On the MadForTrad whistle tutorial with Brian Finnegan (which is really great, IMHO), Brian says in one of the interview segments:
“Alternative fingering on the whistle opens up all possibilities. Another great influence is a guy from Philadelphia in America, who started his musical background in Irish music, then branched into jazz, and started writing Charlie Parker’s tunes on the whistle. That flabbergasted me, never heard anything like it. Ya know loads of sharps and flats. Suddenly this simple little instrument came alive…”
Anyone have any idea who he’s talking about here? Not that I could play any of it, of course, but Charlie Parker on the whistle would be cool to see or hear.
Thanks,
John
[ This Message was edited by: johner on 2002-01-13 03:14 ]
I believe that would be Billy Novick. Yes the jazz stuff he produces on tin whistle is quite a skillfull novelty, however his trad playing, IMHO, is only average. Back in the days of vinyl he put out an LP called something like “The New Pennywhistle Album”.
Cheers,
David de la Barre
P.S. I believe Billy plays whistle on a couple of Dave Bromberg recordings as well. He did a couple of recordings playing clarinet, I think, with guitarist Guy VanDuser.
P.P.S. Just found this page with more info on Billy Novick
[ This Message was edited by: Feadan on 2002-01-13 12:45 ]
That was interesting. I’d love to hear Parker wail on my Overton Bflat. I always describe it as freaky in that it does have a bit of a bluesy sound to it.
On 2002-01-13 11:39, jim stone wrote:
How does one do these alternative
fingerings?
There is a reference to “loads of sharps and flats” in the original message which makes me think that what are needed are not alternative fingerings but additional fingerings for those notes that are not on the whistle. You can experiment with different whistles and occasionally get a good fingering for a note like G#. Sometimes this will only work in one octave. I think the only logical and reliable way to play chromatically is half-holing. It takes a lot of practice. Just because you can play a certain note by half-holing going up the scale doesnt mean you can play it coming down. All possibilities have to be learned. Its pretty slick when you get it. I havent.
Whenever I try to type an apostrophe I get an e with an apostrophe on top. Weird.
I’ll keep an eye out and ask around at the record shows I go to. Some of the collectors are walking encyclopedias. What I would realy love to find is a recording he did with Dave Van Ronk. A jug band version of Peter and the Wolf with Dave narrating.. that has gotta rock.