Best whistle music I have heard in many years, Fraser is a maveric. Whistles are for many genres of music” - Phil Hardy of Kerrywhistles

Youtube

This was the finest context for Fifield’s talents I have heard" (The Herald, Jan 2019)” - Keith Bruce

Herald, Scotland

This intriguing and at times magical album is the result of piper and whistle player Fraser Fifield’s Creative Scotland-funded visit to Argentina, where he collaborated with Walther E Castro, exponent of the Argentinian accordion – the bandoneon – guitarist Quique Sinesi and double-bassist Mono Hurtado. The results are fascinating and frequently lusciously toned. Fifield’s whistle playing is as peerlessly avian as ever, as in South Atlantic Seven or in three beguiling but frustratingly brief improvisatory fragments. Throughout the album, the bandoneon, guitar and Hurtado’s bass contrast nicely with Fifield’s playing. Accordion and whistle sound over stealthy guitar and bass in Remembrance, while Border pipes shrill over rippling guitar in Gaita y Bandoneon and pick up tempo in the increasingly animated Cordoba Canntaireachd. At times, though, some of these improvisations sound a bit tentative. Jim Gilchrist” - Jim Gilchrist

Scotsman

When it comes to musical innovation in Scottish music the name Fraser Fifield frequently come up in conversation. As Neil pointed out in his Celtic Connections review for The Big Music Society series which aimed to help find a place for Piobaireachd in a modern setting, Fraser may be well known for bringing the traditional reels, jigs and strathspeys of Scotland to the soprano saxophone, but he trained first as a piper. It’s here her returns, along with the low whistle, for his latest album. On In Buenos Aires, Fraser plays Low Whistle and Bagpipes.  As the album title suggests, it was recorded in Argentina where he was joined by three of the most highly regarded exponents of New Tango: Walther E. Castro, Quique Sinesi and Mono Hurtado on bandoneon, guitar and double bass. Scottish traditional music is no stranger to fusion with other musical cultures and genres. As proven by the likes of Salsa Celtica, Shooglenifty, Peatbog Faeries, Jim Sutherland, Martyn Bennett and numerous others…it was destined to travel and has shapeshifted and surprised us along the way. In Buenos Aires is no exception, it’s a beautiful album, whether it’s the remarkable interplay of low whistle and guitar on the three Improvisation tracks or the wondrous jazz infused Vals Socialista finale this is an album that opens the door ever so wider on each listen revealing depths which unveil a musical relationship that was surely predestined". In Buenos Aires is available via Bandcamp now in Digipack 4 panel case with original art by Victoria Fifield. Don’t miss out: https://fraserfifield.bandcamp.com/album/in-buenos-aires” - Alex Gallagher

folkradio.co.uk

FRASER Fifield wasn’t to know when he began playing the chanter as a schoolboy in Aberdeenshire that it would open the door to much more than playing the Highland bagpipes...." ” - Rob Adams

HERALD

”Årets konsert”: Knut Reiersrud, Ale Möller, Eric Bibb, Tuva Syvertsen, Aly Bain, Fraser Fifield, Olle Linder.Stallet, Stockholm, 25 februari 2016 Stallet har gett denna kväll den föga blygsamma rubriken ”årets konsert”, vilket onekligen ger artisterna en hel del att leva upp till. Därför är det förvånande att kvällens kapellmästare, norske gitarristen Knut Reiersrud, redan efter en låt berättar att detta i själva verket är en slags repetition inför publik. Den legendariska konsertserien Jazz at the Philharmonic har återuppstått, numera i Berlin med producenten Siggi Loch (i Sverige mest känd för att hans skivbolag ACT är hemvist åt en mängd svenska jazzartister). Loch bjöd in Reiersrud att göra en konsert med utgångspunkten ”Celtic roots”, och tillsammans med Ale Möller har gitarristen samlat ihop denna septett med medlemmar från fyra länder. Gruppen har repat i två dagar inför Berlinspelningen om ett par veckor och har nu alltså världspremiär på Stallet, mitt i repetitionsperioden. På scenen finns bluesmaestron Eric Bibb, som tillsammans med Möller och Reiersrud häromåret gav ut ett av undertecknad hyllat album. Han bjuder på såväl klassiker från bland annat Leadbellys repertoar som sin egen Right on time. Från Möllers trio deltar slagverkaren och kontrabasisten Olle Linder, som är den enda som inte gör soloinsatser men ständigt står för stensäkra komp. Kvällens andra vokalist är Tuva Syvertsen, till vardags frontfigur i Valkyrien Allstars och även ypperlig hardingfelespelare. Från Shetland kommer fiolmästaren Aly Bain, som gett ut några fina duoskivor med Möller, och från Skottland Fraser Fifield som spelar sopransax, säckpipa och low whistle. Ett riktigt stjärngäng, minst sagt! Sättningen varierar för varje låt, det finns omkring 30 instrument på scenen och de sju musikerna spelar i många olika mindre konstellationer, från duo och uppåt. Shetländska reels blandas med hallingar och blues, och ofta sätts flera låtar ihop till sviter. Reiersrud håller sig mest till elgitarr, ofta försedd med delay genom vilket han ibland skapar loopade bordunmattor på ett mycket smakfullt sätt, medan Ale Möller sin vana trogen växlar mellan bland annat mandola, flöjter och dragspel, och även snyggt stämningsskapande spel på hackbräde och sordinerad trumpet. Tuva Syvertsen sjunger en norsk variant av medeltidsballaden De två systrarna, och kompad av Möller på mandola spelar hon hardingfeleklassikern Norafjells, vilken drar ner kvällens kanske längsta applåd. Bain har plockat med sig några shetländska låtar som sägs härstamma från ögruppens troll (!) och kapellmästaren har tagit med sig några norska dansmelodier. Det är faktiskt först i kvällens sista nummer, St James infirmary blues, som alla sju artisterna spelar tillsammans, varpå de som extranummer gör en vacker tolkning av Morning has broken. Trots endast två dagars rep har de sytt ihop en drygt 90 minuter lång konsert med mycket stor variation. Så gör de skäl för epitetet ”årets konsert”? Det går givetvis knappast att avgöra när tio månader av året återstår, men detta är i varje fall en riktigt stark kandidat. text: Rasmus Klockljungbild: Magnus Ragnhäll” - Rasmus Klockljung

Lira.se

Big Music Society: Fraser Fifield Trio – Celtic Connections Review by NEIL MCFADYEN on 5 FEBRUARY, 2016 in FOLK FESTIVAL REVIEWSLIVE REVIEWS In the second part of The Big Music Society’s evening of music that aims to help find a place for Piobaireachd in a modern setting (read part one on Blarvuster here), Fraser Fifield takes to the stage. Fraser may be best known for his innovative work in bringing the traditional reels, jigs and strathspeys of Scotland to the soprano saxophone, but he trained first as a piper. Having developed his unique approach to saxophone with the likes of Wolfstone, Old Blind Dogs and Salsa Celtica; Fraser began recording music under his own name and released his first solo album, Honest Water, in 2002. His skills as a multi-disciplined, multi-instrumentalist/composer were immediately apparent and, ever since, Fraser has continued to create thought provoking and highly individual music, as well as take part in countless significant collaborations. For The Big Music Society, though, Fraser admits he’s revisiting ‘this music’ (meaning the Piobaireachd) after some time. His return to the Big Music takes form in a re-working of a series of standard Piobaireachd that’s very different from, but just as individual as, Blarvuster’s approach. To begin with, he’s created a trio that’s more used to playing jazz, bringing in Mario Caribe on double bass and Graeme Stephen (one of the few guests on that first solo album) on guitar. The result is a gentle opening with Glengarry’s March, where Fraser’s low whistle is joined by Mario’s bowed bass to open, supplemented in time by Graeme’s light, jazzy tones and some live looping from Fraser. The soft sounds continue with The Old Woman’s Lullaby, a sleepy guitar/bass combo and some more advance effects from Fraser’s low whistle – these are never understated, but neither are they purely decorative. Lament for the Children was perhaps the most significant piece on offer. Fraser takes to his soprano sax initially before a phase of intricate improvisations on guitar and whistle lead back to the main theme. Tension builds from bass and guitar, for which Fraser provides a very eloquent match on small pipes, and takes the piece toward a more intense period than many are used to in a lament. With the alterations in guitar sound and the reedy soulfulness of the pipes it almost sounds North African, meanwhile Mario steadfastly and subtly gives it all he has on the bass. Other highlights of the set include the most soulful of soprano sax arrangements for Catherine’s Lament; a favourite of Fraser’s – Lament for the Viscount of Dundee, a plaintive low whistle among some mighty guitar embellishments.   Fraser reminds us that innovation is far from a 21st Century phenomenon in the piping world. His own Piobaireachd tutor, Dr Jack Taylor is a former president of the Piobaireachd Society and at one time hosted a piping program on Radio Scotland. In the 1980’s he asked Fraser to join him on a show – with his soprano sax. The selection was MacDougall’s Gathering and the same melody closed tonight’s performance, with Fraser taking to his low whistle on this occasion, in an intoxicating conclusion. Fraser’s been asked to look again at the Piobaireachd and place it in the context of his own music. The sax seems to lend itself perfectly to Fraser’s improvisations – or Fraser makes sure it does, and proves these ancient melodies still have a place in a modern setting. An important aspect of Celtic Connections is pushing boundaries. Not just the boundaries of what constitutes Celtic music, but the limits we impose on the music, whether as artists or as audience, whatever its origins. Fraser Fifield helps to highlight, in all his work, just how adaptable our indigenous music can be in the right hands – and Fraser’s are definitely the right hands for the job. Review by: Neil McFadyen   ” - neil macfadyen

folk radio uk

PIPER and saxophonist Fraser Fifield is building musical links around the world, writes Jim Gilchrist Edinburgh Folk Club, New York’s Carnegie Hall, Mumbai, Buenos Aires... it’s all grist to the mill for piper and saxophonist Fraser Fifield, whose diary has been packed since the turn of the year. Having cropped up at least three times during last month’s Celtic Connections – including the ecstatically received 80-piece orchestral tribute to Martyn Bennett which opened the festival – he spent a week at the beginning of this month playing in India with renowned percussion guru Zakir Hussain, while the day I spoke to him he was due that night to play a gig at Edinburgh Folk Club in his long-standing partnership with folk-jazz guitarist Graeme Stephen. ....Read more: http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/culture/music/world-stage-beckons-for-piper-fraser-fifield-1-3697592#ixzz3wmMUiDNO ” - jim gilchrist

— scotsman

Esotero(Tanar)In his liner note, Fraser Fifield revels in the freedom he and guitarist Graeme Stephen feel from not having to categorise their music. That's easy for him to say. For those who are unfamiliar with Fifield, he's a piper from the Aberdeenshire tradition who has also mastered the low whistle and soprano saxophone, in a way that allows his playing to flow from traditional-sounding airs into the realms of jazz and fairly free improvisation. In Graeme Stephen, he has the ideal partner and, over 16 years, they have forged an understanding that means wherever one goes the other will join him intuitively, be that into a moving lament or the kind of electric guitar and Border pipes ferment witnessed on Chase It Catch It that, if he were that sort of bloke, might see Fifield with his foot up on a monitor, posing like a heavy metal hero. At heart, Fifield is a melodist and his gifts as such are here in abundance - filed under adventure.Rob Adams” - Rob Adams

— Sunday Herald

One can legitimately BE wary of "creations" set up in a Relatively short time at the request of a festival That Often end with scores in the nose Understandable tension. There-have-been examples in the past disappointing. One pitfall Avoided by the quartet Gathered around the saxophonist, flautist and piper Fraser Fifield. The Scots cam up with a project based in large part on traditional melodies (so Relatively easy) by Focusing Primarily on the formatting, orchestration, sound processing of Each room. In a spirit Often quite close to the rock-music "Celtic", the quartet HAS managed to invent a sound and release energy ict sans too much restraint. Complicity, collusion Some-even-have Developed Seems to entre the three French and Scots. Benjamin Flament (vibraphone) and Gilles Coronado ( guitar) operate in close universe and the connections betweens Them Were easy to suit les. Etevenard Gildas (drums) has regular interactions est entre improvisation and traditional music in cooperation with the Hungarian saxophonist Akosh S., All which allowed _him_ To Be Quickly at ease in . this context His mastery of traditional instruments (the flute - a kind of fife serious - and bagpipes) accompagné by a Measured dosage effects pedals, Fraser Fifield Creates a haunting atmosphere is punctuated the sounds of the vibraphone "Flament way" (that is Benjamin now a specialist instrument!) and a guitar rockaillante Gilles Coronado very attentive and inspired. The metric is fixed with authority and flexibilité by a drummer Who folded the effects of metallic colors by the use of various percussion. A beautiful work explored the original Ways That while remaining perfectly reachable and available curious ears. It Would Be a shame not to continue on the path That Is emery. Hopefully ...” - /

culture.fr