I play blues on the whistle on the street, as part
of the Bates Street Folk and Blues Band.
I’m now converting to flute and I want to
say that the Irish flute is a great blues
instrument… The slides and ornamentation
works fine on blues, and half-holing notes
for blues works fine, too, just as it does
on the whistle. These flutes don’t sound
airy-fairy (if I may hopefully be forgiven for putting
it) , as do Boehm metal flutes. Expressiive,
wailing hands-on sound.
They work well in blue grass, too, they sound
good with banjos and mandolins.
I love Celtic music, and I’m learning more
every day,
but this instrument needs to break out
into a wider repertoire. Best
I agree. This is why I enjoy listening to folks like Mike McGoldrick, Sylvain Barou, et al., who play a bit more contemporary stuff (much as I like IrTrad). I also really like the sound I’m hearing from Jean Michel Veillon in the group Kornog; although not blues, it’s definitely not IrTrad, that Breton stuff. Sort of a marriage of Middle Eastern and Irish musics, almost. (My wife, who grew up in Saudi Arabia, heard the Kornog CD “Korong” playing recently, and called from the next room, “What Arabic group is this?”)
Amazing how flexible a hollow wooden tube with holes in it can be, isn’t it? This is a great, simple, wonderful instrument. It’s caught me, anyway.
That is what I love in irish flute ans Uilleann Pipes : playing them out of the traditionnal path
I agree for McGoldrick and Barou … I saw them in concert and that was wonderfull …
Concerning out of the trad path : Jerry O’Sullivan is great too on Uilleann Pipes : in his CD “the Gift” he plays 3 J.S.Bach compositions … The result is sooo good that it seems that Bach knew Uilleann Pipes
Pop on the flute, ballads on the flute,
rock on the flute, country and western
on the flute–the airy fairy quality
of the silver flute that makes it not
fit is replaced on the Irish flute
by a big rough woody sound
that does.
Out of the Celtic Ghetto! (OK, it isn’t a ghetto or if it
were ghettos would be great places, but I
had to say it!)
I love playing any type of music on my Dixon. Blues, Dixie Land, Jazz, Bach…I’m not sure there’s a type of music that can’t be played on the wooden flute. You can get such different sounds (or at least I can get different sounds better than when I used to play silver flute) - from clear to muddy to that dry Irish buzz.
In defence of the Boehm flute, I would like to mention that the tone one gets out of the Boehm is not necessarily “airy-fairy”, it depends more on the player and the his/her embouchure. In fact many blues and jazz flute players play with an embouchure that produces a heavy, deep sound eg. James Moody, Roland Kirk etc. Not airy fairy at all.
Also many blues/jazz flute players sing simultaneously while they play creating this sandy sound that is IMO synonymous with jazz/blues flute. This effect is more pronounced on the Boehm than on the wooden flute although its also doable. Moreover I think the Boehm flute has an advantage in blues/jazz its ease of chromaticity, and its ability to play different keys.
Wow, this is the first time I’ve posted with this new format ~ Look at all those evil little smilies!
I’d also like to rush to the defense of the Boehm flute ~ it depends on who you are listening to! Ian Anderson was THE reason I picked up the flute initially, and I love listening to his playing ~ no airy-fairy there, I can tell you!
Mary
Don’t forget that it’s possible to have a chromatic (Boehm) wood flute! I call it combining the best of both worlds. (Sure wish they were more affordable).
