Brendan Taaffe: Review of Jeremy Kittel




Jeremy Kittel: Roaming

(JK002; self-published; P.O. Box 653, Saline, MI 48176; www.jeremykittel.com)

The track descriptions provided for radio airplay with this new disc include the following: “blazing Scottish reels,” “slow-paced, intimate Irish tunes,” “up-tempo jazz with slow intro,” “a groovy treatment of an Irish traditional tune,” and “an improvisational journey through funk, newgrass, swing, rock, and bluegrass.” It’s a dizzying array, but having established impeccable credentials for Scottish fiddling with his first album (Celtic Fiddle), Jeremy Kittel is stepping out in impressive style.

Roaming encompasses a lot of material, and a common pitfall of trying to do everything is having the end product be disjointed. What holds this album together is the intense clarity of tone that Jeremy pulls out of his fiddle, and the sweetness of his approach—somewhat reminiscent, to my ear, of Brian Conway’s tone and sweetness, though not his style. The instrument obviously poses no limitations; Jeremy sounds at home in traditional tunes and in straight-out jazz. Indeed, I find the version of Chick Corea’s “Spain” the highlight of the album, and Jeremy plays with swing and inventiveness. The jazzy approaches to traditional material work, for the most part, because of Jeremy’s restraint. On Sleepy Maggie, a two-part version of Jenny’s Chickens that has historically been a vehicle for a lot of tasteless showboating, Jeremy plays some hot stuff, but pulls a sweetness out of tune not often heard. The most ambitious track of the album is the medley of Blackberry Blossom and Sing Sing Sing – the aforementioned “improvisational journey through funk, newgrass, etc.” Some very hot playing here, but there are a few points where it’s hard to figure out where the journey is going.

I am generally very traditional in my tastes, but I enjoy this disc a lot. The playing is fresh, exciting, and sweet. Very able accompaniment on guitar by John Behling, with some particularly hot jazz licks, and a nice use of bass, bodhran, and piano as well. Oh yeah, Jeremy is just too damn young to play as well as he does, and “more mature’ musicians should ignore the pictures on the album, or tape them over, or something of the sort.

Jeremy Kittel: Roaming