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Fraser Fifield
Band
from left to right : David Robertson, Guy Nicolson, Fraser Fifield, Graeme
Stephen
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Fraser Fifield Trio
Slow Stream
(TANAR RECORDS)
* * * * *
The steadily
growing overlap beyween the Scottish folk and jazz scenes has been a rich
source of invention in recent years, but even in this context, multi-instrumentalist
Fraser Fifield has emerged as one of todays's outstanding talents.
His mastery of the soprano saxophone, compositional gifts and fluency
in both traditional and jazz idioms have prompted comparisons with Norwegian
legend Jan Garbarek. Fifield, though, is also a brilliant exponent of
the low whistle and the Scottish smallpipes. The pipes don't actually
feature here, on his second recording - and the first with his now-regular
trio, flanked by Stuaty Ritchie on drums and Graeme Stephen on electric
guitar - but the feritle breadth of technique, traditions and material
opened up by this instrumental toolkit resonate through both the writing
and delivery.
Most of the tracks are originals, alongside a few thouroughly reinterpreted
traditional tunes, but in either vein, Fifield doesn't so much fuse different
styles - including jazz, rock, Celtic, Scandinavian and Eastern European
elements - as sublimate the need for such distinctions. He's found the
ideal musical soulmates, too, in Ritchie and Stephen, whose intelligent
sensitive responses to Fifield's dynamic lead round out an album full
of excitement and lyricism
SUNDAY HERALD 26/06/05
(right click on above and "save target
as")
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as")
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New album Slow
Stream by Fraser Fifield Trio
The Scotsman, 13/05/05
FRASER FIFIELD TRIO: SLOW STREAM
FRASER Fifield’s folk-into-jazz trio with guitarist Graeme Stephen
and drummer Stu Ritchie create one of the most distinctive sounds on the
Scottish scene. Fifield’s soprano saxophone and low whistles carry
the melodic charge, but the overall impact is very much a group affair,
and the inventive interaction between the three musicians lies at the
heart of the music. Fifield supplies the bulk of the compositions, and
is developing into a writer of genuine stature.
Fraser
Fifield Trio playing live previously:
2004
(Tues 13th April (lunchtime) Lemon Tree Aberdeen (Rootin Aboot)
Wed 21st April - Henry's Jazz Cellar, Edinburgh
Sat 8th May - Bowhill Little Theatre, Selkirk
Thurs 13th May - Paisley Arts Centre
Sat 11th September - Woodend Arts Centre, Banchory
Mon 31st May - Lyth Arts Centre, nr Wick.
Tues 1st June - An Tobar, Tobermory.
Wed 2nd June - Astley Hall, Arisaig.
Thurs 3rd June - An Lanntair, Stornoway.
Fri 4th June - Universal Hall, Findhorn.)
Sat 5th June Highland Festival, Inverness
Sat 31st July Edinburgh Jazz Festival
Sat 11th September - Woodend Arts Centre, Banchory
Fri 17th Sept Hiarth O Knockrath Festival, Dumfriesshire
2005
Wed 16th February Edinburgh Folk Club, The Pleasance
Sat 26th March The Blue Lamp, Gallowgate, Aberdeen
Sun 27th March Henry's Jazz Cellar, Edinburgh (Ceilidh Culture)
9th to 14th April Baku International Jazz Festival, Azerbaijan
Fri 5th Aug Edinburgh Jazz Festival (w/Graeme Stephen Sextet)
Sat 13th Aug, 8.30 pm Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Sun 18th Sept Islay Jazz Festival
Mon 24th Oct Big Big World Festival, Glasgow
2006
3rd Oct Svendborg Denmark
2nd Oct Odense Denmark
1st Oct Federicia Denmark
30th Sept Assens Denmark
29th Sept Halkaer Denmark
20th Aug Fettes Jazz Festival, Edinburgh
13th Aug Edinburgh Book Festival
11th Aug Lochside Theatre, Castle Douglas
10th Aug Kirkcudbright Town Square
4th May Colegiata San Juan Bautista, Gijón, Asturies, Spain
8th April Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh. (duo with Graeme Stephen part of
Northern Streams)
12th April Rootin Aboot Festival, Lemon Tree, Aberdeen. with 'Flook'
17th Penicuik Arts Centre (duo with Graeme Stephen)
11th Universal Hall, Findhorn
10th Sunart Centre, Strontian
5th Helmsdale, Timespan Museum
4th Kingussie (details to follow)
3rd The Tolbooth, Stirling
2nd March An Lanntair, Stornoway
21st Jan Celtic Conections, Strathclyde Suite, Glasgow
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and some of the reviews in full:
Fraser Fifield Trio - Slow Stream, album launch concert
The Herald
Rob Adams March 29 2005
Fraser Fifield opined a couple of years ago that the music from his Honest
Water CD couldn't be gigged, he obviously wasn't looking into a crystal
ball.
Anyone arriving at Henry's in time to hear the album's title track at
the end of the first set would have heard not just an implied "oh,
yes it can" but clearly audible confirmation that Fifield has a trio
that can take that music and move it on. The material from their just-released
album, Slow Stream, which naturally featured more prominently here, confirms
this. And it's the collective will that's important here. The melodies
– with their basis in airs and dance tunes derived from or inspired
by the Scottish, Breton, Swedish and Eastern European traditions –
may emanate from Fifield's soprano saxophone and whistle, but each musician
has an equal role to play, and does so splendidly.
Guitarist Graeme Stephen's canny moving between frontline melody instrument,
groovy harmonic centring and bass string backbone positions, and drummer
Stuart Ritchie's customary astute blend of sensitivity and effervescence
allow a natural transition between composed melodies and freer, improvised
passages.
This proved particularly effective on Fifield's soprano saxophone setting
of the McCrimmon pibroch, Lament for the Children, which developed into
a bleak but beautiful, emotional tone poem. More light-hearted tunes found
Fifield giving full rein to his brilliantly articulate and intensely expressive
low whistle playing. Perhaps most impressive of all, though, was the tightness
they achieved on jigs and reels, proving that whistle, guitar and drums
can make up a power trio to rival more conventional line-ups – not
just for speed and precision but for genuine excitement, too.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Herald (Honest Water):
"The saxophonist, whistle player and piper with Salsa Celtica and
formerly of Old Blind Dogs steps out on his own and reveals himself as,
for the most part, a one-man band. And it's some band. Multi-tracking
saxophone sections and choruses of whistles as well as keyboards, percussion,
various bagpipes, and clarinet alongside tremendously creative solo playing,
Fifield comes over as Ormiston's contemporary answer to Storm-era
Moving Hearts and dispels any fears of technological suffocation or overkill.
Composed, constructed, and played with skill and ranging from Lament's
deeply felt Highland longing to Horo's East European gambolling with African
hi-life guitar (courtesy of Graeme Stephen), this is music with heart,
emotion, and tunes that the "repeat play" button was designed
for".
****************
www.folking.com (Honest Water):
"Straight in with the groove and what a groove! This is a nicely
paced (not too fast) tune titled Dark Reel that will hypnotically draw
the listener in with its combination of layered sounds. Fraser (for the
uninitiated) was the multi-instrumental whiz kid from Scotland s Old Blind
Dogs. Drawing on his extensive knowledge of various pipes including small,
border and highland he knows how to utilise them all without indulging
himself adding saxophones, keyboards, clarinet, acoustic guitar and even
percussion to the musical melting pot. I suppose in a way we re moving
into territory already broken by the likes of Moving Hearts, Nightnoise
and more recently Capercaillie and as far as I m concerned I can t get
enough of it. OK, so maybe I am into what many would say is elevator music
and if that is the case this one s surely headed for Heaven but (and I
know I m not in the minority here) that would be seen as detrimental to
the artist. You can t put a label to this kind of music and maybe that
s where Fraser might find it a little daunting as regards his marketing.
It's just that as an art form no one seems to know where to pigeonhole
this style of music. Crossing several barriers including Jazz, Funk and
Folk you can t quite put your finger on it - let s just leave it that
this is ultimately a recording of beauty that deserves a far wider audience
than it will attain in the folk market place. Considering there s not
a traditional track in sight, Fraser is a fine tunesmith and I for one
hope he succeeds in achieving his own goals as a musician and if there
were any festival organisers out there reading this review this music
would be great for a late night session. Go on - take a chance and buy
this recording".
Pete Fyfe
****************
Scotsman 25/03/03
Fraser Fifield Trio
The Tolbooth, Stirling
Support act Fraser Fifield, however, turned in a captivating performance.
Switching between soprano saxophone, whistles and Border pipes and backed
by guitarist Graham Stephen and drummer Stuart Ritchie, he showcased the
original material featured on his recent first solo album, Honest Water,
in a series of beautifully wrought and deeply felt dialogues between traditional,
jazz and world-music idioms. At once lyrical and radical, playful and
soulful, talented and innovative - it’s music that places Fifield
somewhere between Michael McGoldrick and Jan Garbarek.
*****************
BBC Celtic Roots website :
Fraser Fifield Trio
The Farr Hall, Farr near Inverness,
Saturday 22nd February 2003
The Fraser Fifield Trio, consisting of Fraser himself (whistle, small
pipes and saxophone), Graeme Stephen (bass) and Kris Drever (guitar),
appeared at Farr Hall courtesy of "Farr Traditional Music Concerts".
The concert was advertised as a double bill with that great gaelic singer
Ishbel MacAskill expected to do the opening stint and the Trio given the
task of completing the evening. Unfortunately, Ishbel had to call off
a few days before the concert and the Trio was faced with entertaining
an audience of eighty themselves. No problem!
Fraser Fifield does not bring a glib tongue onto stage. He does not have
an imposing stage presence nor does he entertain the audience with rehearsed
jokes and stories. All of that may develop some day. However, he is one
of the few musicians who can satisfy an audience without the need for
the variety that these jokes, stories, or even the occasional song, brings
to an event. Ably supported by Graeme and Kris, he can transfer from whistle
to saxophone and onto small pipes with a level of musicianship which is
quite stunning. It is all so seamless. No discernible change in quality.
Added to that the fact that he writes so much of his music, Fraser Fifield
is a quite unique talent and can keep an audience spell-bound all evening.
The Trio's music has a strong jazz influence but not at a level that
would offend the jazz-hating fraternity. Their music has variety and incorporates
numerous influences. One of the pieces they performed sought to reproduce
that unique haunting sound of Highland unaccompanied psalm singing. The
small pipes took the lead on this one and, for those of us acquainted
with that culture, it was not difficult to hear the presenter and untrained
voices coming through in the music. For one set of tunes Fraser was joined
on stage by his wife, Sarah-Jane, who is an accomplished fiddler in her
own right and for whom this trip to Farr was almost a return home to her
Inverness roots. The set they did was drawn from Scandinavian folk tunes
with a particular reference to Norway. The fiddle gave a nice bit of variety
to the evening's sounds.
The Trio finished off with the title track from Fraser's new album "Honest
Water", which refers to a spring that flows near his homeland at
Glen Tanar, and also Dark Reel which is a beautiful arrangement and displays
so well the versatility, writing ability and phenomenal musicianship of
Fraser Fifield. Well done, the Fraser Fifield Trio! A great evening.
Having demanded and received an encore, the Farr audience verdict was
"..yet another successful concert from one of the best venues in
the North". Always good music, the best acts and tremendous atmosphere.
Try it!!
******************
Scotland on Sunday :
"There are pipes of all sizes and a kitchen sink full of percussion
on this solo instrumental CD. Fifield also handles keyboard and acoustic
guitar, but if even if the album is home-made (in his own studio) it's
leagues ahead of most Scots pro studio recordings. The quality of the
playing, wide musical references, and the intensity of focus make it much
more Garbarek than Gaberlunzie".
*******************
The Scotsman (Honest Water):
"Fraser Fifield's debut album confirms that he is one of the most
exciting talents to emerge in Scottish Folk in recent times, as well as
one the most eclectic. He is a multi-instrumentalist, playing pipes, saxophones,
clarinet, whistles, keyboards, guitar, and ethnic percussion instruments
on this almost-solo album (Graeme Stephen or Malcolm Stitt contribute
additional guitar on four tracks). His ingenious fusion of Celtic, ethnic,
jazz and other idioms is contemporary rather than traditional in feel,
and includes a couple of excerpts from his "new voices" commission
for Celtic Connections in 2001".
****************
Inverness Courier (Honest Water):
"Multi-talented Fifield covers most of the musical families on this
self-produced album; pipes, keyboards, saxophones, clarinet, whistles
and guitar along with various examples of European and African percussion.
Fifield has more of an acoustic bent than the likes of Martin Bennet,
but his diverse influences and writing skills provide a broad canvas.
A touch of jazz here, pibroch and the precenting tradition of the Highland
kirk there, and the Balkan sounds of 'Horo' all demonstrate the extant
of his musical palette, making him sound like a one-man Moving Hearts"
'magic pipes' concert Rudolstadt... July '06
www.paythereckoning.com (Honest Water):
Fifeld, formerly of the much-lauded Wolfstone, Salsa Celtica and Old
Blind Dogs has been described by The Inverness Courier as "a one-man
Moving Hearts". Pay The Reckoning can think of no more apt description.
A multi-instrumentalist par extraordinaire, with a very diverse musical
palette, Fifield has created a lush soundscape, overlaying his Scottish
roots with a host of contemporary musical styles and influences. Jazz
undertones, elements of other world traditions and sampled sounds are
woven in and around his blend of traditional and "non-traditional"
instrumentation (e.g. Fifield makes extensive use of saxophones, whose
presence alongside pipes and whistles is a genuinely unusual and ear-opening
musical innovation). Those who took to the Moving Hearts experiment will
find much to delight in Fifield's ambitious project. However for those
who like their music "straight, no chaser", Fifield's work will
be heavier going. Fifield is undoubtedly aware that his work will be a
tad controversial. But no matter which side of the "purist/experimentalist"
fence you find yourself, you'll find it hard to deny the man's immense
musical talent. And, we would argue, you'll find it hard to deny his understanding
of the Scottish musical tradition. This is the foundation of the album,
on top of which the entire edifice stands. Well worth a listen. You may
well find yourself bowled over by music about which it's impossible to
be lukewarm!
***************
The Sunday Herald :
"To call Fraser Fifield a multi-instrumentalist risks giving altogether
too modest an impression. On his debut solo recording the 26-year-old
-- formerly of Old Blind Dogs, currently with Salsa Celtica -- juggles
more than a dozen different instruments including three varieties of bagpipes,
soprano and alto saxes, whistles, guitar, clarinet, keyboards and an array
of percussion implements, with just four tracks featuring guest accompaniment
on guitar.
This bedroom-produced, one-man-band methodology recalls Martyn Bennett's
first two albums. Its ambition is matched by Fifield's choice of self-penned
material. Honest Water's adventurous, sophisticated fusion of traditional
and contemporary idioms from Scotland and eastern Europe mixes well with
religious, jazz, ambient and dance music influences. Its organic, unregimented
feel, belying the level of technological wizardry involved, is similar
to Bennett's. Pipes, whistles and sax are Fifield's main tools, the sax
supplying a distinctive element in the mix, alternately in contrast and
luminous harmony with the rest of the melody frontline.
Repeated spins are required to appreciate the intricacies of these 12
soundscapes, some of which need a clearer sense of direction or overall
structure. At its best, however, as in the opening, Arabic-tinged Dark
Reel , the effervescent Horo and the brilliantly kaleidoscopic title tune,
the album resoundingly endorses his fast- growing reputation as a brilliantly
skilled and excitingly original talent. "
*****************
www.scotlandintune.com (Honest Water):
Multi-instrumentalist Fraser Fifield brings his prodigious talents to
well-deserved wider attention with this first solo release. After years
spent recording & touring with the likes of The Old Blind Dogs, Salsa
Celtica, Wolfstone & Mick West, Fraser's reputation is already well
established on sax, pipes & whistle, and the jazzy style of the music
on 'Honest Water' will come as no surprise to those familiar with his
previous musical involvements.
'Honest Water' provides a swirling stream of highly original musical
colour, relaxed in pace and ranging from very free, mature improvisations
in Fraser's own authentically traditional idiom, to the ingenious, haunting
and much-remarked-on 'Psalm'.
******************
it's just a big carry-on really....
******************
www.folkworld.de (Honest Water):
Fraser Fifield is a well known face in the Scottish music scene. The
young Scotsman is best known for his innovative Scottish folk saxophone
playing and as piper and whistle player. But he plays many more instruments...
The first time I recognized him as an outstanding musician was on the
1997 album 'right side o' the people...' by the Mick West band - on this
amazing album Fraser's saxophone playing to traditional style singing
was just great.
But lets talk about Fraser Fifields first solo album - and this really
is a solo album: Fraser has composed all the music on this album and he
even plays nearly all the instruments. Only on three tracks he is joined
by Graeme Stephen on electric guitar and on one on acoustic guitar by
Malcolm Stitt. Fraser plays: low whistle, soprano and alto saxophone,
small pipes, border pipes, highland pipes, keyboards, acoustic guitar,
clarinet and various percussion instruments including cajon, djembe, congas
and bodhran. Fraser is seldomly heard as a solo musician on this album,
normally you can hear Fraser playing many instruments at the same time
- the sound nevertheless sounds very much like a great band in full flight.
His compositions are great, a bit weired, some are really ear wigs. His
music is steeped in the traditions of Scotland - but it has many other
influences.
An innovative album of an innovative young musician. You surely will hear
much more of him.
*****************
The Herald :
('Traditions', for saxophone quintet, commissioned by Celtic Connections
Festival)
"conceived in five parts, 'Traditions' described a journey through
the Celtic lands of Galicia, Asturia, Brittany and into the tricky time
signatures of Bulgarian dance before capturing the gospelly righteousness
of Gaelic psalm singing.
With the former Old Blind Dog and current Salsa Celtica player's curved
soprano set against and interacting with two tenor, a baritone, and alto
saxophones, it featured some brilliantly observed writing, striking effective
chords and drones, and a liveness of execution by all five players that
brought to mind New York's 29th Street Saxophone Quartet gone native.
The Scandinavian finale, with its drones, foot stamps, and Fifield's
ducking, diving and dancing lines, brought to a hugely satisfying conclusion
a commission from a writer whose onstage reticence hides an astute compositional
sense and the ability to transfer private musical thoughts into a multicultural
blast for the listener".
*****************************
The Scotsman :
Fraser Fifield Trio, Farr Hall, near Inverness
(4 stars)
Fraser Fifield is currently best known for his work with bands such as
Old Blind Dogs and Salsa Celtica, but the release of his debut album late
last year and the formation of this new trio will cement his status as
a leader in his own right. Fifield's work is firmly rooted in traditional
music but he is equally conversant with jazz and a range of world-music
influences, all of which filter through in his playing and compositions.
That spread is also reflected in his choice of instruments, alternating
between whistle, border pipes and soprano saxophone. The more overtly
jazz-inflected side of his work emerged in compositions such as Honest
Water and The Dark Reel, but also on a brace of Irish jigs,
which pushed the music well into jazz's harmonic territory. Other sets
of reels, jigs and strathspeys stayed closer to their traditional forms.
He was accompanied by Graeme Stephen on hollow-bodied elctric guitar and
Kris Drever on acoustic guitar. Stephen's bright, high-note attack carried
a strong echo of African music, and dovetailed beautifully with Drever's
more conventional accompaniments. Fifield's wife, fiddler Sarah-Jane Fifield,
also joined him.
***************************************
The Irish World (Honest Water):
Fraser Fifield's debut album is simply beautiful. The multi-instrumentalist
is without doubt one of the most exciting talents to emerge onto the folk
scene in a while. His eclectic fusion of Celtic, jazz, ambient, dance
music is breathtaking. Playing over a dozen instruments on the album,
this 26 year old is a talent in the making.
Fifield began piping lessons when he was nine years old. It was the beginning
of his interest in music. Soon he began playing the whistle. The saxophone
closely followed. It was the saxophone that grabbed his attention though
and he studied the instrument at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and
Drama in Glasgow for three years. It was here he met up with the group
Wolfstone and played with them in the US.
It wasn't long after Fifield graduated that he began playing with the
North-East band Old Blind Dogs before he went on to play with Salsa Celtica,
playing Celtic Connections, Cambridge Folk Festival and Womad to name
but a few of the festivals. The brilliant musician has also been involved
in other projects when he was commissioned by the Celtic Connections Festival
and composed for saxophone quintet that reflected the different European
Folk Traditions. He also provided the soundtrack to a BBC/Discovery Natural
World documentary.
This is Fifield's debut album and his chance to prove he can go it alone.
He seems to have grabbed the chance with both hands, because this album
is a pure testimony to this young man's talent. His fluid sounds are an
absolute joy to listen to. The album was recorded in his own studio and
released on his own label and as a result is true to his own talent. An
album to simply sit back to, relax and let the music wash over you.
*****************
Irish Music Magazine (Honest Water):
Multi instrumentalist, Fraser Fifield is a veteran of many bands, from
the relatively traditional, Old Blind Dogs to the anything but, Salsa
Celtica. His solo debut is similarly wide ranging, despite being an unusually
personal production: Fraser wrote all the music, played almost all the
instruments, recorded and produced the album at home, and even released
it on his own label. He’s either amazingly talented or somewhat paranoid
– or both.
Talent is certainly here in abundance. The opening Dark Reel on pipes
and clarinet gets right under your skin with its swirling mysterious melody
line and deep down disturbing percussion. The gentler mood of Softly Spoken,
evokes warmth and intimacy, but there’s still a dark edge under the
sax and whistle tones. The low whistle on Misnomer’s reveals the
cool jazz side of Fraser’s music, and leads us into a triptych of
Middle Eastern influenced descriptive pieces with his now characteristic
muted sub-bass percussion. We return to more familiar territory with Velvet
Jig, still plenty of Balkan colour in the sax, but Bill Whelan would have
no problem recognising this as Irish. A rip-roaring Horo, full of Vladdish
verve contrasts with the slow sort of reel favoured by McGoldrick and
the Afro Celts, and then something completely different: a ghostly polyphonic
psalm in the Lewis style, real life mysticism to raise your neck hairs.
It’s back to cool jazz and hot whistling for the title track, Fraser’s
challenging compositions are an even match for his virtuosity, and this
tricky little tune trips off his fingertips as easily as rain off a cow.
The final track is more of a cadenza; an extended low whistle solo, just
to make the point that Fraser Fifield is a superfine whistle-player. Which
he is.
So if you can handle Balkan jazz on pipes and whistles, if you liked the
moody sax from Riverdance or Andy Irvine’s, East Wind album, I’d
say you’ll definitely go for Honest Water. I know I would, Available
from www.fraserfifield.com – where else.
Alex Monaghan
*******************
Sing Out! (Honest Water):
A freeform approach to Celtic-style tunes, arranged for soprano and alto
sax, small and border pipes, keyboard , various percussion and electric
guitar. Some very innovative arrangements; some great writing. Think Paul
Winter meets Boys of the Lough. Smoothly produced too.
********************
Kenny Mathieson
The Herald
14/06/03
Dunbeath Water and Beautiful North, Crown Church, Inverness.
.....There was nothing remotely unfocussed in the playing of Fraser Fifield's
Beautiful North, scored for his own soprano saxophone and two violins,
performed by Victoria Fifield and Greg Lawson.
Fifield is one of the most imaginative young musicians on the scene,
and his striking fusion of Scottish and Scandinavian folk traditions,
with classical and jazz influences proved highly effective.
*********************
from www.hi-arts.co.uk
Crown Church, Inverness
by James Ross
ONE IMPORTANT virtue of the Highland Festival is its policy of commissioning
new works from Scottish artists, and Thursday evening's concert in the
Crown Church in Inverness featured two such pieces, the instrumental composition
Beautiful North by Fraser Fifield and Dunbeath Water, an oratorio
written by Robert Davidson and set to music by William Gilmour.
Fifield's piece for soprano saxophone and two fiddles (played by Victoria
Fifield and Greg Lawson) proved to be an episodic treatment of a number
of brief motifs, which were worked at and developed with a comprehensive
and at times almost obsessive thoroughness. Celebrating the links between
the traditional idioms of Scotland and Scandinavia, the music incorporated
the sounds of a good-going Highland ceilidh with echoes of the Hardanger
fiddle.
However this inventive piece went far beyond these obvious elements to
introduce flavours of jazz, minimalism and even haunting echoes of the
Psalm-singing traditions of the Western Isles. Alternating lyrical, contemplative
sections in which the musical material was given more gentle treatment,
with spiky, syncopated reels of toe-tapping urgency, the trio held the
attention of a large and appreciative audience. This was a truly eclectic
performance crackling with energy and inventiveness, in which traditional
Scottish ornaments on the fiddles rubbed shoulders with the jazz-inspired
juxtaposition of alternative fingerings on the saxophone.
********************
The Scots Magazine (Honest Water):
What better way to accompany a drop or two of Scotland's finest than Honest
Water? In this case the refreshment and the pouring are by Fraser Fifield,
in a medley of unusual and offbeat tunes written by himself.
The tracks on this disc range from rollicking toe-tappers ("Dark
Reel", for example) to a psalm tune and a melody written for a lion,
late of Kabul Zoo. As if that were not enough, the man entertains on an
orchestra of instruments from whistles to a veritable pantechniconful
of pipes, to say nothing of "various percussion instruments".
In this extraordinary album with its atmosphere of smoky jazz overlaid
on the sharply-etched chiaroscuro of the Scottish psyche, the man from
Old Blind Dogs, Salsa Celtica and Bag O' Cats holds the attention from
the initial urgent beat to the last dying chord. Particularly gripping
is the Psalm track, an amazing and evocative portrait of traditional Scottish
- or limited to Gaelic, nowadays - psalmody, hauntingly translated from
the vocal.
Alasdair MacLean
Dirty Linen (Honest Water):
To describe Fraser Fifield as a Scottish piper would be accurate but
inadequate. Starting his career with a stint in the Old Blind Dogs in
the late 1990s, Fifield has gone on to a number of different projects
that combine his talents on pipes, whistles and saxophones. In some ways,
he is like a fusion of Hamish Moore and Dick Lee in terms of instrumentation,
though his music - and nearly all the music here is performed and arranged
by Fifield - takes in a much broader set of influences from Africa and
the Caribbean. In some ways, it reminds me of the early recordings of
Nightnoise and the way the group's music was clearly related to but distinct
from, the Bothy Band. Fifield has a similar musical sensibility, grounded
in folk music but also well versed in jazz and blessed with the skill
and imagination to let the music take him where it will, well beyond the
confines of usual genres.
and if you managed to read all that, a little distraction might now be
pleasant so here's Angus waking up after driving home overnight from a
gig...
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