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Kevin Crawford: In Good Company |
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Fiddle and flute together is a great pair, and one with a long history: Peoples and Molloy, Frankie Kennedy and Mairead ni Mhaonaigh, Fred Finn and Peter Horan. In Good Company, Kevin Crawford’s new album, is dedicated to the memory of Junior Crehan and Josie Hayes, a classic fiddle and flute duo from Clare. Kevin Crawford is the flute player with Lúnasa and with Moving Cloud, both highly regarded Irish bands. In 1994 he recorded his first solo album for Green Linnet, the ‘D’ Flute Album. In making his latest recording, Kevin wanted to play with some of his musical heroes, who happen to be some of the best fiddlers around. The album consists of duets with Tommy Peoples, Martin Hayes (on viola), Frankie Gavin, Conor Tully, Tony Linnane, Sean Smyth, Manus McGuire, and James Cullinan. The playing is all top-notch, and for the price of one album gives the listener a taste of many different players and styles. What keeps the album cohesive, and not a disjointed sampler, is Kevin’s flute playing, which is simply excellent. Tune choices are great, accompaniment expertly provided by Arty McGlynn, Carl Hession, Jim Higgins and Mick Conneely, and the production is fairly sparse, appropriately so for an album trying to capture on old feel. The only sour note for me comes from the use of a schmaltzy string section on two of the slow airs, making the Scottish air Coilsfield House sound like something you’d hear on an elevator. But that small glitch is far overshadowed by the magnificent playing, well in keeping with the great legacy of fiddle-flute duets that Kevin invokes. |
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© Brendan Taaffe, 2005. All Rights Reserved. |
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