Donna Long: Handprints

DONNA LONG: HANDPRINTS

Donna Long: piano

Jesse Smith, Yvonne Kane, James Kelly: fiddles

Billy McComiskey: accordion

Liz Knowles: fiddle, viola

Donna Long's name is probably familiar to most. She began getting recognition for her piano playing as the accompanist for the great Washington-DC-based fiddle player Brendan Mulvihill, with whom she recorded a couple of albums, and has been in recent years a member of the successful band Cherish the Ladies. A dexterous player with a deep knowledge of the idiom, Long is at ease performing Irish dance tunes on the piano with full ornamentation, as the great Eleanor Kane once did in Chicago--although once in a while Long throws in a jazzy blue note or two which adds to the music tinges of a more modern, fusion-like sound. The performances are especially compelling on those couple of tracks where she is joined by her son Jesse Smith, as well as Yvonne Kane and James Kelly, all formidable fiddle players. On occasion, however, her playing, particularly of her complicated arrangements of airs, tends to become a bit too busy for my tastes. The album closes with a lovely tune Long composed as a musical tribute to the movement for saving Redwood trees, a track on which she is joined by Billy McComiskey (accordion) and Liz Knowles (fiddle, viola).

Rating: *** 1/2

Price: $16.99