Got myself a new CD the other day, Mike McGoldrick & John McSherry’s new effort “At First Light”. I’d like to recommend it to all of you. It features McGoldrick on flute and whistles (can’t remember if he plays the pipes a bit too), and McSherry on pipes and whistles. Style-wise it reminds me a lot of Lúnasa’s style - no great surprise there, of course - with pipe/flute tunes and low whistle duets, all in a slightly funky/jazzy style. But overall the CD is a bit more traditional than what you’d get from Lúnasa.
The pipes feature as a duet on only one track…a disappointment for the uilleann pipers among us…although it’s a cracking track.
The CD got mixed reviews here because it was neither fiercely traditional nor funky/fusion enough…sort of stuck in the middle…I heard one reviewer imply it was like Celtic elevator music in parts [!!!] but lots of folks have taken tunes off the Cd and started playing them at sessions, which is always a good indicator of popularity.
I think it’s a great CD, it’s the one I’m most likley to play, I’d also recommend “Morning Rory” by Mike McGoldrick, it’s mostly whistle and flute. I saw John and Mike live recently, they played most of the tracks on “At First Light” if I remember correctly Mike only played pipes on one track. They sounded as if they were born to play together, right on the same wavelength.
I agree that they play extremely well together,i bought this album about a year ago after hearing it on the radio.I particularly liked the tune title ‘Ornette’s trip to Belfast’(well,Coleman IS an Irish name isn’t it? - a joke for the jazz fans there)!