Gerry
Diver
Scorching Sun Records CDSSR 001 001
Diversions
Gerry
Diver
Scorching Sun Records CDSSR 001 001
Diversions
|
Track Listing.
1.
The Bath Set
Click on underlined titles to hear MP3 sound samples |
DIVERSIONS
Scorching Sun Records - CDSSR001
GERRY DIVER
Featuring the recording debut of Lisa Knapp
Early in 2002, Donegal born fiddle player, Gerry Diver began recording his debut album Diversions. Twelve months and ten tracks later it’s eclectic and diverse melodies are ready to hit the shelves. Though packed with a variety of guests reflecting Gerry’s own personal standing on the music scene he has made his life, this album is most definitely Gerry’s own.
A rich musical journey through new arrangements of traditional material, classic English folk song and jazz influenced self compositions, Diversions goes way beyond covering the groundwork in each genre yet never fails to seamlessly pull together into one whole, an album that will undoubtedly stand the test of time and that showcases Gerry’s multi instrumentalist talents to the full.
Copperplate is very proud to have this title on our roster and to help it achieve its full potential will be supporting this release with a full-scale promotional mail out to media and retail. Feedback always welcome.
Musicians;
Gerry Diver - Fiddle, Banjo, Guitar, Percussion, Bass.
plus guests:
James O’Grady - uillean pipes
Lisa Knapp - vocals, fiddle
Ben Clark - percussion
Tim Edey - guitar, accordion
Edel Sullivan - fiddle
Ed Boyd - guitars, bouzouki
Pete Townsend - double bass
Gino Lupari - bodhran, bones
Johnny Hennessy-Brown - cello
Ollie Blanchflower - double bass
Les Hill - pedal steel
Jo May - djembe
Richard Pryce - double bass
Lucy Randall - bodhran, Bones
Press
Reaction
Live Ireland Web Site
THIS is a young fiddler!!! Wow! Joined by a myriad of guest stars, this Manchester-based
fiddler is overwhelming! All the energy, all the drive, all the talent!!
This may well be our favourite album out of all these, and he is a serious contender for Newcomer Of The Year, or Musician of the Year! Now, go find this album. Get on it, and you will be rewarded.
All the influences,
Mc Goldrick, Carty, Mairin Fahy, this boy has done his homework, practiced and
practiced and come up with his own deal! We are blown away. (God help us, he
also plays a great banjo and a passable bass!!) Lots of diversity. Let’s
repeat. Wow!! Bill Margeson
Net
Rhythms Music Web Site
Donegal-born, Manchester-based fiddle player Gerry presents a very eclectic
mix of tunes indeed on this his debut album.
Opening with a stirring set of reels, followed by a Grappelli-style Hooley (mm, that tasty jazzy shuffle!), a fairly laid-back version of Bonnie At Morn (with vocal by Lisa Knapp, who also sings The Blacksmith later on), then a set of Roumanian Hora. Get the picture?
Sure, Gerry excels himself instrumentally as you'd expect (principally on fiddle, but with occasional excursions onto banjo, guitar or bouzouki), always the musical virtuoso but without being over-flashy, and sometimes he's multi-tracked.
Variously, he enjoys instrumental support from Ed Boyd, Tim Edey, Ollie Blanchflower, Gino Lupari, James O'Grady and Richard Pryce (to name but a few), and there's even a Pete Townsend credited on double bass on one track!
Taken individually,
each track is a gem; Gerry has the knack of pulling together disparate musical
strands into a seamless whole, at any rate within the compass of each of the
individual tracks; the drawback is that in the final analysis I can't help feeling
that the very Diver-sity of styles and material weakens rather than strengthens
the album's overall identity - but you may well disagree. David Kidman
Froots October 2003.
Belfast fiddler Gerry Diver’s debut album lives up to it’s name, with everything
from Jazz, Western swing and homegrown traditions. While his approach is cheeky
and competent, it struggles as times to make a definitive personal statement.
However, its victories outnumber its defeats; potentially a major border crosser
in embryonic form.
Hot
Press. Sept 2003
This is a grand jolly debut CD. No slouch on the fiddle and banjo, Donegal‘s
Diver also plays guitar, bazouki, bodhran, bass, shaker and is a dab hand at
writing new tunes, several of which feature on the album notably, Hot Summer
Hooley, a bouncy tribute to the swing jazz style of Stephane Grappelli.
A pair of Rumanian horas and two Peter Ostroushko tracks add an international
element to the mix and Lisa Knapp sings a Northumbrian lullaby called Bonnie
at Morn as well as an interesting waltz tempo version of the classic The Blacksmith.
Sarah McQuaid
Pay
The Reckoning. Music Web Site September 2003
Diver (fiddle, banjo, guitar, percussion, bass) is a major talent. No two ways
about it. You don't even need to listen to the album to know that he's in the
first division. Simply check out the list of people who've gone out of their
way to guest with Manchester's maestro. Lisa Knapp (vocals, fiddle), Tim Edey
(guitar, accordion), Lucy Randall (bodhran, bones), Gino Lupari (bodhran, bones),
Ed Boyd (guitar, bouzouki), Ollie Blanchflower (double bass), Jo May (djembe),
James O'Grady (pipes), Ben Clark (drums), Edel Sullivan (fiddle), Pete Townsend
(bass), Johnny Hennessy-Brown (cello), Les Hill (pedal steel) and Richard Pryce
(double bass) contribute their various and varied talents to a smorgasbord of
an album.
Diver's tastes are diverse. Eastern European influences feature at various points on the album, as does a Western Swing/country jazz aesthetic on the epic "Hot Summer Hooley".
However Irish traditional tunes form the album's bedrock. Some quality sets here, grounded in the "pure drop" approach, but accommodating more than a little experimentation. "Ferny Hill/Rakish Paddy/Christmas Eve" is a real corker and leads into the compelling "The Orthodox Priest/Charlie Lennon's/The Sailor's Bonnet".
"Henry's Jig/Calliope House/The Munster Buttermilk" gets our vote for the highlight of the album. The first jig was composed by Diver himself as a tribute to his dad. The closing jig is the first tune he ever learned. There's a very real sense of the forces that drive Diver in this set; that, despite his love of exotic musical forms from other places, his roots are very much in the Irish tradition. A modern classic. Utterly contemporary and yet solidly traditional.
Folking.com
Music Web Site
Gerry Diver brings to mind a young Kevin Burke from the opening track
'The Shepherd's Bush Reel/Goldhawk Road/
The Procrastination Reel' and it's bound to set the listener in mind of
The Bothy Band on heat (!) with its driving rhythm
and soaring fiddle.
The only problem I have with it is that all of the musicians seem to have a
problem in keeping up and unfortunately nobody seems to have a chance to draw
breath such is the unrelenting speed. There are quite a few clipped notes in
order to attain
the speed which is a shame really as Gerry is without doubt a fine musician.
The second track, a more evenly paced Grappelli style jazz infused number called
'The Hot Summer Hooley' really swings
and collaborator Tim Edey's "Django" guitar is the ideal compliment but why,
oh why the inclusion of the pedal steel guitar - more than a bit jarring for
my tastes I'm afraid.
No, I must admit that although I know the album is supposed to focus on the
instrumental talents of Gerry it is on the songs
that I am most impressed. The simplistic approach taken on bouzouki backing
the delicate (but delicious) vocals of Lisa Knapp is a real coup.
'Bonny At Morn' has long been a favourite of mine and Lisa gives it depth
without making it insipid. It has to be said that when he's not going for gold
in the speed stakes this talented multi-instrumentalist proves his worth either
leading the field or accompanying.
For me, Gerry has a lot of potential but it appears at the moment it's a case
of trying a bit too hard although hopefully by
that all important second album he'll achieve his ultimate goal. Pete
Fyfe
The Irish Post
19.7.03
You’re unlikely ever to find yourself thinking: now, what I’d really like to
listen to is some Irish traditional music mixed in with a bit of Stefan Grappelli/
Northumbrian/ Rumanian/ English/ Ukraine music. But should that mood ever descend
upon you, I have the very album.
Diversions contains
all the above – plus a few self penned numbers as well.
Of these, The Shepherd’s Bush Reel and The Procrastination Reel put me in mind
of the old joke: How do you tell one Irish tune from another? Answer: by their
names.
The thing is there’s about 6,000 pieces in the Irish national store of traditional
music stretching back these last 300 years or so.
Now we’re talking
here about a very precious music, the best in the world as far as I’m concerned,
and I seldom listen to anything else.
But one would have to say that being a fairly rudimentary music, as all folk
music is, 6.000 pieces is really all we need.
Everything you can do with the “ould music” has more or less been done – and there’s nothing about any of the self-penned music on this CD to persuade me otherwise.
Let me say here
and now: there’s some absolutely terrific musicians on this album, not the least
Gerry Diver on fiddle himself.
There’s some exceptional accordion playing from Tim Edey, and of course, you
can’t really improve on Gino Lupari on the bodhran.
But by the end of the album you feel with all that musical firepower as his
disposal, Gerry might have been better visiting just one or two places in the
world and confining his musical style accordingly. Malcolm Rogers