Search - Gerry O'Connor :: Time to Time

Gerry O'Connor's Celtic Bluegrass - A Pleasant World Music F

Peter Walenta | Long Island, New York | 06/19/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"An overlooked record that used to be a wee bit obscure unfortunately, but I nevertheless perchance happened to buy "Time to Time" during Virgin Megastore's going out of business sale back in May 2009, and I was pleasantly surprised by what I heard. Gerry O'Connor may just be one of the best Irish banjo players on the scene today. Not being a banjo player myself, I refer you to the two excellent reviews of O'Connor's album "Myriad" in which his flat picking style of playing triplets is more fully described. O'Connor (of Four Men and a Dog fame) himself apparently did not set out to create any unique banjo sound, but in an interview with Irish Music Magazine he notes that, "It just sort of happened. I have no conscious memory of, for instance setting out to develop a particular way of playing triplets. I suppose if you keep at it and it's inside you sooner or later it will wriggle out from that part of your being where it has been hiding." "Time to Time" was originally released only in Ireland in 1991 and has recently been re-issued here in the United States (and North America) on Mulligan Records/Compass Records. The spare instrumentation on "Time to Time" gives Mr. O'Connor room to really shine and showcase his tremendous banjo playing technique on traditional Irish reels and jigs as well as some more experimental songs. Considered a "classic" Irish music record, "Time to Time" will surely please the Irish music enthusiast as well as world music lovers. The fluidity with which O'Connor blends bluegrass, Celtic, and English folk melodies makes this a perfect dance record or a nice album to just chill out to. Even the tribute to African music in the medley `Lumela Lesotho / Kilfenora Jig' works because, of O'Connor's subtle arrangement and melding of Celtic styles with Malian-style kora (harp-lute) sounds that is similar to the wonderful music created by Taj Mahal and Toumani Diabate on their classic 1999 world fusion album `Kulanjan'. I'm now tempted to try out "Myriad" as Gerry O'Connor has amply demonstrated that he is a banjo player extraordinaire as well as a superb music arranger. Definitely check this one out. Download a few songs or get the whole album, you will be deighted!



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