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CD Reviews
"Shady Woods" CD
Last up in Tommy Martin. The album title is Shady Woods. His album was one of those mentioned early that cot lost in the pile of 500. Maybe we should give that a formal title. The Pile of 500. How does it sound? Anyway, Tommy is the best piper we have heard of in a long time-and we have heard a lot of great ones. A dub originally, he now resides in St. Louis, and he is on his honeymoon as you read this. Are the Cayman Islands ready for the pipes? Well, we are when they are played like this. We won’t go into all the sources, all the background here. This album is a terrific piece of business. Wow! Can this boy play!! If you love Uilleann pipes this is a must have. You can go to Tommy’s website—just google his name and find him, or there is cdbaby, and the album will also be available on liveireland.com soon. This is a new star in the sky. This is a deeply understood and heartfelt album of real musicianship. Good on ya, Tommy!!
Rating: 4 harps.
Bill Margeson Irisn American News
*Dublins Hot Press Magazine review, Feb '06
The uilleann pipes are a notoriously tricksome and unforgiving instrument, which is perhaps why their players have a tendency to lose the run of themselves when it comes to maintaining a solid rhythm. Dublin-born, St. Louis-based musician Tommy Martin occasionally falls prey to this common ailment on his second solo CD, but more than makes up for it with his sheer exuberance and inventive variations on the tunes. He’s one of the few pipers I’ve heard using the regulators for countermelody as well as chords, and his nifty impressions of yelping hounds and triumphant horn blasts on the classic descriptive piece ‘The Fox Chase’ are terrific. He also does a fine job of impersonating a one-man céilí band on the closing number, which sees him overdubbing himself on fiddle, flute and banjo while guest Kevin Buckley (who plays fiddle on two other tracks) takes over the drum kit.
Sarah McQuaid
"Uilleann Piper" CD
*I was surprised to read the bio of Tommy Martin and learn that he's in his mid-thirties. His style of playing reminds me very strongly of Leo Rowsome, who died a few years before Tommy was born. He has a nice fluid legato, with the rhythms marked out on the regulators rather than through complex chanterwork. Not many players recording today play in this vein - "parlor piping", as it used to be called, nicely produced and played.
Tom Wilsbach
*There is a world of a difference between being able to play a few tunes on the chanter and being an accomplished piper: Tommy is firmly in the latter category.
I was a little leery and first sight of the CD, since just over 40 minutes it isn't what a Cavan man would call odious good value, but never mind the lenght, hear the quality. The opening track is a great declaration of intent, full of confidence in a reel acalled the Dawmn, and soaring rock steady to the top notes of the chanter.
I particularly like his two tunes, Jenny's Folly and the Merry Thatcher, which he sayes comes from flute player Arthur Kelly from Ring Commons in the North County Dublin. That's a lie of land almost swallowed up by airport related warehouses, but it is also Seamus Ennis country, where they play outdoor games such as cricket and rings,(thrown at a ringboard) and Irish music indoors. From Northumbria he has Sir Sidney Smiths March, a challenging leaping piece, that will annoy me until I half-learn it.
The proof of the depth of the tradition is in the choice of music: pipers love the comparison of the two versions of the Copperplate. This is the work of a craftsman piper, young but deep in the tradition.
Review of 1st cd 'Uilleann Piper' by John Brophy. Irish Music Magazine.
*Some Cobblestone musicians names are familiar. In 1999, Dublin's Tommy Martin issued his first CD, "Uilleann Piper", and influence of his former tutor, Mick O'Brien can be heard on that album and on the two reels he plays here with fiddler Michelle O'Brien, "The Four Courts / John Kellys".
Their instruments coil around each other teasingly at times, and Martin's chanter work is nimble enough to make quick vaults above the melody line.
Review of Cobblestone CD by Earle Hitchner. Irish Echo / Washington Post.
*I was a little intimidated when a package of bagpipe CDs arrived at my house. Now I love bagpipes in all forms as much as anyone who doesn't actually play them can, but a stack that size is a powerful amount of droning. I took the plunge, turning my house into Drone Central for a while.
The recordings of Willie Clancy are a delight to hear. His uilleann pipes roar on the fast tunes and wail on the slow ones. He uses drones on all tracks, giving his sound a presence that is often lacking in modern pipers, who tend to use the drones more as effects. He does some interesting regulator work on the slow air "Casadh an tSugain," demonstrating why the uilleann pipes were once nicknamed "the Irish organ." On the second volume, Clancy is joined on some tracks by Sean Reid, who plays the regulators of Clancy's pipes. Expecting some complex harmonic regulator work, I was disappointed to hear some simple, rhythmic, but overly busy chordal thumping. The tracks with Reid are further marred by an out-of-tune regulator. Clancy sounds better on his own, producing a full sound with the various pieces of his pipe set. Clancy was also a terrific whistle player, and there is one track on each volume showcasing his ornate, yet driving tin whistle.
Brian McNamara is not only a piper, but a piping scholar as well. Hailing from Co. Leitrim, McNamara plays in the South Leitrim style, a tradition which he has studied extensively. His playing is smooth and relaxed, and the tunes are played evenly, never rushed. There is often a mellow sound, due to McNamara's preference for flat sets; he uses pipes pitched in C on most of the tracks. The accompaniment of guitar and harp support the melody without distracting from it, and McNamara's sister Deirdre blends in some smooth concertina to double the melody line on some cuts. Plus, the liner notes are as detailed as any piping geek could desire.
Kevin Rowsome's disc is subtitled "Five Generations Of Uilleann Piping." This made me start listening with high expectations, which Rowsome indeed lived up to. He plays some of the cleanest piping I've ever heard. He plays the dance tunes well, but the slow tunes are where he sounds the best. "Blind Mary" and "Staker Wallace" are beautifully expressive. As a bonus, the recording ends with six archival tracks of other Rowsomes: Kevin's legendary grandfather Leo and father Leon on uilleann pipes, and uncle Liam playing a couple of slow airs on fiddle. This disc makes me wonder what the Rowsome family's sixth generation is up to.
It's a very tough call to make, but I'd have to say that Tommy Martin's CD is my favorite of the batch. His wonderfully clear high notes on "The Dawn" and inventive regulator work on "The Flax In Bloom" are captivating. "An Clar Bog Deil" demonstrates wild, lamentive, organ-like use of the regulators. Most of the piping on this disc has an untamed feel to it, and the wildness is also heard in Martin's whistle playing. I was unable to listen without my fingers tapping a bodhran's rhythm.
Tim Hoke www.greenmanreview.com
Gig Reviews
*University of St. Louis Missouri. Jan 2005
For the European folk music layman, it would be rather difficult to make the distinction between the bagpipes of Scotland and the Uilleann pipes of Ireland. It would be equally difficult for him to tell the difference musically between a 'reel', 'air', or a 'lament'. Thankfully experts and the uninitiated alike were treated to a lively and informative free concert by Dublin uilleann pipes player Tommy Martin in the Music Building on January 20.
The charismatic Martin indulged his audience, giving a thorough explanation of the pipes, as well as their individual parts and functions.
The Uilleann pipes (pronounced "ILL en" in Gaelic) typically consist of a chanter, a set of drones, regulators, and a bag. The piper rhythmically compresses the bag, pushing fixed drone notes through the pipes, and using the chanter and regulators to play melodic lines. The melodies are played simultaneously with the drones, making an alluring and hypnotic juxtaposition of sound.
Martin explained that Uilleann pipes originated in 1700s Ireland, and that their songs were passed on through strong oral tradition, often lending themselves to unique renditions. They often marked Ireland's tragic past (in laments), but also joy and jocosity (in airs and jigs). Often a vital element at celebrations, pipes players would be instructed to play until the dancers were exhausted.
Brief questions were answered, then Martin quickly stirred the audience with beautifully syncopated tunes, including "Leg of the Duck", "Four Knots", "Maple Leaf" and "Blackbird". Certain red-haired ladies in the audience could hardly control the tapping of their feet in unison with Martin's time-keeping heel stomp, marking the pulse for his lively, though sometimes hauntingly midieval-sounding songs.
There were certain moments of contemplation over the sad-yet-oh-so-pretty ululating of his drones, but all were certainly consoled by the alternately fun, flitting, scatting notes of the chanter.
As an added treat, Martin played a couple of short tunes with the irish pennywhistle. The sweetly high pitched songs he played were a welcome addition to the set of pipes classics.
Martin closed with "The Fox Chase". This was a prime example of involved Irish folk music, sonically suggesting a hunter family's heated pursuit of a "red dog." Martin portrayed this vividly, as with closed eyes you could hear the progression from the initial trumpet call, to frenzied horses and dogs, to the chaotic chase through fields and forest, finally the riotous cornering of the fox.
Martin truly gave a lovely musical performance, and there will be more great Irish music to come.
This concert was presented as part of the Center for International Studies' 'Irish Music Today' program.
*The Te Anau Celtic Club again served as host to another extraordinary musical talent on Friday 21 may. On this occasion the musician was Irishman Tommy Martin and his Irish pipes.
Martin was brought to New Zealand by the Uilleann Pipers Society of New Zealand who has for the last nine years sponsored outstanding pipers to tour this counbtry.
Martin played the Irish pipes, a deviation on the Scottish pipes in that the bellows are inflated by elbow movement rather than through a mouth piece. This difference aside, Martin showed his superiority with the instrument. His finger movement on the pipes were a pleasure to follow. His skill was highlighted by the ease in which he moved from jigs and reels to a waltz and of course the traditional haumnting Irish airs.
His skill did not stop at the pipes. Martin treated the audience to further traditional music on the tin whistle and proved another Irish tradition, that you don't need an expensive instrument to make music, by using a $3 flute purchased from a Trade Aid shop.
Martin and his music and Irish wit were certainly a hit with the audience.
Fiordland Focus, New Zealand
*Ireland was represented this time by a single musician, but a supreme master of his instrument, the world renown virtuoso of the Uilleann Pipes or Irish Organ, Tommy Martin from Dublin.
His brilliant playing was an unforgettable experience for all who heard it.
Josef Rezny, Director of the International Bagpipe Festival in Strakonice, Czech Republic.
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