Who is your greatest influence as a flute player?

[keylessflute]

Hmmm … from the list, that would be Josie McDermott. Besides: Peter Horan and, to a lesser extent, John McKenna.
These days, I listen a lot to James Murray, James McDonagh and Colm O'Donnell. Which, of course, doesn't mean there are no other influences

[Lars Larry Mór Mott]

From the list, Matt Molloy. Off list Cónal O'Gráda, Paul McGrattan, Harry Bradley

[LorenzoFlute]

Ah, so much has changed since 2008

[Ronnie]

At this stage I just know of who I remind people when they hear me play

[s1m0n]

I dunno how much he's influenced my playing, but I'd (almost) sell my soul to sound like Paddy Carty. Gabe O'Sullivan and (his idol) Tommy Whelan also spring to mind.

[OldHag]

Conal O'Grada, should be listed

Decisively him, finally some energy in flute playing. If I wish to play only with fingers I'd chosen Uilleann Pipe or whistle.

[kmag]

Leo MacNamara is definitely my biggest influence.

[colomon]

Hmmm … from the list, that would be Josie McDermott. Besides: Peter Horan and, to a lesser extent, John McKenna.
These days, I listen a lot to James Murray, James McDonagh and Colm O'Donnell. Which, of course, doesn't mean there are no other influences

Huge Peter Horan fan here. I've got the odd tracks here and there of Murray and McDonagh, and O'Donnell's "Farewell to Evening Dances". Do these three have any other flute recordings available, or are you just hanging out in the pubs in Sligo? And what about Gregory Daly?

[Sirchronique]

I'm still pretty new at flute, and have been playing it very seriously for no more than 6 months, although now I am spending a very large portion of time each day playing the flute... but I have played whistle for quite some time before ever playing a flute. So, I'd say my influences on flute playing aren't only flute players, but also whistle players, and even players of other instruments. I won't mention too many of them here, since it's a flute question. However, good players of any instrument, whether it be pipes, whistle, flute, fiddle, concertina, etc. all have an influence on my music playing in general, which in turn influences, at least to some extent, how I play any of my instruments.

For flute players, a few that influence me a lot are Matt Molloy, Sylvain Barou, and Kevin Crawford, in no particular order. Those are the three that I listen to several times each day, probably more than any other single musician, and each of their playing contributes majorly to the ideal sound I have in my mind that I would like to sound like. I am constantly listening carefully to their playing to decipher what they are doing and trying to learn how to bring aspects of their playing that I really like into my own playing. Also Jean Michel Veillon, as well as some aspects of McGoldrick's playing, are an influence as well. Then there are several other flute players that I also would count as influences, although not to the same degree as these, but still play a good part in where I draw influence from.

A lot of Brian Finnegan's playing also influences me, but I consider him to be primarily to be a large influence on my whistle playing. Of course, having started on whistle, a lot of aspects of my whistle playing do cross over to flute (although not all). That being said, Brendan Ring, who plays low whistle, has been a major influence on both my flute and low whistles playing, although he doesn't play flute, as far as I know. I discovered him a few months ago, and he's another one of those people I listen to very often, and try to draw a lot from his playing. And of course, Mary Bergin is another major whistling influence for me. I am mentioning these in addition to flute players, because really I draw a lot of inspiration from players of all instruments, and what I learn from them influences my playing or Irish Traditional music in general (Or Breton, or non-traditional music), which in turn influences my playing on any instrument, to some degree.

By the way, this is an interesting thread. I look forward to checking out many of the names mentioned here that I am unfamiliar with.

[MadmanWithaWhistle]

Thread resurrection, but no love for Jack Dolan? He may have been crazy, but the man played like a boss.

[accordionstu]

I was surprised not to see Seamus Tansey and Fintan Vallely for the Trad tunes but would also add Alan Docherty and Mike McGoldrick for the modern tunes and also Davy Maguire, Harry Bradley, Brendan Mulholland and Gary Hastings.

[psychodonald]

All of the choices are great; however, the person who has influenced me the most is my flute tutor, Tiff. She is the best. She really knows her music, has infinate patience and dosen't look anything like the picture on her post.

[Steampacket]

"Thread resurrection, but no love for Jack Dolan? He may have been crazy, but the man played like a boss." madmanwithawhistle.

Tell me more. Found some music of Jack here http://www.lafferty.ca/files/flute-geez ... dolan2.mp3 and I liked it a lot. In what way was Jack crazy and what became of him? I certainly like his style of playing. Hearing Pat Mahon play live has been my biggest influence and hearing two brothers playing some tunes at Miltown on Bb flat flute and whistle. never found out who they were.

[janmarie]

Turlach Boylan

[keithsandra]

The poll was necessarily narrow so here's my own list:

Zamfir (pan pipes), Galway, Pavarotti, Lesley Garrett (soprano), Andrea Bocelli,
Russell Watson (tenor), Matt Malloy, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Puccini, Beethoven,
Massenet, Schumann, Hoagy Carmichael, Michael Flatley, Chris Norman, Rieu,
(violinist, conductor, Strauss expert), Dvorak, Franck, Ennio Morricone, Bach,
to name a few ...

Best wishes,

K.