A friend of mine asked me for recommendations on Celtic Jazz music. They wanted it for a present for someone else.
Michael McGoldrick’s Fused CD was the first thing to come to mind. There are also some Cormac Breatnach tunes that are kinda Jazzy.
Does anyone have any other suggestions on whay they would consider Celtic Jazz?
Cheers,
Rob.
SwinginCelt, try these two links:
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=20840&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=22306&highlight=mcdades
For “Celtic jazz”, Nightnoise comes to mind. As does bits of Bela Fleck & the Flecktones.
Capercaillie. 
With their throbbing bass lines and wah-wah-koo-ka-choo guitars, it’s hard to tell if there’s some jazz influence there, or if they’re just stuck in the 70s.
And how about our own Phil Hardy?
Phil Hardy. He has a good selection of his own cd’s with clips at his website. www.kerrywhistles.com
I think Phil’s playing defies musical categories.
True,although much of it does have a jazzy yet celtic sound ,feel, influence - or as the French say " a certain, I don’t know what"
If it’s not just whistle you’re after check out Didier Squiban.
Try the Bocle Brothers.
Their “Celtic Tales” and “Celtic Tales: Pas En D[something]” are pretty straightahead jazz or fusion. Their band setup: vibes, drums, guitar, Michael Brecker on tenor sax, a double bass player who plays quite interesting bowed solos, but they also have a uilleann pipe/low whistle player.
They used to have a page at the now-defunct mp3.com, but you should be able to find at least the 2nd album on Amazon.com (their first album may or may not be available, and I don’t think it’s listed under “Bocle Brothers”; you’ll have to wade thru lots of new agey albums all titled “Celtic Tales”).
I’ll let you know the full name of the 2nd album when I get home and am able to dig thru my CDs.
[post-edit: go here for details about Pas An Dour:
I have often wondered how to classify Phil’s playing. I enjoy some of the things he plays but not all. And since he has given them away I have three of his CDs. Talbert St. Clair is another that I guess could be called new age. Same as Phil I enjoy some of his numbers but not all. I don’t know of anything I would call Celtic Jazz but in my mind I have a very narrow definition of Jazz.
Ron
Go to the source. The first and best Celtic fusion band was Moving Hearts and they still sound good today. For a pale modern imitation, try Kila.
Jeremy Kittel is both a fantastic celtic and jazz fiddle player. His new cd “Roaming” features both, with a couple tracks combining the two genres. Theres a band called “Jazz from the Shamrock Shores” which is a celtic/jazz compositional fusion band comprised of very accomplished jazz musicians, and they have currently have one album out (i believe it’s self titled). Niall Keegan is not a jazz musician, but his solo album has some jazz influence in there. I wouldn’t classify Fused or Capercallie as celtic-jazz, but if you’re looking for more of that “jazzy-ish” sound, Coolfin’s album is also very good. The guitarist Ian Carr is another jazz influenced musician, and almost anything he’s on reflects that (particularly any of the swap albums, and fyace with karen tweed). Flook also has a minor jazz influence.
One important point to keep in mind is that an absolutely integral part of, if not defining element of jazz, is western music containing a large proportion of improvisation. A lot of these “celtic jazz” albums are mis-labeled, because there’s little to no improvisation on them. And what improvisation there is very rarely uses the sophistacted use melodic approaches to the mind-boggling array of chord substitions one can incorporate into improvised melodies. What might make them sound jazzy, is most likely the use of the more sophisticated chord structures found in jazz. But I’ve only heard one album (jazz from the shamrock shores) that literally combines jazz and celtic music: jig and reel like tunes coupled with with walking bass lines, tritone and flat nine chord substitutions, rootless voicings, swung rhythm, the melody played behind the beat in a straight eighth note feel, a majority of improvisation and the many other factors that go into making notes and rhythm turn into jazz.
Not that the many mis-labelled albums aren’t good, they just aren’t what they’re claiming to be.
This is something I see happening quite often and I think it’s important to distinguish what the real defining qualities each kind of music are (literally and or inuitively), to allow us communicate more accurately about music itself.
I’m also curious about what other real jazz/celtic fusion albums there are out there, cause I only know of the few I’ve mentioned.
There is a wonderful Breton band called Skeduz whose CD “Couleur Livioù” is a nice Jazz-Trad fusion recording. I’m also fond of The Irish band Deiseal (Cormac Breatnach) but I don’t know if you can get their CD anymore. Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin’s CD “The Dolphin’s Way” is good jazz piano renderings of some traditional tunes.
Cheers,
David
I was wondering recently why I had never seen a reference to Moving Hearts on these pages.
Without a doubt,one of the greatest bands to come out of Ireland.
Not to dispute the Wombats theory of the Hearts being the first but I remember “Horslips” having a fusion approach to ITM some years before the Hearts.
The major difference being that ALL of the Hearts were consumate musicians, Horslips were less gifted in the actual playing of ITM.
Slan,
D.
Horslips were certainly first, Dubhlinn, but they don’t strike me as being quite jazzy enough to fit the bill. More prog or folk rock fusion to my ears although it’s been an awfully long time since I listened to them so maybe I’m being unfair.
We agree about Moving Hearts being the band that took this to where it could go. Isn’t Eoghan O’Neill an awesome bass player? Check out The Storm but anyhting you can find of theirs will contain good moments.
Horslips were more folk-rock than Jazz fusion without a doubt.The Hearts were the biz though,I have all of their recordings and often play “The Storm”-very loud!
I would place O’Neills bass work alongside Pastorious in it’s delicacy and soulfulness though he can sure as hell Rock when the mood takes him.
The band worked as a co-operative with even the roadies being on an equal share.It is no wonder they could not survive in the ruthless world of the Record industry.
Slan,
D.
The first thing that came to my mind was bustapipah’s clips I found earlier on this forum.
I haven’t heard many of the things suggested on this thread, but totally agree with bustapipuh’s assesment that much of what’s called jazz today, just isn’t. don’t get me started on the putting the word ‘smooth’ in front of it.
sand
Fusion music will always seem dubious to some—neither one thing nor the other to purists of both camps. But jazz has often been hospitable to creative fusion. I can’t say anything about the—to me—obscure groups mentioned earlier on this thread except to say that the ones I recognised don’t seem much like jazz to me. Flook have something of the spirit of jazz about them and I rather like that. But the one band you must hear if you are interested in jazz/celtic fusion is Moving Hearts. You get Donal Lunny and even the young Davy Spillane. This band swings like crazy and involves genuine improvisation as well as having some very Irish moments. If anything deserves to be called genuine fusion this does and I include such obviously successful exercises as Dizzy Gillespie’s Afro/Cuban exploits and Jimmy Giuffre’s folk/jazz fusion in making that assessment.
Does this mean the old Talbert flame is back on? I wasn’t a member back then but I’ve read all the fun.
Not from me. I like Talbert. I just don’t care for his style of music. Although there are some good tracks on his CD that I have. I think Talbert was mostly guilty by association, Chieftains, Davy, etc. Since I wasn’t a party to any of those earlier fights it doesn’t affect me.
Ron