Customer Reviews

Traditional Irish Music

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I heard James Kelly for the first time live at a small concert performance for the Highland Ranch Highlands Game in Denver Colorado. I couldn't believe the quality of his playing. We were dancing during the concert (I'm an Irish stepdancer), but I burrowed my checks out of my dance bag between numbers and bought his CD.

Am I ever glad I did! Mr. Kelly is an amazing fiddler. His love and respect for the Tradition is evident on this CD. His skill is awe-inspiring to me, a beginning Irish fiddler.

What I particularly admire is that Mr. Kelly, while obviously quite capable of lightning speed, chooses speeds that fit each tune. My fiddle teacher, Michelle Huber, sometimes shamefacedly admits to playing in session for the fun of the speed "often at the expense of the music," but it wasn't 'til I heard Mr. Kelly play that I realized in my gut what she means by that.

If you're a lover of the Tradition, you will love this CD. Buy it!

James Kelly Traditional Irish Music (Capelhouse)

Irish fiddle music is updated firmly within the tradition by former Planxty and Patrick Street fiddler James Kelly on this fulfilling recording. Never straying far from what he learned at the elbow of Ireland's finest traditional musicians, he offers a varied collection of nuggets gathered from O'Neill's Music of Ireland, Michael Coleman's classic recordings and his own youthful encounters with the cream of Ireland's fiddlers.

A major strength of Kelly's playing is his willingness to present the tunes at moderate tempos. Reels such as the opener, "Lads of Laois" are accessible to all ears yet overflow with musical ideas. Even piper Paddy Keenan is tamed down to dance tempo on the set of reels titled "The London Set."

The accompaniment throughout by Zan Macleod is both tasteful and creative. His varied guitar work provides a fitting foundation for Kelly's subtle variations. Echoes of Arty McGlynn's guitar work are especially in evidence on the opening set of reels and on the slip jig set, "The Gift from the Fairies", "Drops of Brandy", and "Is the Big Man Within?"

The unadorned arrangements of the slow airs and the strathspey and reel set are emblematic of the purity of Kelly's approach to the traditional music. This respect for the players that have come before is manifest in the detailed sleeve notes on each tune, among which are interspersed personal and meaningful anecdotes about the Irish fiddlers who most influenced him. References to fiddlers such as Tommy Potts and Dennis Murphy add a human dimension to tunes, and allow the listener insight into the small world of Irish trad music in the days before recordings opened it to the world.

Kelly's own tunes fit right into the tradition, but are an indication of the life he breathes into Irish music. Never straying far from the path, his superb playing and creative interpretations of tunes old and new offer a fully satisfying recording that stands up to repeated listenings. I dare say it is the best fiddle recording of the past year!