Bob Abrams: A Fool's Advice

BOB ABRAMS: A FOOL'S ADVICE

Bob Abrams: button accordion, mandolin, octave mandolin

Roger Burridge: fidde

Brad Hurley: flute

Sarah Bauhan: flute

Andy Woolf: fiddle

Peter Barnes: piano

David Surette: guitar, octave mandolin

Mark Murray: guitar

Kent Allyn: piano, fretless bass

Paul Henle: percussion

A delightful new album featuring New England musicians playing Irish traditional music in most convincing manner. New Hampshire resident Bob Abrams, on C#/D box, mandolin, and octave mandolin, is joined by the excellent fiddle player Roger Burridge, Brad Hurley and Sarah Bauhan on flute, David Surette on guitar and octave mandolin, Peter Barnes on piano, and a few others. Except for a set of Norwegian-American waltzes, one of Finnish-American polkas, and a Scottish air (learned from Seamus and Manus McGuire though), the material is Irish and performed Irish-style. The music is well played at a leisurely pace, combining old chestnuts, "The Burnt Old Man" or "The Trip to Durrow" for instance, with rarely heard gems like Paddy O'Brien's jig "The Coming of Spring" (one of my favorites on the album). Abrams' accordion playing is not virtuosic but it is more than competent and it definitely has the right feel and energy--and I happen to be a sucker for that C#/D sound. Surette's octave mandolin and guitar accompaniments are tasteful and support without intruding, which in my book is very good. Peter Barnes's piano work, with its trademark knack for finding unusual harmonies, is the one element here that reminds me most of New England contra music, not in any overpowering way though.

Rating: ***

Price: $15.99