Today I received a copy of “The Master Pipers, Volume I: Johnny Doran” from Na Piobairi Uilleann. (Thank you, ‘She Who Must Be Obeyed’ for the lovely Christmas gift)!
I’ve only played the first 4 tracks, and in fact listened to the first 3 of them twice in succession.
Johnny Doran is nothing short of amazing, whether it’s his variations on “Rakish Paddy”, to his flying tempo on ‘Steampacket’ (and to think I was once chastised for playing a reel right after a jig)!
I just simply cannot say enough about Johnny’s piping.
If you buy just one CD in what remains of 2004 or all of 2005, buy this one, it’s amazing.
Who the hell chastised you for playing a reel right after a jig!! Are there any rules? We (my band) used to do a set which had ‘The Wise Maid’ (reel) followed by a jig (forget the name but it’s the one that goes with ‘Cunla’ on Planxty’s ‘The Well Below the Valley’) and it always received great applaud form the audience whenever we did it. Wonder why???
That’s the one!! How could I forget that name, what with the controversy amongst the band over whether it was ‘The Friar’s Britches’ or ‘Frieze’ - I always maintained ‘Frieze’, which is a type of material, no? And since when do Friars where britches?
“I just simply cannot say enough about Johnny’s piping. If you buy just one CD in what remains of 2004 or all of 2005, buy this one, it’s amazing.” Brian C.
Agree with you there Brian, Johnny Doran’s music is special, there really hasn’t been a uilleann piper to compare with him since. His variations seem to be neverending, and we only have these nine recordings to go by. It must have been amazing to have seen and heard him play live back in the day. Johnny incorpates both legato and staccato/tight fingering in his piping and what inventiveness. One can wonder what his influences were. He used to call on Sean Reid and listen to Sean’s grammophone, swing records I believe, prehaps Django, who knows. Think also of keeping a set of pipes in good playing condition when living for the most part in a caravan and playing often out in the open. Johnny was a good reed maker as was his brother Felix. Johnny’s piping is a great source of inspiration I find
Take a look at Robbie Hannan’s article in the current issue of “An Piobaire” about the importance of listening to recordings of great pipers, Johnnie Doran being a case in point. My jaw hits the floor everytime I listen.
Robbie also brings up the irony of the number of pipers who show up at Willie Clancy Summer School without ever having listened to Willie Clancy!
“Frieze” is a heavy, napped (= having a downy surface) woolen cloth mainly used for making coats. Standard pronunciation seems to be the same as “freeze”, although one fellow I know insists on pronouncing it like “fries”. Sorta like “friars”, I suppose.
You’ll be making you own ketchup Joeseph. From what I hear they weren’t kind on the ould knees! But they were one of those wonderful clothing items that would be handed down from generation to generation.
How incredible it would have been to be part of a crowd at the local fair or horse auction or football match, and be able to listen to him play, and make various commentary on what tune he was about to play, or to hear where he’d learned it. I wonder, too, if any of the people that did hear him play knew how special and how revered his music would become?
In my family, (I was number 6 of 7 children), that was the ONLY kind of clothing I ever knew.
Quite often, my Mother would give me a “new” pair of dress slacks - the kind only to be worn on Sundays… and there I was, proud as a peacock on the following Sunday, wearing my “new” slacks to Mass… and only THEN would my older brother find out that our Mom had given away a pair of his slacks… and guess who caught his rath!
I’m glad you met Johnny’s musical acquaintance. I love his music fiercely. He’s every bit the real heart and soul of Irish piping, as much as Touhy, Seamus Ennis, Tommy Reck, Mike Carney, Michael Gallagher, James Early, Garrett Barry, etc.
Just keep listening, you’ll learn a lot from him. Willie Clancy and Martin Rochford loved Johnny’s music very much. I think you gain some insight into Willie’s playing, too, if you spend time with Johnny’s recordings.
I used to hate “The Tarbolton Reel” until I head Johnny playing it with John Kelly! And now I want to switch to “The Fermoy Lasses” instead of “The Longford Collector” when playing Coleman tunes most of the time. A fiddler I know and I have had some heated discussions on the matter.
And his version of “The Coolin” is THE BEST. Leo R. is a close second, but Johnny just had SOUL oozing out of every pore.
In fairness both loved Johnny but I think both equally loved Felix’ music. Martin would always speak of ‘the two Dorans’. If you read or listen to interviews from the 50s and 60s you’ll find, to us suprisingly maybe, Johnny invariably referred to as ‘Felix’ brother’, giving the impression Felix was the more famous one (maybe just because he was around longer). It is also often said that while Johnny was the man with the expression, the artist, Felix could not be beaten for playing for dancers and was held, by more than a few, in higher regard for that reason. Pat Mitchell, planning a book on Felix’ music at the time, once said to me 'Johnny was the virtuoso but Felix was the piper.
Some people, and I would think Clancy and Rochford among them, would have realised Johnny’s powers as a musician. Martin was more influenced by Felix though as far as I can tell while WIllie absorbed some of Johnny’s wildness.
I think it’s easy to forget too the pipes were not somethng ever to be found in Clare during the 30s,m people knew of them without actually ever coming across them. I remember Martin Talty telling the story in 1981 how himself and Clancy were walking up the Ennistymon Road when Willie heard the sound in the distance of Johnny playing the pipes outside his caravan parked at the White strand, he lifted off and ran the last mile to be near it. Same for Rochford in East Clare, before the Dorans there were no pipers there. There’s one story of how he heard at one point JOhnny had arrived in Quilty, Martin dropped everything, took the fiddle under his arm and started walking the 50 miles.
There are still a few people left, though very few now who remember Johnny playing, I got one account recently of him playing in a shop on the flag road, the man who told me remembered it well. They tried to have him play for a dance up in the hall in Miltown but the priest wouldn’t let them have the hall, ‘those people’ weren’t wellcome. Michael Falsey once remarked Johnny always looked impeccable, suit and tie at all times, even during those days, when nobody else had them.
PS Pat, I have a version of Ennis playing the Coolin which is half decent too There are some acetate recordings of John Kelly playing wit hFelix, possibly broadcast disc from the 40s I have one tape that has them playing Miss McLeod and Maid of Mt Cisco, the disc is terribly damaged and only a few fragments shine through like raw power coming out of a storm. and they are every inch as powerful as the Johnny/Kelly duets.
How could I forget that name, what with the controversy amongst the band over whether it was ‘The Friar’s Britches’ or ‘Frieze’ - I always maintained ‘Frieze’, which is a type of material, no? And since when do Friars where britches?
But they were one of those wonderful clothing items that would be handed down from generation to generation.