Sean O’Driscoll and Larry Egan – The Kitchen Recordings

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The Kitchen Recordings, a new album of traditional Irish music by Sean O'Driscoll (banjo, bouzouki) and Larry Egan (2 row button accordion), has just been released on the Clo lar-Chonnachta label.

This is an album of tunes that come straight from the heart of the tradition of Irish music. Recorded in Sean O'Driscoll's kitchen, it is an example of the essence of the tradition no fuss, no gimmicks, just very good music. It includes reels, hornpipes, jigs and flings, as well as a beautiful slow air written by Sean, An Gobán Saor. Two more of his compositions are also included on the album: the fling Nettles in the Soup and the jig The Muskerry Tram.

The Kitchen Recordings also features tunes composed by Charlie Lennon and Finbarr Dwyer. Mick Daly, of Four Men and a Dog, plays guitar accompaniment on 3 tracks.

Sean O'Driscoll

Sean is from Blarney in Co. Cork, and is now living in Cork city. He has been playing music since his teens. He toured America for 6 years with the great Offaly accordion player Paddy O'Brien, and recorded an album with him in 1984, Hill 16. He has performed with many of the best traditional musicians, including Daithi Sproule, James Keane, Liz Carroll and Martin Hayes. He has also recorded two other solo albums,

Available from Copperplate: Sean O'Driscoll: So There You Go

Larrv Egan

Larry Egan is from Parkbridge in Co. Wicklow, and is now living in Cork. He first began playing music at the age of 10, and has 4 all-Ireland solo-titles to his name. He first came to Cork to attend university. He met Sean when he began playing in a lovely music session in The Comer House pub, with Mick Daly,

Denis Brooks and Mary O'Driscoll. Larry has performed with artists such as Terry Corcoran, Johnny Connolly and the late great Tony Crehan. He regularly teaches at workshops and festivals all over the country.

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.

The Trip to Birmingham:

Eddie Kelly's:

The Lillies in the Field:

Kilty Town:

Track Listing

  1. The Trip to Birmingham / Down the Broom/The Ivy Leaf.
  2. Sliabh na mBan / The City of Savannah
  3. Eddie Kelly's / The Culfadda/ Eddie Kelly's.
  4. John Henry's / The Lillies in the Field
  5. Tom Billy Murphy's / The Cooraclare / The Cúil Aodha
  6. The Palm Tree / Kilty Town
  7. The Cúil Aodha / Nettles in the Soup
  8. The Ballydesmond / Cnoc na gCláracht
  9. An Gobán Saor / The Muskerry Tram / Garrett Barry's
  10. Bill Maley's / The Berehaven / The Stone in the Field
  11. The Nightingale / The Return to Burton Road/ Na Ceannabháin Bhána
  12. Father Kelly's / The Whistling Postman / The West Clare.
  13. The Blackthorn Stick.

Press Reviews

The Green Man Review

The title of the album says it all; this recording of Irish music on banjo or bouzouki and button accordion was recorded in the O'Driscoll kitchen on a Sony four-track recorder. That is not, I hasten to add, a comment on the technical quality of the production, which is for the most part exactly what it should be. Rather, it reflects what we have: the old tunes, admirably cranked out by two competent players who know their way up and down and over the back of their instruments, playing as for a group of friends squeezed into a small, cozy and sociable space. There are no fancy studio tricks here, just a well-chosen and well-balanced selection of jigs, reels and hornpipes, and one slow air; Irish music as it is meant to be.

Both musicians come by their skills honestly. Sean O'Driscoll, from Cork, comes from a family long established in Irish traditional music, and has been playing tenor banjo since his teens. Much of his musical career has been spent in the USA, playing with luminaries such as Paddy O'Brien, Daithi Sproule, James Keane and Liz Carroll. He also plays button accordion, guitar and mandolin. Larry Egan, from County Wicklow, has been playing button accordion since he was ten. By the time he was eighteen, he had collected four All-Ireland solo titles. Much of his playing has been finely honed in the Saturday night sessions in the family pub.

This is very much ensemble playing featuring the two instruments. The tenor banjo follows the melody line religiously; each note is assiduously picked out. With this instrument, there is nowhere to hide, and only the competent need apply. Both instruments lead, the accordion occasionally filling out the tune with the burst of a chord or a pulse on the left hand. For those unaccustomed to the tenor banjo played in the Irish style, or more accustomed to its use as a rhythm instrument backing the melody, this is an introduction to an entirely new sound.

With instruments like the banjo or bouzouki, there is always an inherent danger of the pace getting out of control -- something to do with the staccato nature of the beast, I suppose. Happily, there is no danger of that in the hands of Sean O'Driscoll. The rhythm is nicely restrained throughout, and there is no pushing the pace. One never gets a sense of the accordion chasing the banjo, as can sometimes happen. Occasionally triplets get on the verge of being out of control, but overall, the banjo anchors the tune in a very satisfying way. We hear the banjo used in a very different way in the air "An Goban Saor," here complemented by the bouzouki. The tune is sparing, the notes hang suspended in the air, arriving home satisfyingly on cue, like the balls of a juggler.

Egan's box playing is masterful. The accordion positively pulsates in his rendition of Billy McComiskey's "The Palm Tree." Reels such as "Eddie Kellys" and "The Culfadda" bounce with energy, while there is a nicely competent control to the playing of slow reels and the hornpipe set, "Sliabh na Mban" and "The City of Savannah." Mick Daly joins the accordion on guitar in one set, producing a sound that is in direct contrast to the others; and occasionally spoons and bodhran pop up.

The album's liner notes are comprehensive and informative, in both English and Gaelic. The tunes and their sources are extensively documented, and there is a detailed biography of both musicians, with appropriate nods in the direction of those who taught and influenced them. Uncredited in the otherwise comprehensive notes, however, is what sounds like a Jews harp in one track. Or perhaps it was the toaster.

Lovers of traditional Irish music and aspiring players should clear a space in their libraries for this CD, both to admire the clean exemplary playing and to enjoy a selection of good session tunes, and of some of the better recent compositions. Alistair Brown

Rambles

This album provides exactly what it says in the title. It was recorded in Sean O'Driscoll's kitchen and, thanks to the advances in technology, it is note-perfect as it captures an informal atmosphere where two people who love the music let rip.

O'Driscoll is from Blarney in County Cork and, having played since his early teens, is an accomplished musician who has played with some of the greats of traditional music such as Liz Carroll and Martin Hayes. He has two solo albums under his belt.

Larry Egan hails from County Wicklow, the garden of Ireland, and started playing at the age of 10. He has won numerous awards and regularly teaches at workshops and festivals.

The album is a joy to listen to as you can almost feel the intimacy of a session in a private house, where Irish traditional music thrives and feels most at home. The lads give us a beautiful mixture of reels, hornpipes, jigs and flings over the 13 tracks. These range from the traditional to new compositions, including the wonderfully titled "Nettles in the Soup."

My favourite track is also a new composition, a slow air titled "An Goban Saor." It was inspired by a trip to Crete and you can almost feel the hot sun on blue water. The tune is included in a set with "The Muskerry Tram," commemorating a train that ran from Cork to Coachford from 1887 to 1934, and "Garret Barry's," in memory of Garrett who died of cancer of the tongue in a workhouse in County Clare. It is the combination of the music and the fascinating background notes that make this such an important CD.

It is not an album that will spawn a single. But this is a package of great music played with verve but also great feeling. Nicky Rossiter

Pay The Reckoning Music Web Site

O'Driscoll (banjo, bouzouki) and Egan (accordion) cook up some rare music (sorry, folks, there'll not be too many "kitchen" puns!) for the discerning Irish traditional gourmand (the puns stop here, honest!).

This album dropped through our letterbox just days after a musical acquaintance was singing the praises of recording in his kitchen as opposed to fruitless, soul-destroying hours spent in recording studios. The oppressive presence of banks of equipment, the sound-proof, deadened booths and rooms and the lack of anything "homely" conspire to sap the spirit from his music.

O'Driscoll and Egan prove his point by presenting us with the opposite. Here's an album recorded at home and two musicians at home with each others'playing. Banjo, accordion and bouzouki fit around each other like hands in a glove. Each produces virtuoso playing, but unlike some musicians' recordings, we suspect that Egan and O'Driscoll were less concerned with impressing the eventual audience for their recordings than they were with egging each other on to play wild and spirited versions of their favourite sets.

The opening set - The Trip To Birmingham/Down The Broom/The Ivy Leaf - is a brave and a bold statement. Three classic reels, each of which presents the player with a fair degree of challenge, played with a degree of lift and airiness that elevates the senses. This is life-affirming territory; premier league musicians and premier league tunes!

And the quality standards are maintained throughout. "The Nightingale/The Return To Burton Road/Na Ceannabháin Bhána" is a stirring jig set; "Father Kelly's/The Whistling Postman/The West Clare Reel" a driving blast of reels.

A steady and even pace is the order of the day. O'Driscoll and Egan aren't your boy racers. And so they make a great job of a slow reel set "Johnny Henry's/The Lilies In the Field" and a superior fling set "The Cúil Aodha/Nettles In The Soup".

Elsewhere you'll be taken with "An Gobán Saor/The Muskerry Tram/Garrett Barry's". The first tune is one of O'Driscoll's own compositions and will redden the cheeks of those who claim that slow airs don't sit well on the banjo! The two jigs that follow are perfectly chosen to vary the mood created by the air, to shift the focus back to the feet again!

From the excellent label Cló Iar-Chonnachta, whose quality standards never fail to impress. Find out more at http://www.cic.ie

An album full of charm, passion and no little subtlety. Aidan Crossey

The Living Tradition. Sept/ Oct 04 www.folkmusic.net

Sean O'Driscoll is a well-known banjoman from Cork, and Larry Egan is a champion young box-player from Wicklow. They are both in fine form on this recording, which also features some tasty accompaniment on bouzouki, guitar and percussion from Sean and others.

There's lots of excellent music here, some particularly nice tunes and some distinctive takes on old favourites. The bad news is that the duet playing isn't as tight as you might expect, and at times it seems as if Sean and Larry can't hear each other at all. However, most of the time this is not too distracting, just like sitting at one end of a big session.

The solo tracks are absolutely brilliant. Among the little gems here are the hornpipe City of Savannah, a favourite of mine which is rarely recorded by Irish players, and a fling version of The Cuil Aodha Jig which contrasts nicely with the standard version a couple of tracks before.

The slow reel John Henry's is another triumph: I've also heard this as a hornpipe. Sean contributes three of his own tunes, among them a lovely slow air called An Goban Saor. At the faster end of things, there's a break-neck charge through The Ballydesmond Reel and two great sets of familiar reels to finish with.

Sean's solo includes a nifty little jig of his own called The Muskerry Tram, and a gentle stroll through Garret Barry's Jig. Larry chooses reels by Billy McComiskey ad Charlie Lennon for his solo, a racy four minutes of flashing fingers, with his left hand doing the work of the pipe regulators. Several other modern composers feature on this CD: Finbar and Richie Dwyer, Eddie Kelly, Sean Ryan, and Canadian fiddler Bill Maley.

It all adds up to a pleasant mix of tunes in a relaxed style. Definitely worth a listen. Alex Monaghan

Rambles Cultural Arts Magazine:

This album provides exactly what it says in the title. It was recorded in Sean O'Driscoll's kitchen and, thanks to the advances in technology, it is note-perfect as it captures an informal atmosphere where two people who love the music let rip. O'Driscoll is from Blarney in County Cork and, having played since his early teens, is an accomplished musician who has played with some of the greats of traditional music such as Liz Carroll and Martin Hayes. He has two solo albums under his belt. Larry Egan hails from County Wicklow, the garden of Ireland, and started playing at the age of 10. He has won numerous awards and regularly teaches at workshops and festivals. The album is a joy to listen to as you can almost feel the intimacy of a session in a private house, where Irish traditional music thrives and feels most at home. The lads give us a beautiful mixture of reels, hornpipes, jigs and flings over the 13 tracks. These range from the traditional to new compositions, including the wonderfully titled "Nettles in the Soup." My favourite track is also a new composition, a slow air titled "An Goban Saor." It was inspired by a trip to Crete and you can almost feel the hot sun on blue water. The tune is included in a set with "The Muskerry Tram," commemorating a train that ran from Cork to Coachford from 1887 to 1934, and "Garret Barry's," in memory of Garrett who died of cancer of the tongue in a workhouse in County Clare. It is the combination of the music and the fascinating background notes that make this such an important CD. It is not an album that will spawn a single. But this is a package of great music played with verve but also great feeling.-

Rambles written by Nicky Rossiter published 5 June 2004

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