I just received, and am listening to, “Standing Room Only,” the new CD by Elliot Grasso. Man, this kid can smoke (damn his eyes, grumble, grumble 
). Nothing earth-shakingly new or unique, just fast, clean playing. Apart from the ubiquitous guitar it makes for fine listening.
djm
yes, it’s a nice CD isn’t it. I really like his composition “O’Hare’s Tilt”
Jeff
I like that tune “Frainc an Pho” (what the heck does that mean? A fellow piper said it sounds like Vietnamese food).
I’ve also heard that tune called “The Fairy Reel,” even though it’s a slip jig.
???
Justine
It does indeed sound like Vietnamese food. I just got back from my tri-weekly pilgrimage to PHO SO 1 … chicken noodle for me please! 
Pa-tricky
The tune is Frainc an Phoill - Frank of the Hollow - which is what I feel like an hour after eating Vietnamese food. 
djm
There’s no doubting that he’s a very good player.
I thought there’d be more of his own fantastic translations and transposes…taking fiddle tunes in e minor and putting them in d minor, that sort of thing.
This CD is more populist and not really the definitive Eliot.
I’d say there’ll be a real album from him in a few years time.
Boyd
Wow! I just listened to this in cdbaby and bought it immediatelly.
Over on the uilleann mailing list poor Thomas Johnson - aka Steampacket, I think… - got roundly hammered for actually suggesting that he found his playing a bit dull. Hagiography at work…
I hope he got rid of that wonderful bottom D fart on the Lynch chanter…
Somebody – same guy? – tried that on IRTRAD-L too and also got clobbered.
Yes, but his response was brilliant and defused a potentially nasty situation.
I nearly fell out of my chair laughing. A good lesson in not taking one’s self too seriously.
No farting that I noticed. I would have to agree that there is no great inflection or liveliness in his style, but that is hard to achieve when playing at these speeds. Same can be said for Robbie Hannan’s playing (who strongly endorses this CD, by the way). Again, at such speeds its hard to insert much bounce or expression. Nonetheless, Elliot seems to have a superior grasp on control of the chanter. He has many years of playing ahead to develop his own style.
djm
Yes , but how about how easily he goes into the 2nd ovtave , without any boosting , it seems from the 1st ??
tok .
Messrs. Kevin M. R. & Glauber - you are both completely wrong. I didn’t
get “clobbered” or “hammered” because my personal opinion on the Irtrad-list, (not the uilleann-list by he way), regarding Elliot Grasso’s recording “Standing room only”.
There was only one mad, provocative, response from a certain box/flute player resident in Germany. I responded to the box/flute players mail and all has been calm since.
He’s brilliant. I’ve got three 90 minute tapes full of Elliott playing solo and with Jerry O. from last year. Most of it is at a nice laid back tempo, very musical, and I’ve also got some tunes of him playing at half speed.
I figure it will keep me busy for years!
Sorry, 'packet. I probably misread the IRTRAD-L emails, since these days i just give them a cursory reading – no time.
I’m not a piper. I agree that Elliot has a lot of time to develop his style and i hope he will. What i especially like about his playing is that it’s precise, and the melody comes out clearly even at the high speeds he was playing. I also like it that he included a few old session standards (My Darling A Sheep!) instead of going only for the new or less known tunes. I thought the playing was pleasing. Maybe for being a recent newcomer, he can play in a way that people like me, also a recent newcomer to IRTRAD, can grasp.
So yes, i liked the CD.
g
I’ve also sent a message to Eliot, but i was curious if anyone knows if his chanter reed is one of Kirk’s or someone else’s. I love the sound of his chanter.