I am so excited to play a new Kerry Pro custom low D that I received last evening, and wanted to give some preliminary comments about this fine instrument. Like many of us, I think, I’m in search of the “perfect” instrument for me. This is, of course, a very subjective matter, and I am not a professional whistle player or reviewer, but I do think it’s worth sharing my reactions to this whistle, especially since Phil has said he’s going to make a few more (I have no personal or commercial interest in this at all, though I met Phil last night here in London, where I am teaching for a few weeks, and he is a very nice fellow, who got me playing the whistle in a pub for the first time in my life). I’ll try to be as specific as I can. I am primarily a guitarist, bassist, and to a lesser extent, a flutist. I don’t need an especially loud whistle, and I like what I would describe as “warmth” and “depth” in a wind instrument. This is why I like brass and wood as media for winds. I have an old brass Kerry low A, and some other brass whistles, but not a brass low D. Hence, when I saw Phil was offering this “hybrid” of brass body/aluminum alloy Pro head, and heard him play a prototype on video (he replaced the body with a new tube custom made for this head), I jumped at it.
This is a beautiful, somewhat unusual sounding low D. For the electric guitarists out there, I might say it’s a bit like Hendrix playing a Strat through a Marshall stack (not that it’s particularly loud–it’s not–but something, maybe the aluminum mouthpiece, gives it clarity like a Strat, and something, maybe the brass tube, gives it heft and muscle, like those stacks did for Jimi). It has a smooth, warm sound, it is incredibly responsive from the lowest D to the third octave (Phil had me playing a third octave G on it last night–first time on that note ever for me–luckily the pub was loud so no one seemed to mind). It shifts easily from low to second octave, yet can be pushed strongly on the low notes–it is very dynamic, meaning it sounds beautifully strong when played quietly but can also be loud when pushed. The holes are large, which allows incredible expressiveness in half-holing and sliding notes. Definitely a pipers’-grip, but I have small hands and don’t have a problem with it. Of course brass is heavier than aluminum, and it’s certainly weightier than his traditional Kerry Pro, but you get heft in the sound in exchange. He compared it to a shakuhachi on his sample video. I play a bit of shakuhachi, and I can see what he meant–there’s the possibility of a breathiness and the high overtones on the low notes are very present when you push them. But it’s not airy sounding like a shakuhachi tends to be (at least when I play a shak). It’s to a shak what a porsche is to a Supra–the muscular version, I’d say. When I get back to the States in about a month, I’ll try to do a video and will try to give more specifics about this whistle. I received a beautiful MK just before I left for London, so I haven’t played it enough to compare those two yet, but will try when I’m back in the U.S and have played them both more. I’ll say this–the whistle practically plays itself, sounds incredible and I can’t put it down! Sorry, Whao-ers, this one is to die for, and I ain’t selling mine! Cheers from London,
Jaydoc