What is in your opinion the best irishflute/flutist recording ever?
And here I thought you were going to tell me what it was!!! 
Mike Rafferty 78 rpm
Mike Rafferty! For now,the only flutist I like and I am basically the man who don’t like any wind instruments. He has the groove! I respect him as a great artist.
Yes, I got his CD this summer and it knocked me
over. He’s playing an Olwell Pratten, of course,
and you hear the beast for what it is.
Surely others will chime in with their favorites, please!
I like to know what to buy.
Do you mean individual tracks, or a whole recording [ CD, LP, ] ?
Anything at all?
It doesn’t need to be ‘the best ever’?
What’s really good?
For one tune, I’d have to say Deirdre Havlin’s (Deanta) rendition of King George and Chris Norman’s version of The Fairy Queen.
For an album, Chris Norman’s Man with the Wooden Flute. For more traditional fare, I’d include Garry Shannon’s Loozin Air; the two Deanta albums with Dee on them; and Jack and Charlie Coens’ the Branch Line.
i won’t even get into what the ‘best’ is, but here are a few albums that always seem to end up in my stereo.
Cian’s ‘Three Shouts from the Hill’ - Brian Duke’s flute playing is great
The Magic Square - Dan Isaacson’s flute playing is awesome and really unique.
Kevin Crawford’s solo albums
The Maple Leaf - Jimmy Noonan on flute
Fourmilehouse - Alan and John Kelly
Any Matt Molloy album, although personally I love the duet albums with Tommy Peoples and Sean Keane.
I also really like Liam Kelly’s playing on all the Dervish albums
The Coen brothers album that was mentioned above
also, you can check out the list of albums at celtic grooves that feature a flute player. most of these are great albums - http://celticgrooves.homestead.com/CGCatalogFlute.html
brendan
The two that get the most time on my player are
Paddy Carty - the one with the banjo player (It’s got the word “traditional” someplace in the title)
Kevin Crawford - In Good Company.
But I’ve been getting hooked on early Altan as well.
Amen, brother! And thanks for the list! Is that a boxwood Murray in your photo over there <------?
I think Tom McElvogue is pretty incredible and worth mentioning. His creativity with ornamentation is amazing (I’m still trying to learn some of those double rolls) and you can tell that he knows a keyed flute in and out (not just for accidentals). Plus he has so many free recordings…top notch in my book.
yeah, i’ve always felt that liam kelly never really gets the props that he deserves. maybe its because he’s never done a solo album.
the flute is actually the boxwood Olwell that Josh Dukes was trying to trade on the board a couple weeks ago. I play a blackwood Olwell, but the photo of Josh’s flute looks cooler.
b
I agree about the correlation between Liam’s lack of a solo recording & props. It was nice to hear him a little more in front on “Spirit” (and then there’s “The Old Swallowtail”… wow). And you know, one of the things I like so much about him is that he is such a great ensemble player (tho’ the Milliner’s Daughter" from their Live In Palma recording is still one of my all-time favorite solo turns) – most of the time he’s just in the trenches shoveling away, and doing it wonderfully!
Wow, that’s a handsome flute. I’ve only seen 2 of Patrick’s boxwoods, so couldn’t remember the ring type. Anyway, at that size, colorwise etc. it looks dead like my Murray. (I tried to trade Joshua my cocus Hammy for his, but he didn’t bite. I wonder why? 
)
Have a great day!
Some goodies have been mentioned, but I’ve gotta say Catherine McEvoy consistently wows me. Her playing has an incredible level of depth and maturity.
Yes!!!
Although I don’t think her recordings do her justice: the sound of her flute on her CDs is nothing like the sound of her flute live. The only commercial recording that comes close to capturing the way her flute really sounds is the Flute Players of Roscommon. By the way, the track she does with John Wynne on that album is in my opinion one of the great flute duet recordings of all time.
Harry Bradley’s “Bad Turns and Horsehoe Bends” and his other recordings, solo and with fiddlers Jessie Smith and Paul O’Shaunessy, would be at the top of my list too.
Hey, that’s good to know – I was wondering about the difference between her sound on the Flute Players of Roscommon vs. The Kilmore Fancy, both of which I sprang for at the same time. I liked the FPR sound & style better, too!
Hmmm. What’s that camp off the coast of Seattle? Is she teaching there next year? What can I sell to finance it?
That’s funny I was going for Ms McEvoy as well, but checking my i.tune number of plays the clear winner for me should be ‘The Thing Itself’ with Peadar O’Loughlin and Maeve Donnelly. Fluting that is, Mary MacNamarra’s Blackberry blossom is most played. Does this mean I should abandon the flute and take up the concertina I wonder…
I love Jean-Michel Veillon’s “Beo!” Live recording, though it’s not Irish.
Chas, what are the titles of the two Deanta albums you mentioned with Deirdre Havlin on flute? I’d like to check those out, but I want to get the right ones!
Thanks, Jeanie
Friday Harbor
She is listed on the 2005 faculty page.
coast of Seattle?