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The ostensibly restricted palette of just concertina and cello may suggest an unpromising basis for an entire album, but Dave and Gill coax a full and varied range of melodious and genuinely beautiful sounds from their respective instruments, and con- stant interest is maintained due to the cre- ativity with which they switch and match parts and lines and vary the textures. Their keen sense of rhythm and momentum drive the music forward with an infectious, feel - good ebullience that’s irresistible to the lis- tener, whether nimbly uptempo (the tricky Chinese Dance or track eight’s set of York- shire fiddlers’ tunes, or in the lightly tripping pizzicatos accompanying track ten’s Varia- tions On Johnny Cope) or, at a more mea- sured pace (the set of Shaker Tunes, or Farewell To The Shore which begins the delightful medley of traditional Welsh harp and dance tunes). Choice of material is reli- able and well-matched, largely comprising forgotten treasures from English tradition (notably dances of north-country origin), while the songs serve well to break up what in less skilled hands might easily have become an unrelieved diet.
In terms of tone and delivery, Dave’s robust singing occasionally calls to mind that of John Kirkpatrick, while Gill confines her vocal contribution to some well-considered harmonies on Banks Of The Sweet Primroses, which (inspired by the Phil Tanner version) is taken at a refreshingly vital lick and tagged- off with an animated stepdance and horn- pipe. Perhaps one or two of the shorter songs seem a touch routinely dispatched, but there’s no lack of joyful enthusiasm in the performances. All told, a most enjoyable disc.
www.wildgoose.co.uk David Kidman
ARTHUR ‘BIG BOY’ CRUDUP Sunny Road Delmark DE 827
WILLIE BUCK Cell Phone Man Delmark DE 825
There are few blues men as pure as Arthur Crudup. His style never changed, his tempos hardly varied with his simple, yet effective, guitar playing laying a solid foundation under his strong voice, a voice that delivers his blues lyrics with striking clarity. A young Elvis Presley was so taken by Arthur’s music that he recorded at least three of his songs – That’s All Right, My Baby Left Me and So Glad You’re Mine, but while Elvis went on to fame and fortune Arthur (who never received his due royalties) continued to eke out a meagre existence performing wherever he could (including playing in Britain) and recording where possible. His initial 1941 sides were released on the legendary Bluebird label and they sold well enough for Arthur to be signed to Bluebird’s parent company RCA who later released That’s All Right in 1946. After recording for a variety of other labels Arthur had two albums, Look On Yonder’s Wall and Meets The Master Blues Bassist, released in the late ’60s, on Chicago’s Delmark label. The nine tracks (plus a track of studio chatter) now issued on Sunny Road were recorded in November 1969 with Arthur backed by bassist Mark Thompson and drummer Willie ‘Big Eyes’ Smith, with additional guitar on four tracks by either Jimmy Dawkins or Mike Thompson. A melancholic mood looms over the session (Arthur had just lost his wife) but these previously unreleased items prove a worthy addition to recorded legacy of Arthur ‘Big Boy’ Crudup, one of the great bluesmen.
Thirty years ago Delmark reissued Willie
Buck’s debut album, an album that he had originally self-produced. Over the years,
Willie has held down a nine-to-five as an auto mechanic, performing his music locally on weekends and on short out-of-town jaunts. It’s taken a while but here’s a newly recorded set that reflects Buck’s straight ahead approach to the Chicago-style blues of the ’50s, the sounds that he first encountered in the Windy City as a teen, newly arrived from Mississippi. The impact of Muddy Waters is stamped heavily all over Willie’s music (five of the songs here are sourced from Muddy’s repertoire) but he still sounds like his own man. Aided and abetted by the all-white Rockin’ Johnny Band (and guests), Willie Buck shows he’s an able torchbearer for the classic style of Chicago blues, a style that’s becoming rarer by the day.
www.delmark.com Dave Peabody VARIOUS ARTISTS
The Complete Songs Of Robert Tannahill, Volume III Brechin All Records, CDBAR017
This is the third volume of Dr Fred Freeman’s invaluable project to record all of Robert Tanna hill’s songs – arranging and recording them in contemporary Scottish traditional styles using a selection of our finest tradition- al musicians to do it.
The vocalists on this disk are magnifi- cent. Fiona Hunter, Rod Paterson, Brian O hEadhra, Lucy Pringle and Nick Keir all have warm, richly-textured voices full of emotional expression. It’s a masterclass in traditional Scots singing. The instrumental accompani- ment is excellent. Cittern, whistle, acoustic bass and bodhran give real zip and zest to The Lasses Aa Leuch and Irish Teaching, and the acoustic bass, tabla and guitar give it big licks on Lallan Lassie Wilt Thou Go. The instrumental support includes Chris Wright (cittern, guitar, tabla), Marc Duff (whistles, recorder, bouzouki, bodhran), Stewart Hardy (fiddle), Aaron Jones (cittern), Angus Lyon (accordeon, keyboards), Pat McGarvey (banjo), Frank McLaughlin (guitar), Chris Agnew (acoustic bass) and Mark Dunlop (bodhran).
Robert Tannahill (1774-1810) was a
weaver, poet and songwriter from Paisley. He wrote beautifully about nature and love. He was a near-contemporary of Robert Burns and – partly because of that – Tannahill’s work has been unfairly neglected in compari- son. This is a great shame because Tannahill is
Arthur Crudup
a fascinating songwriter whose work has qualities that 21st Century Scots will recog- nise and admire.
Tannahill was a multiculturalist who understood the strength of Scotland’s diverse social mix. He saw Highlanders coming south to Glasgow looking for work, and his songs about Highlanders have a post-Jacobite romanticism that you also find in Burns and which was very fashionable at the time. Much less fashionable was Tannahill’s sympathy for Irish immigrants. He wrote a good many songs from the perspective of Irish immi- grants, often set to Irish melodies. A number of these songs can be found on this CD, sung by Brian O hEadhra and Nick Keir. Tannahill’s empathy with Irish people was all the more remarkable given that many Irish immigrants were weavers like Tannahill, competing directly with him for business and livelihood.
Tannahill died tragically by his own hand at a very young age. The 32-page booklet accompanying this CD contains further infor- mation about him, and complete lyrics.
www.musicinscotland.com
Paul Matheson
RAY LEMA 5 Albums Originaux Buda Musique CD 1153
Born in the Congo in 1946, Ray Lema, nur- tured by Belgian priests, began playing piano and organ, absorbing Gregorian chant, Mozart and Chopin. Then he heard the Beat- les, Hendrix and Django, and learned guitar. Then, aged only 14, he went to Kinshasa Uni- versity to study chemistry. By 1974, having proved his mettle in leading bands, he had become musical director of the National Bal- let of Zaire. He left the country in ’79 with a Rockefeller scholarship to New York, stayed three years and finally settled in Paris – where he has been based ever since, a revered and prolific musician.
From the bare bones of his life, you get a pretty clear guess at what Ray Lema’s music might be like. And you’d probably be right. Supremely eclectic, highly gifted, unfailingly inventive, always charming company – and hardly African at all. There are African ele- ments, of course – not least, he sings like Papa Wemba – but equally, he is just as at home recording an album with a full-blooded Bulgarian choir or playing smoky cocktail jazz. He is, in his own words, relentlessly pur- suing ‘the other’.
Lema has recorded a score of albums in
his career. In this bargain box are five – Ray Lema : Voix Bulgares (1992), Tout Partout (1994), Green Light (1996), Stop Time (1997) and Mizila (2004). Of these, it’s tempting to think of the last one, featuring just Lema’s solo piano, as the distillation of what he’s all about. No distractions, his musical thinking laid out clear and simple. The pieces are quite short, most around five minutes, and general- ly feature a simple repeated bass figure and a fluid cascade from the right. After a while, syncopations and variations start. The basic pulse persists.
The melodies are usually quite simple
and catchy, as are the rhythms. The mood is pretty upbeat, little to cloud the view. The odd minor, the odd hint of melancholy, but generally not disruptive – though he occa- sionally develops his pieces to the point where rhythm and melody are almost broken down. But they are short pieces. Things are soon on the sunny side again. As music to set an atmosphere, it’s brilliant. As film music, excellent. But has Lema’s music got the depth to really pack a wallop? Is that even what he’s aiming to do? Not sure, on this evidence. But he is a peerless entertainer.
www.raylema.com Rick Sanders
Photo: Les Estrella
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