Mouth Box: New Irish Harmonica CD

Whistle
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(Posted this in the ITM forum this morning, but because of several outstanding whistle tracks I’m cross-posting here.–CS)

My whistle teacher here in the Chicago area, James Conway, just completed a project dear to his heart: making a CD that demonstrates the versatility of the Irish harmonica and its “blendability” with other traditional Irish instruments. The CD—with an impressive array of guest artists—is called Mouth Box, a name the late Gwen Sale gave to James because of the way he could make his harmonica sound like an accordion. (She died shortly after the CD was completed and the project is dedicated to her.) In fact, James makes his harmonicas match the other traditional instruments as well, proving the blendability of this humble instrument beyond question. At the same time, he shows the instrument’s unique abilities and its deserving place in ITM. It’s a great CD. I want to share my impressions of it here, partly just to give it some well-deserved attention. Since I’m not a harmonica player myself, though, I’m also hoping to coax out of the woodwork any harmonica players on the board who might be interested in sharing their experiences with this instrument, which, according to Brendan Power, is “very much a new kid on the block in a style dominated by the fiddle, flute, whistle and pipes….”

Each instrumental pairing on Mouth Box showcases a slightly different side of the versatile harmonica (also called a harp) and the way it can borrow from and blend with the style and conventions of the other instruments. For example, in the robust jigs (Young Tom Ennis, Brendan Tonra’s) with Keiran O’Hare on uilleann pipes, James mimics the pipes’ characteristic bleat with rhythmic cuts on his harp and meets O’Hare’s finger slurring with blow bends. His harp also mimics the pipes’ drone in another set of jigs (Tatter Jack Walsh, Knights of Saint Patrick, and Cook in the Kitchen) played with Gwen Sale on fiddle, Dennis Cahill on guitar, and Jackie Moran on bodhran (listen for the fresh sound of the Jaw’s Harp as well). And in a set of reels (Earl’s Chair, Humours of Ballyconnell, and Flowing Bowl), James creates an accordion-like sound by blowing from both sides of his mouth for octave richness. “I thought he forgot to list the concertina player in the credits only to find out it’s all harp,” wrote Paul Davies, member of SPAH (Society for the Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica).

But imitating other instruments, or at least picking up some stylistic conventions, is only part of the story. In a set of polkas, with nothing more than his tapping foot to accompany him, James shows the harp’s widest range, in my opinion: he becomes a whole band— complete with melody, boom-chucks, drones, and a good sense of humor—all with one diatonic harmonica in G and a block of wood to tap his foot on. In another jig set (Humors of Ballyloughlin and Mooncoin Jig), James picks up his bubbly whistle and turns the harmonica playing over to the incomparable Howard Levy, who leads off with a fun and bluesy introduction suggesting still more of the harmonica’s range.

In his liner notes James acknowledges that it was Chicago great Sugar Blue’s style—which to James sounded like a fiddle and accordion together—that got James “blowing Irish music on the harp,” but there’s no mistaking the traditional Irish roots of this CD. It has rhythmic bounce and swing; driving melodies “played as one” with the guest artists and enriched with the harp’s harmonic and droning possibilities; graceful, moderate ornamentation; lyrical sadness and bubbly joy. Through all the tracks, James blows a mouth-watering sound from his harps, crisp with Irish reediness yet surprisingly creamy as well. That remarkable bright sound, the satisfying couplings of the harp with other traditional instruments, and James’s virtuosity, swing, and musical bigheartedness, make Mouth Box a real treat for the ears.

CDs are available at http://www.jimmyconway.com and http://www.celticgrooves.com. For a full listing of tunes and guests, and another review, see http://celticgrooves.homestead.com/CG_Conway_James.html .

James has offered a few free review copies for harmonica-playing C&F’ers who would like to share their reactions to his CD with the board. If you are interested, please send me a private message on the board or an e-mail to carolski@aol.com.



[ This Message was edited by: cskinner on 2002-10-23 09:45 ]

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You quote someone as mistaking harmonica for concertina. This doesn’t surprise me, although it would have to be played with considerable skill to play chords several holes apart which is not hard on an Anglo. The diatonic harmonica is tuned like, and plays exactly like, a single key row of an Anglo concertina. By that I mean that with a standard 30 key Anglo concertina in C/G, the C row corresponds to a C harmonica and the G row to a G harmonica. The third row contains accidentals not in C or G. These notes would be obtainable on the harmonica by bending notes in the way familiar from blues harmonica. Blowing corresponds exactly to pressing and sucking to drawing.

Blues players usually play in a key other than that of the harmonica they are playing—cross-harp technique—and this would be possible for Irish music as it is, to a limited degree, on an Anglo. (The extra rows on an Anglo mean that this way of approaching the instrument isn’t a helpful way to think about it.)

What all this means is that the harmonica is not really a stranger so much as a friend who’s been waiting in the wings to be recognised. Nice to see that it’s happening. By the way, you’ll hear Andy Irvine play very creditable harmonica on just about any Patrick Street album you pick up.

[ This Message was edited by: Wombat on 2002-10-23 10:13 ]

[ This Message was edited by: Wombat on 2002-10-23 10:46 ]

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Boy, Carol, for doing that review late last night, you did a great job. You make me want to buy the CD - and I’ve never been into harmonicas! :slight_smile:
Susan

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Boy, Carol, for doing that review late last night, you did a great job. You make me want to buy the CD - and I’ve never been into harmonicas! > :slight_smile: >
Susan

Well, thanks, Susan, and it IS for sale, ya know! :wink:

[ This Message was edited by: cskinner on 2002-10-23 13:45 ]

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Having recently acquired a copy of the Mouth Box CD, I am listening to it now as I write this, I have to second Carol’s comments wholeheartedly! This is wonderful music played with style and makes me smile each time I play it.

The harmonica does indeed blend well with the ‘traditional’ instruments and I would love to hear more of it, especially along with the pipes which is indeed a fine combination. The romping piano on the pipes track and some others is a joy also.

I think this CD should delight those who enjoy Irish music without offending traditionalists.

I don’t often play CDs, mostly preferring my own modest whistling and fluting to listening to even very good recordings but I make an exception for this CD and wish Conway well with it and look forward to hearing more!

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Carol sent me a copy of Mouthbox a while back, and here are some impressions that I’d like to add to her wonderful review:

James Conway writes in the liner notes:

I made this recording because I love the harmonica and I love playing Irish music on the harmonica. Melodically, harmonically, and rhythmically the harmonica is ideal for Irish music and blends in beautifully with the traditional intstruments used in Irish music.

After listening to Mouthbox, I know that Conway has proved his point: The harmonica is great in ITM and Conway is a master on the mouth box. The music is rich and expressive, and Conway has an easy and impressive control of the instrument’s voice. Great listening. But in striving to show of the strength and versatility of the harmonica, Conway has turned his CD into more of a programmatic effort than it needed to be, I think.

I feel that his mission to give the harmonica its due might have made Conway self-conscious. His music is terrific, and I’ve been listening to Mouthbox a lot. To me, somehow the CD seems not just about the music. This is apparent both in the selection of tunes and in the stylistic choices. The tunes selection reads like the standard American session list: Ash Plant, Black-Haired Lass, Wise Maid, Young Tom Ennis, Ballydesmond, Gurteen Cross, Battle of Aughrim, O’Neill’s Cavalcade, Earl’s Chair, Moooncoin, Delahunty’s, O’Keefe’s Slide, Denis Murphy’s slide, Tom Billy’s, Tar Road to Sligo, etc etc are all “top 100” session tunes. I am not saying every CD needs some arcane tunes dug up from dusty vaults in Dublin or gleaned from the trembling fingers of some half-dead Irish old-timer. But I hear Conway saying: “I can do what everyone else can do!”

He can, and he can do it very well. But I think he could do much more. I would like to hear more of what only James Conway can do. In his effort to blend in with the pipes and the fiddle, Conway’s music seems held back. My favorite tracks are those where Conway doesn’t seem out to prove something, but has fun with the music: The unaccompanied Polkas, the bluesy intro to Humors of Ballyloughlin/Mooncoin by Howard Levy, the harmonica-whistle duet Tom Billy’s/Road to Sligo. (I also happen to like the old-fashioned Eleanor-Neary sound of Garry Aylward’s piano accompaniment on the hornpipe set (Delahunty’s [Wicklow]/Savannah).)

Worried that people will turn their nose up on the harmonica, Conway seems to have shunned the road less-traveled-by not only in his choice of instrument, but also stylistically. Here is guy who, after an adolescence of intense ITM whistle playing, fell in love with the Chicago blues and the blues harp and soaked it up for the next decade. I am not the Comhaltas Trad Enforcer, and I am curious where this development has left Conway musically. His style is very good, but I would love to hear a bit more adventure, either in the melodic variations of the familiar tunes Conway chose, or in the effect his background has had on his music. There are glimpses of that, for sure: In the way Conway slides into notes, bends notes and uses what might be double-stops on a fiddle, and the characteristic sound of quick runs on the harmonica. It’s hard to describe the sound; but even the liner notes contain such delightfully puzzling tidbits as this: “harmonidrone (diatonic in Ab with blow 2 tuned up to Eb)”. It’s for the quirks and whimsical bits, for the fluidity and richness of the playing, that I will go back to Mouthbox, not for Conway’s version of Harvest Home.

A few more little points:
I like Conway’s sense of humor, who in proving that the harmonica is an instrument fit for ITM, does not let up before he has proven that it is an instrument for neo-Irish schmaltz, as well, such as Rory Dhall’s “Give me Your Hand” or Carolan’s Concerto. The other slow number, Humours of Tullycrine, is beautiful: expressive and touching.

I loved the Jew’s harp on Tatter Jack Walch: A great sound if played as drones for the harmonica. (But what is it with the word “Jew”? No one seems to be willing to call the Jew’s harp by its name any more: I’ve seen Juice harp, and now Conway adds “Jaws harp”. Well, of course, maybe that’s the right way, and I just have to get the image of a Great White Shark plucking Fanny Powers out of my head.)

I don’t think that the harmonica is as new or unusual in Irish Trad as both James Conway and Carol seem to assume, at least when you take a broader view of it. I grew up on Andy Irvine’s harmonica playing on Sweeney’s Men (1969), an album that Dahiti Sproule has called “the Sergeant Pepper of Irish music”. I haven’t been paying attention, I guess, but I seem to remember several times I’ve heard harmonica in ITM records over the past years.

I just finished listening to Mouthbox again, and I love it. In fact, I can’t wait for Mouthbox II, when the world and James Conway have accepted that the harmonica is in no need to prove it’s worth and place in ITM. I think that will free Conway up a bit, and I look forward to hearing the result.

/bloomfield

[replaced link with actual text]

[ This Message was edited by: Bloomfield on 2002-10-30 12:44 ]

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Hi,
I just saw Carol’s post on Jims CD. Jim sent me a while back and I have been raving to all my friends about it. I am glad the Carol made a post so others on the Forum can get a copy. I was astonished at the sound he gets from the harmonica. He makes it sound like an accordian, a concertina and more. The musical arrangements are brilliant too and the CD very professionally produced. I have other CDs that have harmonica on them, but this is the best I have in my collection. A tip of the hat to Jim for his masterful musicianship in this CD. I hope everyone gets a copy.
You won’t regret it.
Mike

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Mine’s on the way ~ Can’t wait!!!

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I agree with the comment of “waiting in the wings” for the harmonica in the IRTRAD.
I have listened to MouthBox about six times and enjoy it a lot. I pretty much forgot that its harmonica into the first reel, making the name Mouth BOX really appropriate.
The biggest surprise on this record for me was hearing Give Me Your Hand and liking it. Its a tune thats been overplayed to death but I thought it was a great arrangement. He plays Earls Chair a bit fast for me but I do like that treatment as well.
The only track in which I had the “Oh, I wouldnt do that” reaction was a slow rendering of Carolans Concerto which I think wants to be brisk.

But this is a CD that I will leave in one of the five trays in the carousel for a while. Its really wonderful to hear the harp played so masterfully.

And it may be a gateway for American harmonica fans to IRTRAD. When you consider how famous that John Popper Blues Traveler guy is, you realize that we like harmonica a lot in the States.

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I’ve had a copy of this CD for a while now and I also give it a thumbs up! This is the first time I’ve actually heard a harmonica sound GOOD playing trad music (the track with harmonica on Emer Mayock’s CD Playground is wonderful too, but that’s not really trad) - Makes me wish there were actually more good harmonica players out there who could play this way, would be wonderful to have one or two in a session.

Very cool CD :slight_smile:

Loren

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This is a great CD, utilizing the potential of the harmonica. It is the basic instrument from which concertina and accordion were elaborated, and as such sounds great in Irish Trad.

James Conway wasn’t the first to use harmonica in this genre, but he certainly has done a superb job. He uses it in a concertina-like style on some tunes, but doesn’t limit himself to that technique. He also makes use of the harmonica’s unique capabilities and tone colors.

Making use of the chordal characteristics, rather than the more common blues-inspired melodic and riff-driven style often associated with the instrument nowadays, he achieves a very traditional sound.

In Humors of Ballyloughlin he makes impressive use of the diatonic harmonica’s unique tone-bending capabilities, demonstrating that this album is much more than a harmonica trying to be a squeezebox.

For enjoyability, originality, and quality of playing I give “Mouth Box” an A+.

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Just got my copy at the weekend ~ excellent production. It took me back to my youth when I played harmonica in the Patrician Brothers Ceili Band in Galway (alongside Frankie Gavin :slight_smile:). The Harmonica is not new in Irish Trad. but it is definitely not common. I think James makes a great case for it being utilized more often. Here in Ottawa we have a great harmonica player (Don Kavanaugh) who occasionally turns up at the sessions. He adds a really nice touch.

I wonder how well it would be accepted in sessions in Ireland.

Cheers

Gerry
Think before you Think before you Talk!

[ This Message was edited by: WhistlingGypsy on 2002-11-05 08:19 ]

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On 2002-10-28 16:26, Bloomfield wrote:

I don’t think that the harmonica is as new or unusual in Irish Trad as both James Conway and Carol seem to assume, at least when you take a broader view of it. I grew up on Andy Irvine’s harmonica playing on Sweeney’s Men (1969), an album that Dahiti Sproule has called “the Sergeant Pepper of Irish music”. I haven’t been paying attention, I guess, but I seem to remember several times I’ve heard harmonica in ITM records over the past years. _________________
/bloomfield

It certainly isn’t new, I think everybody above agreed on that. Only last week ‘Come west along the road’ showed some archive footage from the 70s on RTE tv of a Wexford woman doing a lovely job on the Harmonica. Nicholas Carolan made the point the instrument seems to have a particular link with Co Wexford with the Murphys as the most wellknown exponents.
Over the years I have seen a good few and mostly good harmonicaplayers at session, at least one playing locally on a regular basis, only a few months ago I was at a party where one of the musicinas playing was Mick Kinsella who plays his harmonica in Bob Dylan style braces while simultaniously playing the concertina, quite a set up.
He played the air ‘Ged A Theid Mi Do m’Leabaidh’ which is actually a Scottish tune the Battlefield band used to play [the first lp I think] although they had a different name. Mick managed to do a stunning rendition of the tune, doing the Battlefield’s harmonium part on the concertina while the harmonica played the tune. It was exceptionally fine music.

Joe Ryan used to have a regular duet with Cavan harmonica player Eddie Clarke, they won honours in the 1972 duet Oireachtas competition and their 1981 lp is still one of the classic recordings of the period.

Mouthbox, hm, he must have regretted someone else used up ‘The Tin Sandwich’ as a title.


[ This Message was edited by: Peter Laban on 2002-11-05 14:59 ]

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On 2002-10-28 16:26, Bloomfield wrote:

I don’t think that the harmonica is as new or unusual in Irish Trad as both James Conway and Carol seem to assume, at least when you take a broader view of it.

I don’t think Conway or Carol are asserting that’s it’s new; but just that it isn’t really accepted. Having a harmoninca player show at a session is somewhat kin to having a conga player show up. To expound my point further, it’s just not what musicians think of as an Irish instrument. If you want to learn Irish music, you play fiddle, or whistle, or flute, etc. Never harmonica. It’s my impression that most Irish-style harmonica players actually learned the instrument to play blues, and then reapplied their skills to Irish trad.

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On 2002-11-05 08:18, WhistlingGypsy wrote:
Just got my copy at the weekend ~ excellent production. It took me back to my youth when I played harmonica in the Patrician Brothers Ceili Band in Galway (alongside Frankie Gavin > :slight_smile:> ).

:astonished: :astonished: :astonished: Frankie Gavin?!?!? F r a n k i e G a v i n!!! FRANKIE GAVIN?!?!? kisses Gerry’s feet

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On 2002-11-05 14:21, energy wrote:

On 2002-10-28 16:26, Bloomfield wrote:

I don’t think that the harmonica is as new or unusual in Irish Trad as both James Conway and Carol seem to assume, at least when you take a broader view of it.

I don’t think Conway or Carol are asserting that’s it’s new; but just that it isn’t really accepted. Having a harmoninca player show at a session is somewhat kin to having a conga player show up. To expound my point further, it’s just not what musicians think of as an Irish instrument. If you want to learn Irish music, you play fiddle, or whistle, or flute, etc. Never harmonica. It’s my impression that most Irish-style harmonica players actually learned the instrument to play blues, and then reapplied their skills to Irish trad.

That’s not my experience. When I started going to sessions regularly, it was Don Meade & Patrick Orceau every Thursday night at Kate Kearney’s in NY (session died two years ago, very sad) and at least once a night Don would pull out a harmonica and play a tune or two on it (fiddle & harmonica is really nice!). Every Friday night I play in a session where a guy plays banjo half the time, harmonica half the time. Other sessions that happens, too. It’s not like Congas and to me it is more natural to ITM than hammered dulcimer or recorder or Boehm flute or autoharp or norelco shaver.

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It may be worth noting that in the All-Ireland competitions the harmonica is grouped in the “miscellaneous” category. Says something, but I’m not sure quite what.

Carol

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I think that the harmonica occupies an uneasy position in Irish music. It’s been there a while but it isn’t very visible. Since it’s a free reed instrument and comes in forms that are very similar to accordeons and anglo concertinas, it’s a mystery why anybody should have thought that the harmonica has work to do to ‘prove itself’. In view too of the existence of virtuoso players in other fields like Larry Adler, Toots Thielemanns (sp?) and any number of blues players, preminently Little Walter, I would have thought that the onus was on those who thought it inappropriate to explain why.

The Rough Guide to Irish music has a separate section for harmonica and special entries for Tommy Basker, Eddie Clarke, the Murphy family and Brendan Power. Power, in particular is quite well known and has a couple of well-received CDs out.

That said, I’ve seen dismissive accounts of Power’s work along the following lines. ‘If you have to play Irish music on harmonica, I suppose you might as well play it like this.’ I haven’t heard Power yet so can’t comment, except to note that his work has been said by others to be outstanding. If someone made a slighting remark like that ‘quoted’ about James Conway’s CD, I’d regard them as demented.

I have no idea why the harmonica has this marginal status but can only imagine that, as a matter of sheer historical accident, few people have played Irish music on it and others in the tradition perhaps see it as a toy, oblivious to the existence of a huge body of work by great players in other styles. Nothing breeds prejudice like ignorance.

Think of these comments as the second installment of an ongoing review of this CD. Carol sent me a complimentary copy which arrived a few days ago, by which stage so many people had said nice things about it that I wondered how I could fulfil my part of the bargain by finding something new to say.

Suffice it to say at this stage that James Conway has produced a superb CD in which great blues chops are brought to the service of Irish music without, in my view, any hint of gimic or compromise. He does everything one would expect a good box player to do and more. Press and draw boxes are made for rhythmic chordal vamping but, on my box, the anglo, it is now fashionable to play mainly melody, reserving chordal work for brief pipe-regulator style passages. Conway shows how, used sparingly and with sensitivity, there might yet be a role for good, old fashioned two-fisted anglo playing. I loved his chugging train-blues rhythms where they occurred.

Another welcome feature of this CD is the judicious use of bends to produce that distinctively celtic lilt. A player with less experience and taste than Conway would overdo the note-bending, giving the impression of pastiche. (Look Ma, I’m playing Irish blues. Ain’t I a bad-arsed mother.) Conway has awsome blues technique employed wholly in the service of the music. The CD contains no pointless showing off; it exudes a sense of effortless mastery in the way the finest Irish CDs do. If you don’t already have a review copy, go buy it now before they run out. If you’re disappointed then you’re on the wrong web site.

Edited to remove an ambiguity.

[ This Message was edited by: Wombat on 2002-11-07 21:16 ]

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I just received this e-mail from Agustin in Galicia. He asked me to post his comments here since he wasn’t sure how to do it himself. He writes:

“I knew about James through the harmonica forums. I’m harmonica aficionado player, i have more than two hundred harmonica cds collection, near 30 of then are of celtic (some Quebec) music, the most part irish, for me James’ cd is one of the bests, i’m not feel able to say technic comments (my english is poor) but really that cd touch my heart, i’m from Galicia also a celtic country.”

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Carol, what a wonderful email you received from Galicia! Thank you for posting it and thanks Augustin for sharing his views with us. 30 Celtic/Irish harmonica CDs, huh? Impressive.

Wambot, thanks to you to for sharing your esteemed views, too. I agree that JC is never flashy, and I appreciate it.