The Essential Guide to Irish Flute and Tin Whistle
and Dark of the Moon
Irish Music Magazine
March 1, 2004
by Bill Margeson
It always seems that a good, new traditional album can offer personal and musical history lessons, in addition to the tunes themselves. Such is the case with the newly released album from Indiana flute and concertina player, Grey Larsen. Dark of the Moon is the new creation's title. It is Grey's twelfth album, and the second featuring guitar and bodhrán accompaniment from friend and colleague, Paddy League. Each of the tunes in this all-instrumental outing are traditional, and also feature two of Grey's own titles, The Slopes of Mount Storm and the title tune, Dark of the Moon. Both cuts appear in a set divided by Hurry The Jug, originally played for Grey by friend and mentor, Tom McCaffrey. Usually set in the key of e minor," The Jug " appears here in g minor instead. But, let's not get snared too early in the technical notes. No, we stated this is a lot about history, and indeed it is. In that historical line, there is still another new creation from Grey! History lessons also abound in Larsen's new 480-page tome with two companion CDs , The Essential Guide to Irish Flute and Tin Whistle.
Cleveland and Cincinnati, Ohio are not usually considered as hotbeds of traditional music, but that may well need reconsidering! Grey, now 49, resides in Bloomington, Indiana. He was raised in Cincinnati and well remembers his home filled with music, including a lot of classical recordings played often by his father. Grey himself began playing piano at the age of four. He remembers what he calls a " life altering " moment when he first saw trad played live at the age of 15. As a teenager, he had become interested in the concertina. In those days, concertinas were not widely known or played in the area, so the youngster did the smart thing and advertised for one in the local papers. Stunningly, he was flooded with responses, as there were concertinas aplenty left over from their salad days in the 30's and 40's in a very strong German musical community and tradition in the area. The concertina he bought and still treasures is a 1934 Wheatstone. His wooden flute was made in the 1850's by Firth, Pond & Co. in New York. More on that flute later.
Sligo's Tom Byrne gave Grey early and formative flute lessons, as well as his first flute. A major mentor for the young lad at the time, followed by Leitrim fiddle player, Tom McCaffrey, now living in Cleveland. The Cleveland scene opened to Grey when he moved to the area to attend Oberlin College. Before all that, however, came Michael Kennedy. In 1973, Grey met East Galway's Kennedy, a prolific musician. He lived in Covington, Kentucky, right across the river from Cincinnati. As flute and melodeon teachers, Byrne and Kennedy surely passed on what we will call a Sligo/East Galway/Roscommon style. It accounts for the smooth, lyrical and punctuated manner of the playing. Plenty of rhythm for those seeking it, with a polished and great lift to the tunes. Says Grey, " All these people were so important to me. ARE still important to me. Great musicians, very generous and endlessly patient."
Back to that flute. The album was recorded in Grey's home between June and October in 2002. Irish Music Magazine's readers are well aware of the growing self-produced and self-distributed phenomenon that is sweeping traditional music. The ever-increasing quality, portability and ease of production represented by the latest advances in digital recording have made a highly professional sound and ambience easily available to musicians world-round. The internet and newly emergent companies also are opening a vast marketplace, heretofore only reached through major recording companies. It still takes someone who really knows what he or she is doing to get a great sound, however. It must be concluded that the overriding impression of this album----apart from the musicianship on display---is the extraordinarily warm sound from Grey's 1850's flute. Mixed with his aforementioned smooth and effortless playing technique, this warmth becomes a comfortable and welcome blanket for a cold winter's night, indeed! The warmth of the wooden flute has seldom been heard to better advantage! Add to this mix an instinctually blended style from League's fine guitar work and well-suited bodhrán playing, and we have a right deal, altogether. Not to be outshone, however, is Grey's concertina work, no doubt also influenced by another of Grey's idols, Noel Hill. " Noel is the master," states Grey, "all the rest of us really look to him."
Many of the tunes Grey describes as "rare". The jig Haste to the Wedding is a well-known standard, but quite different here, due to the very different East Galway version taught to Grey by Michael Kennedy. It is no accident that six of the tunes on the album were originally taught to Grey by Kennedy. Another example is the unique version of Pretty Molly Brannigan, a favorite schottische of Irish musicians. More history comes forth in a lively set of reels which includes Josie McDermott's, for a fellow musician and neighbor of Tom Byrne's from Sligo who played often with Byrne in the Sligo-Roscommon border area. Grey's concertina is tuned D/A, instead of the usual Irish C/D, no doubt due to its early German traditional music usage. The title track of the album must surely be one of the very few Irish reels played by a flute player in G minor!! So, there are rare 'ould goodies, as well as a lot of never-heard versions of "standards".
Grey and Paddy are also proud that almost all the tunes on the album were taught directly to them by older players deeply rooted in the music. Irish immigrants Byrne, McCaffrey and Kennedy also had their fingers in inspiring Larsen to complete his mammoth book The Essential Guide to Irish Flute and Tin Whistle, published by Mel Bay. Regarding the book, Grey stated, "I wanted to give something back to the Irish people and culture that has so enriched my life." Since few of his flute and whistle students had shared Larsen's good fortune, i.e. learning in the traditional manner from Irish-born elder musicians, he devoted himself to creating a resource that would help everyone, regardless of their playing level, to learn about the techniques and history of traditional Irish music, as well as the crucial importance of listening to the musicians who had lived and breathed the music.
There are no studio tricks on the album. It is played live, so to speak, though Grey does assure that there were frequent stoppings for low flying airplanes and neighborhood dogs barking! In any event, what we have here is another terrific outing for the duo. This all represents the best of the current trad scene. There is the future, as heard in Grey's new tunes, and the emerging style of recording. But, always, always, in traditional music, there is that wonderful and full history that any great player brings to a project like this. It is Grey's flute and concertina we hear, but there are surely a lot of other fingers we hear on those instruments, helping him along the way.
The album is on the Sleepy Creek Music label. It is available from Grey's website, easily found through Google. It is also available on the growingly influential cdbaby.com and LiveIreland.com websites.