Does anyone know of any recordings of Joe Skelton playing flute?
I found a reference in an old thread to his amazing use of the keys on the flute
and hearing the following whistle clip made me think he must be spectacular:
Very cheeky and playful variations. Sounds more like he’s having a laugh than trying to impress.
I learned the Locomotive and the Acrobat from the whistle transcription site years ago.
I believe he’s on one of the WFO CDs. And found this bit in a thread from the session:
Joe Skelton is a Galway doctor , who used to teach at Drumshambo. I think he’s a nephew of Paddy Carty, plays in a chromatic style , uses the keys a lot, great player big extravort personality, lovely guy.
I learned the Locomotive and the Acrobat from the whistle transcription site years ago.
That was probably based on a brainfart. It’s actually Seán Ryan playing that track, as I came to realise quite soon after that notation went up. The joy of unindexed tapes, accessed ten or fifteen years after recording them! He is playing on some of the same tape though, recorded at the Willie week fluteconcert of 1985.
I was in the same flute class as Joe in Miltown one year - possibly 1985, as “Mr Gumby” says, and do have a tape of him playing 2 sets - 1 on flute, 1 on whistle - at the “Flute & Whistle” recital. We’re maybe talking about the same sets. Without checking, I remember 2 hornpipes on a Bb whistle, including the 4-part version of “Johnson’s”, with all the half notes, and also “The Turnpike” and “Carmel Mahoney Mulhaire” [ maybe not in that order ]. Send me a “PM” with an email address, and I’ll send them to you as MP3 files.
He also appeared on a few tracks on a cassette tape of Galway musicians - I may still have those tracks somewhere too. Apart from that, I’m not aware of any commercial recordings by Joe.
Joe was a very impressive player even then - don’t know what he was doing in that class, he really didn’t need it.
And yes, please note this is JOE Skelton, not John.
Just to correct something in the top post, Joe is the nephew of Kieran Collins, the late great tin whistle player. Joe has a lot of Kieran’s style in his own playing and did a really nice presentation on Kieran at the Cooley Collins one year.
There’s a track on “Tribute to Packie Duignan”, with Joe Skelton (flute), Kieran Emmett (bodhran), about 2:30 in length: Three Scones of Boxty/Launching the Boat
Cassette (on Arigna), Memorial Flute Recital recorded live at Joe Mooney Summer School, Drumshambo, Co. Leitrim.
Other flute tracks by Tommy Guihan, Mick Woods, Joe Burke, Patsy Hanley, Mai Baster w/Brenda Sweeney, Conal O’Grada, Karsten Yonker
