through all the years of listening to Jim Malcolm’s incredible voice (Scots Trad singer of the year 2004, nominee several other times) with the Dogs, I never realized that Aaron Jones also had a great singing voice.  This song is from the perspective of a man sitting on his steps on Sunday morning and watching people go to church.  It’s wonderfully philosophical in just the way I like:

I remember the lessons of Sunday school

And I can’t help thinking that maybe I’m the fool

And I see no part of a greater plan

Just the joy and the sorrow of my fellow man

See what I mean?  As Ronan Burke would say: Great hurlin’, altogether. (At least that’s what I think he says, he has a really thick accent. Follow the link, and you’ll see…)

The next set is a good return to a moderate pace after the song with two tunes from Brittany (I believe). The first is a tune from Jacky Molard, who I seem to have heard of before (I recognize the style), and the second a great minor tune with the kind of rhythm awesomeness that makes dancers stumble.

The fifth track, Across the Western Ocean, is another standout vocal piece involving Liverpool, a favorite city of Jones. Instrumentally, this tune is rather complicated, building a great undercarriage for the unadorned vocals. The flute and bozuki work better together than I would have thought, as does the guest harmonica provided by Little Al Price (never heard of him). Another great tune.

The sixth set, Tripping, is mostly traditional tunes and all ’session favorites.’ In the second tune, we finally get a burst of speed from Mann’s fiddle playing, displaying excellent use of ornamentation. At the end is a nice little stinger arpeggiated chord, which I haven’t seen used in Irish trad. much, but I must say it works nicely.

Fortune’s Wheel is the seventh track and third vocal selection, and is rather laid-back in its circa minor feeling. Aaron Jones’ voice gets a bit of a workout here with a bit larger dynamic and tonal range as well as much more ornamentation than in the others. Accompanying him here is only light guitar and B flat flute, which has the wonderfully breathy sound of lower winds.

Another tune I know starts off Snappy Guzzlin’. While the liner notes call it Denis Ryan’s, that name just doesn’t click with me. This is the curse of Irish music: every tune has three different names depending on where you are (example: the wedding reel is known as MacLeod’s Farewell, Madonna’s, and even Ms. MacLeod’s Farewell to Chastity in certain parts of Tucson) and there’s six other tunes with the same name. This set does live up to the ’snappy’ title, however, and brings a great happy note the middle of the album.

The last vocal number on the album, Slip Jigs and Reels continues the pattern of outstanding vocal tunes on this album. This is another single song that I would have bought the entire album just to get. Thankfully, I got a whole album of these! The main character of this song leaves his home for New York and has all sorts of adventures, but through it all he finds pleasure in slip jigs and reels. As with most good Irish/Scottish Trad. songs, this ends with the main character dying. It would be a downer if it wasn’t expected in practically every tune (if things end happily, I’m surprised).

The next to last set, Bottle of Whisky, includes YET ANOTHER tune I know by the name of Munster Buttermilk (this name I DO recognize), and two tunes I have to learn. The first if only for the name: “Kitty Got a Clicking Coming to the Fair,” and the second because of the story behind it. Bottle of Whisky refers to a competition between two Uilleann pipers where the prize was…what else but a bottle of Whisky. This last has great major/minor transitions and a compelling melody worthy of a Uilleann competition.

The last tune on the album is a solo air by Claire Mann on the B flat flute called Lament for the Kerry Fisherman. It may not have been my choice as a last tune for this album, but it certainly works, the simplicity of the solo flute giving the listener time to pause and consider the album they have just listened to as an entire work.

I must say that while both of these artists have released albums with other bands, Secret Orders is an incredibly impressive first album. I only hope we can see more from this duo sometime in the near future!