Various Artists, The Wooden Flute Obsession (International Traditional Music Society, 2004)
This is the first installment in a series of double cd packages put together by Kevin Krell of the above society. All the music here is culled from releases from the various artists' own CDs so I guess it is more of a compilation than anything else. A review of this album would be a review of the state of the wooden flute -- and let me assure readers that it is in a very good state indeed. A quick glance through the liner notes reads like a who's who of flute playing with too many greats to mention, and it would be doing a disservice to everyone involved to mention one player over another -- but if names like Josie MacDermott, Seamus Tansey or Matt Molloy mean anything to the listener then you know that you're in good company and they're just three of 41 players chosen to grace this release.
The wooden flute is one of those instruments that utterly defines traditional Irish music and it is difficult to disassociate the two, so it is no surprise that the absolute majority of the material is from that tradition as are the performers and it is mind boggling to think that there are this many master players and many, many more besides carrying this tradition into the new millenium.
What I found most interesting was the treatment of the tunes in terms of backing and arrangement. The uncluttered simple beauty of Josie MacDermott stands up very well beside the modern arrangements of Gary Shannon, and creates a lot of room to argue about the merits of backing in music (both for and against). Other than that it's nigh impossible to review the release because the overall standard is just so high it occasionally beggars belief, and because the styles differ so radically from player to player. Aficionados of the wooden flute and Irish traditional music in general would probably have a few CDs of flute music in their collection but for those that have not heard this tradition or enjoy the pick and mix of compilation CDs this comes as a welcome introduction. There is an obvious bias to the Irish but France is represented by the venerable Jean-Michel Veillon and North America contributes Grey Larsen and Hanz Araki, amongst others.
Now, if I was pressed to put my money where my mouth was I'd have to say that the older musicians still have the edge...
