hi all,
my wife wants to buy me a few uilleann albums for xmas & i am asking the experienced pipers, in your opinion what UP albums would you consider a must have & why ??
thanks albert 
Brian McNamara: The Fort of Jewels
A Piper’s Dream
Brian is the consumate musician. his piping is absolutely beautiful, and his regulator playing is nothing short of brilliant. Absolutely the best!
David Power: My Love is in America
David is a brilliant piper, and his latest CD is very reminiscent of the piping of earlier times… very Seamus Ennis in flavor and a joy to listen to.
Tommy Martin: Uilleann Piper
When he’s not out drag racing tractors ( 
) Tommy is piping, and it is really mighty piping at that. Tommy’s regulator work reminds me of the playing of Leo Rowsome.
That depends entirely on you. Where are you at in your learning? Do you want to go old school? Do you care about traditional piping, or are you more interested in the New Age stuff?
Go to the NPU site and browse their catalogue to see what’s generally available as far as piping (its not all-inclusive, but pretty close). There is the potential here to list hundreds of CDs, but if you don’t want to hear old-style or historical stuff, that cuts it down a lot. If you just want to hear solo piping that helps cut the list down. If you just like modern bands, there are people here who could give you good recommendations in that direction, too.
djm
I am by no means an expierenced piper, but have been definitely been spending more time listening to piping cds than I have been piping. Some of my favs to listen to are the following:
-Kitty Lie Over, Mick O’Brien agus Coaimhin O’Raghallaigh
-Fort of the Jewels, Brian McNamara
-The Best of Irish Piping, Seamus Ennis
-King of the Pipers, Leo Rowsome
-Touch Me If You Dare, Ronan Browne and Peter O’Loughlin
-Uilleann Piper, Tommy Martin
-The Master Pipers Vol. 1, Johnny Doran
-The Rowsome Tradition, Kevin Rowsome (the archive recordings of Leo and his sons and friends are a must listen, they’re fantastic)
Hope that helps to give you a little idea of what’s out there.
Cheers,
Mike
All of Neil Mulligan’s CDs, for the reasons JES stated in favor of Brian McNamara.
Don’t just get piping CD’s. Listen to other sorts of players and theit music to get a feel for the music. The Cobblestone Sessions is one mighty fine CD with about 7 or so pipers but lots of other greats, too.
cheers jea, i was at a tionol in november with brian mcnamara in tintagel cornwall, he is a brilliant piper & a really nice guy, i was fortunate enough to pick up all of his albums there, thanks for the suggestions & no doubt the wife will take note.
cheers albert