IrTrad Jazz?

sturob · Post by **sturob** » Tue Aug 12, 2003 7:01 pm

I'm trying to rack my brains (very small rack) to think of some tunes to learn. I am looking for tunes that have a jazzy kind of feel. Perhaps in minor keys, but not necessarily.

An example that comes to mind is Guns of the Magnificent Seven reel. One of my favorites.

Any suggestions?

Stuart

(Look at me, starting a potentially non-threatening AND on-topic thread!) :roll:

Tradman · Post by **Tradman** » Tue Aug 12, 2003 7:14 pm

If you havent already, listen to Mike McGoldrick- and get yourself the album 'Fused'. It has the best of both worlds, IrTrad and some jazzy renditions too. Also, the tune he does with Capercaillie 'Kepplehall' is awesome, especially on their album 'From Dusk till Dawn'

Eldarion · Post by **Eldarion** » Tue Aug 12, 2003 8:08 pm

I'd second the recommendation of Mike McGoldrick's Fused album for this. He modifies certain notes in common tunes like "the Ashplant", to make them fit jazzy chords. The rhythm is also slightly altered to a bit more of a "shuffle", which causes it to fit in with the contemporary funk backing.

Other albums that have good examples of jazzy modified tunes are Cormac Breatnach's two solo CDs. I think his rendition of Humours of Tullycreen on his first CD and his rendition of The Foggy Dew on his second CD is particularly representative of his Irtrad Jazz style.
He supposedly has clips of these two tunes online but somehow I can't access it from his webpage.
http://www.cormacbreatnach.com/

Niall Keegan's stuff is jazzy too but I think he's practically improvising over the chords and switching keys at times so I don't know if thats what you're looking for.

sturob · Post by **sturob** » Tue Aug 12, 2003 8:46 pm

OK, first off, thanks for the recommendations!

However, that's not what I mean at all.

I wasn't all that clear.

I'm not really into the cross-tradition stuff . . . like changing tunes to make them jazzy or schmaltzy. Heck, I play an Fnat in Garrett Barry's jig and feel all apostate. What I am looking for is this: tunes which sound jazzy even if played in a pure-drop-ish style.

That's why I mentioned Guns of the Magnificent Seven, and I was thinking of it as it was played by Altan on whichever CD. Does that make sense? That dropped beat in the third part . . . now that's cool.

I guess that example may not be the best one because it's rather extreme, in that the tune itself (because of the dropped beat) departs from the orthodoxy of the tradition. But I know I've heard other stuff which is funky in a more orthodox context . . . OK, another example might be Andy Renwick's Ferret, especially whith Fnats, Cnats, and C#s, as it was composed.

I guess it all comes down to, I don't know what I'm asking for. Tunes which, when played "straight" or "as written" or "as handed down" just can't help but have that je-ne-sais-quoi and, obviously, ce-que-je-ne-peux-pas-expliquer-pour-me-sauver-la-vie*.

Stuart

* Roughly, "That which I can't explain to save my life."

glauber · Post by **glauber** » Tue Aug 12, 2003 10:07 pm

sturob wrote:What I am looking for is this: tunes which sound jazzy even if played in a pure-drop-ish style.

Well, it depends on what you consider "jazzy". I think many Dmix tunes have a funky feel to them, for example "The Old Bush" and "Banish Misfortune". "Julia Delaney" (Ddor, so use those keys

) may be another possibility.

herbivore12 · Post by **herbivore12** » Tue Aug 12, 2003 11:04 pm

Glauber beat me to the recommendation for "The Old Bush". I sort of get that jazzy feeling from a lazily played rendition of "I Buried My Wife and Danced on Her Grave", too, if you're willing to expand your search beyond reels into the land of jigs. Sounds great if you sort of slide into those F#'s, like a piper might. . .

Glauber, right again -- what a guy! -- echoes my feeling that Dmix is a good mode for jazziness. Or rather, I echo Glauber, I guess. Always late to the party, I am.

Oh! "Tatter Jack Walsh" can be kinda funky, too. L. Nugent dresses it up a little on whichever album it is he plays it on. . .

Michel · Post by **Michel** » Wed Aug 13, 2003 2:46 am

Sturob, try to find Calico cd's,if you already don't have them.
Plenty of DEADLY modern tunes there (composed mostly by Diarmuid
Moynihan).
Michel

jqpublick · Post by **jqpublick** » Wed Aug 13, 2003 10:27 am

I might suggest Flook's CDs, if you haven't already discounted them. There's modern and trad stuff on them and they certainly are a great band. Some of the slower stuff might come across all jazzy if you looked at it the right way. 'Macedonian Oro' is the tune I'm thinking of, it's off of 'Flatfish', their first albumn. 'Rubai', their second albumn is just as good. In fact, I'm going to go way out on a limb here and say that this band's just plain nifty, keen and downright hot.

Mark

michael_coleman · Post by **michael_coleman** » Wed Aug 13, 2003 10:43 am

I second that.

Gordon · Post by **Gordon** » Wed Aug 13, 2003 1:13 pm

Stuart,
I think it might help if you mentioned tunes you DO think are jazzy-but-trad; otherwise, you'll keep getting more and more suggestions for bands and tunes you might or might not call jazzy-trad.
What I hear that I'd call jazzier playing is more found listening to certain fiddle players, more than flutists, among the more pure-drop-but jazzy. Flutes that get jazzy, to me, are trying to be less traditional and break rules deliberately, going chromatic, etc., throwing things on the synchopated beat, all cool in their own way, but not traditional at all.
Things that sound jazzy to me tend to lie more in the swing and in the use of blue-note intervals, and there are no regional pure-drop styles that really use these, though plenty of modern players throw them in. There was a period when American country/bluegrass playing was having a big influence on Irish players; not modern jazz, certainly, but an old-time swing feel, again, more with fiddlers than flutes.
So what are you on about, anyway?

Gordon

kevin m. · Post by **kevin m.** » Wed Aug 13, 2003 1:27 pm

You know,I think that several of O'Carolan's compositions can very easily sound 'Jazzy' in a sort of 'Jacques Louissier' (sp?) sort of way.
Maire Ni Chathasaigh and Chris Newman play the tunes with a jaunty swing (though I understand that Chris. was more a Jazz guitarist before his forays into 'Folk' and other musics)
Corman Breatnach has already been mentioned, his old band 'Deiseal's version of 'Si Beg Si Mor' really swings!

rama · Post by **rama** » Tue Aug 19, 2003 9:04 pm

Hey stuart,

Just when you thought the thread was dead...

I was listening to "Flute Obsession". How about the "Hungry Rock" track ? Does that wet your appetite?

rama

FSnockhart · Post by **FSnockhart** » Wed Aug 20, 2003 12:30 am

I'm really digging Ed Reavy's The Shoemaker's Daughter right now because of the jazzy feel of the F natural (plus it makes me practice that long F key and that C on the new flute). I'm also fond of McGoldrick's
Trip to Herve's for that little bit of syncopation in the B section.

Bretton · Post by **Bretton** » Wed Aug 20, 2003 8:41 pm

hope I didn't miss someone else already mentioning this one...

The most jazziest tune I've come across is "The Chicago Reel" with the Fnat in the 2nd part. I don't know if everyone plays it the way they do around here but it's pretty durn jazzy sounding for IrTrad.

-Brett

Steve Pribyl · Post by **Steve Pribyl** » Sun Aug 24, 2003 11:16 pm

How about Tamlin? Bunker Hill?

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