"Sometimes a glance backwards is exactly what's needed to replenish our musical appetites. That's what London-born flute player John Blake has done with his latest recording, in the company of two other second-generation Irish musicians. There's an easy fluency in Lamond Gillespie's fiddle on the set of reels (Paddy O'Brien's), augmented by Mick Leahy's self-effacing banjo and Blake's subtle piano lines: evocative of an age when lives weren't held ransom by the clock. The trio's refusal to smooth the edges is a welcome one, too; repeated listening reveals the natural ebb and flow, particularly of Blake's magically illicit flute lines on the jig set headlined by Up Sligo . Studious sleeve notes and an inclination towards the wanton pursuit of a good tune add up to a delicately balanced gem of a collection.
4 out of 5"
Siobhán Long - The Irish Times
Nostalgia can be both an allure and a distraction. In the pining for past glories, it is easy to miss what's right in front.
To his credit, Reg Hall acknowledges that the troubling decline he perceived in Irish traditional music a quarter century ago in London--caused "by outsiders, younger people from different backgrounds who missed the plot altogether"--was wrong. "I can't see it lasting more than another ten years," he said back then, and by "it" he meant the Irish traditional music rooted in the playing of rural Irish immigrants during the 1950s and 1960s in London pubs.
Those words come from his liner essay for John Blake, Lamond Gillespie, and Mick Leahy's new recording, "Humours of Highgate," and Hall, a longtime champion and chronicler of the Irish trad scene in the Big Smoke, is right in singling out those three as keepers of the flame.
In 2003 the trio released "Traditional Irish Music from London," on which fiddler Brian Rooney and button accordionist Tommy Maree guested. It was one of the Irish Echo's top dozen trad albums for that year, and this new CD, featuring Maree as a guest on two tracks, is every bit as good.
Blake on flute and piano, Gillespie on fiddle, Leahy on bouzouki, banjo, and guitar, and Maree were all born in London, and Blake and Gillespie as youngsters took lessons in Queens Park from Clare fiddler and instructor Brendan Mulkere, who also taught seven-time All-Ireland button accordion champion John Whelan for a time. This long-term musical partnership between Blake and Gillespie enriches "Humours of Highgate" and makes it such a deeply satisfying, unobtrusive joy.
With Blake doubling on piano, the pair perform the reels "The Flax in Bloom/Trim the Velvet" with the fluid tempo, relaxed grace, and quiet passion that are the desideratum of a good session. These same qualities also permeate the jigs "The Maid on the Green/ The Lark on the Strand" and the reels "The Dunmore Lasses/The Hare's Paw," "The Copperplate/The Sword in Hand," "Patsy Tuohey's/The Roscommon Reel," "The Boys of Ballisodare/The Honeymoon," and "The Concert Reel/The Flowers of Red Hill." The gentle swing that Blake and Gillespie deliver in those tunes is hypnotic and lambent, like the reassuring redness of turf in a hearth. Their playing conveys an unrelenting warmth that's almost tangible.
Backed by Blake on piano, Gillespie plays a crisp solo on "The Green Meadows/The Humours of Lissadell" reels, while Blake, accompanying himself on piano, plays solo flute at the outset of the hornpipes "Cal Callaghan's/Mahony's," where Gillespie eventually comes in on fiddle.
Without any accompaniment Blake on flute and Gillespie on fiddle perform the jigs "Up Sligo/The Shoemaker's Fancy," a track that in its stripped down texture offers only that much more soul. The same is true of the reels "St. Ruth's Bush/The Knotted Chord," featuring just flute, fiddle, and Maree's accordion.
Leahy lends some fine bouzouki playing to the "Cliffs of Moher/The Pooca" reels, and his banjo work is also an asset on the reels "Paddy O'Brien's/Within a Mile of Dublin" and "The Laurel Tree," to which Maree brings occasional, strong accordion accents in an album-ending track that finishes with a fun flourish.
The 14 tracks on "Humours of Highgate" are stitched tightly, with barely a gap between them, creating an almost seamless musical garment. The effect makes us take in the playing as a continuum, another desirable outcome of a session sustained by its own energy and pleasure.
Though recorded in studios, the CD captures the spirit of a memorable small session in the corner of a pub. The afterglow induced by this album is no less delectable.
London born John Blake and Lamond Gillespie first met in their early teens attending clareman Brendan Mulkeres music class and have been playing music ever since. Along with Leamington Spa born Mick Leahy they were a regular feature on the London session scene in the 1990s until John moved to Ireland in 1998 and Lamond to Glasgow in 2000. However distance was never going to stop them making music and in 2003 they recorded 'Traditional Irish Music From London' along with their friends Tommy Maree and Brian Rooney.
Lamond now teaches classical violin in the RSAMD in Glasgow while John works in Na Piobairi Uilleann in Dublin. They have just released their new album 'Humours of Highgate' - check it out!"
Earle Hitchner - Irish Echo
Now available from Claddagh Records - http://www.claddaghrecords.com/www/product.asp?pID=2541&cID=17
Thats a great sound ye put together on the new CD lads, thanks John got it the post the other day, has'nt come out cd player yet . One of those rear recordings thats as true to the music as possible. Joe
Hi, thanks for the "add". Greats and powerfuls tunes/sets, I enjoyin very much to listening everyone, amazing sound and style in every tune, well done for all your music, and good luck with every project, gig...Keep at it and keep in touch, I hope to sharing some tunes in a future.
..
