Kathryn Tickell
The Gathering
Park PRKCD39 (1997)

Although she's only 30 years old, English Northumbrian small pipes player and fiddler Kathryn Tickell has been performing publicly for a long time, and has been making albums for over a dozen years. The Gathering is her sixth recording and her first on an American label since the Musical Heritage Society picked up her initial LP, On Kielder Side, in 1985. On her latest effort, Tickell works in a trio format on most of the 11 all-instrumental selections. Her principal compadres are guitarist Ian Carr and bassist Neil Harland, and together they create quite a full sound that commands your attention. Sometimes Tickell overdubs herself on both pipes and fiddle; the title track is a good example of this as the pipes take the melody, and the fiddle joins in with the other accompanists on a selection that starts out somewhat restrained, yet restless, then revs-up after a couple minutes with a playful, tick-tock rhythm. Six cuts are Tickell originals written with an ear for the tradition. The feel and tone of these offerings are nicely varied, such as the upbeat, jaunty pipe solo "Kate's House"; the tender, melodic set for her grandfather and mother, "Tune for Matt Robson/Kathleen," featuring Tickell on fiddle; the mid-tempo "Rain check," which captures the mood of a rainy day; and the aforementioned title tune. Her virtuosity on the North umbrian small pipes is the focus of "Lads of Alnwick/Sunderland Lasses/Peacocks March," a nicely-counterbalanced medley of both fast and slow traditional pieces. Two guest performers appear on two tracks each: Pianist Paul Flush joins in on contemplative duets with Tickell, and harmonica player Brendan Power "powers" the dynamic, driving "Real Blues Reel" with Tickell wailing away on the pipes. The booklet contains notes by Tickell that discuss the whys and wherefores of all the tunes, and rounds out a most delightful recording. — Al Riess (Buffalo, NY)

Jack Hardy
The Passing
1-800-PRIME CD (1997)

First issued to the European Community by the indispensable Brambus label of Chur, Switzerlsand, this eagerly awaited follow-up to 1994's Civil Wars has been picked up for North American release by l-800-PRIME CD. Known in Pacific pagan circles as the Magus of Greenwich Village, Jack Hardy traveled north to the Bronx and borrowed button accordion player John Redmond and drummer/percussionist Dave Anthony from the fertile Irish emigre musical community there. They augment his core downtown ensemble, anchored again by dulcet toned upright bassist Jenny Hersch. Louise Taylor, in from Vermont, blends counterpoint with Wendy Beckerman. Their Greek chrorus voices are mixed a bit too low on the Gaelic and English verses of the title track, and also lack definition on a pair of bracing ballads leading into Hardy's choo-choo-whisked, existential lamentation, "Dachau." The grainy, rasp- sustained decay in Hardy's bardic pipes carries his lingual rustle of parchment into areas of the soul numbed by technocratic indoctrination. "The 20th Century" is Hardy's bullet train breathline and prophetic precision fused to exhilarating effect. However, these tracks, too, could use a stronger choral mix. Upsprung jig-time dances on Redmond's squeaky squeeze box and Anthony's open-palmed drumbeat, as on "Morgan's Dance," rejoin spirit to bone. In so doing, they close the circle commenced with this redemptive CD's elemental opener, "The Passing." — Mitch Ritter (Oakland Gardens, NY)

Kirile Loo
Saatus
Alula ALU-1004 (1997)

Saatus (Fate) is an album that could be the soundtrack for both Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and a Bladerunner-meets-Ingmar Bergman film. The album's lyrics and music, most of which were written and arranged by Estonian singer Kirile Loo and her keyboardist, Peeter Vähi, are based on regilaul, or runic song, the oldest style of Estonian traditional music, which dates back to the first millennium B.C. Loo became acquainted with Estonian folk song as a child when she spent time at her grandmother's home in a primeval forest barely touched by civilization. The mix of sounds from nature, contemporary keyboards and guitar, plus Estonian traditional instruments, such as the kannel (psaltery), bagpipes, straw whistles, and jaw's harp, gives the album an eerie, otherworldly atmosphere, while Loo's striking, emotive vocals add an aura of mystery. The deliberate, powerful, spare "Ristitantsi" ("Cross Dance"), with deep, ominous synth and drums reminds me of the work of Sami sisters Angelin Tytöt. "Igatsus," a song of longing for a missing bridegroom, evokes a feeling of sadness even if you don't understand Estonian. Other highlights on this mesmerizing, addictive CD include a beautiful lullaby featuring traditional instruments and a military marching song. Lyrics for most tracks, with the English translations, are included. — Al Riess (Buffalo, NY)

Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys
Friday at Last
Swallow 6139 (1997)

It doesn't seem that long ago that Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys were the new guys on the Cajun block, a hot and innovative band out of Louisiana led by a young man who played accordion and fiddle with a feeling for tradition and the brashness of a rocker. Over the last decade, through five CDs and hundreds of performances across the U.S. and Europe, this quintet has solidly established themselves as one of the all-time best of the Cajun revival bands. Friday at Last continues that roll, a bottle of hot sauce for your stereo that captures all that is good and bright in the music of the bayous through the skill and showmanship of a now-veteran band that has mastered its craft. From the opening instrumental "Mamou Playboys Special," in which guest Randall Foreman's steel guitar trades licks with Riley's surging accordion, to the closing two-step "Vendredi enfin," about finding love at the dance hall, this disc is a good-time foot tapper with a slow waltz or two for variety. A couple of tracks are band compositions, but most are adaptations of music from other Cajun sources, like a double-fiddle race through Dennis McGee's "Adieu Rosa" and Canray Fontenot's self-explanatory "Allons danser." There's music from Creole culture, too, like the zydeco blues "Blues du tac-tac," in which jazzy fiddle lines bounce off accordion runs. Most tracks feature the full band's accordion/fiddle/guitar/bass/drums lineup, with Riley's diatonic squeezebox and David Greely's fiddle sharing the leads, although on three solo tracks Riley overdubs himself into an ensemble. Riley and Greely also share lead vocals, which are all in Cajun French but accompanied by music so driving that monolinguists won't miss the moods. — Tom Nelligan (Waltham, MA)

The Karnataka College of Percussion River Yamuna Music of the World MOW145 (1997) This is an outstanding recording featuring 11 percussionists playing in combination and consort on a variety of instruments. The usual Karnatak instruments are here, including vina, tambura, violin, and mrdangam, but the ensemble adds lesser- heard sounds, such as the ghatam (clay pot), the morsing (jaw harp), and the kanjura (single headed tambourine). Some of the most remarkable tracks are when these instruments are played in trios or quartets of just one type of instrument. The musicians are highly skilled, both technically and expressively, and they get the most out of what seem on the surface to be simple, limited instruments. Rap and puirt-a-beul musicians should take note of the sixth track, a three-part rendering of the rhythmic structures in misra chapu tala in konnakkol, a vocalized percussion language. Not all is percussion, however. "Salvation," one of several vocal tracks, features the flexible voice of R.A. Ramamani echoed hauntingly by V.K. Raman on flute. A stunning and richly expressive showcase of timbres and textures. — Peggy J. Latkovich (Cleveland Heights, OH)

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