Travels in Music: Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas, and Hanneke Cassel

Ports of Call is an appropriate name for a recording by Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas. Both their personal histories and their work as a duo include many points of the compass.

Fraser is a fiddle player, composer, and master teacher, a native of Scotland who has been long resident in California. Haas, whose instrument is the cello, grew up in California, studied in New York, lived for some years in Quebec, and is based in the Boston area.

That all comes into play through the music they have chosen and composed for Ports of Call. They explore tunes from Sweden, Norway, Galicia, Scotland, Finland, and France. There are original compositions by both of them, as well.

The Silver and Stuff set includes the title tune, a Norwegian bridal march, as well as a Swedish polska and a Norwegian hailing. A departure, you might think, for a pair best known for their interpretations and compositions of the music of Scotland? There are Celtic connections through long history of trade and travel between the Celtic lands and the Nordic ones, though, and Fraser and Haas are both always adventurous travelers across the world of music as well. These march into dance melodies and and then into another sort of dance in will have dancers twirling in your imagination. The music works both in idea and in melody.

That is also true of the reflective piece Walzska for Su-a, which Haas composed for friend and fellow cellist Su-a Lee while Lee was on a visit to Montreal. There’s a hint of love for the dark tones of Nordic cello in this piece, as well as, just maybe, a trace of Quebecois dance.

Lively melodies fill the Keeping Up with Christine set, which includes a tune Fraser wrote while in Adelaide, Australia, and named for that city. The second tune honors Fraser’s sister, who, Fraser writes in the album’s notes, “has achieved so much as a leader and instigator in the field of education and beyond.”

It is to the familiar place of Scotland they return for the Freedom Come All Ye set, in which that well known song of political comment by Hamish Henderson is imagined anew as an instrumental piece, and paired with an original jig by Haas.

There are more adventures in music to be found on Ports of Call, all of them part of the continuing conversation Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas create with their instruments. They chose these pieces to convey stories both original and traditional, which they do with understanding, clarity, and grace.

Hanneke Cassel knows well how to bring the qualities of clarity, understanding, and grace to her music, as well. A native of the US west coast, Cassel began her fiddling days in western swing. Before long, though, she was drawn into the music of Scotland. One of her teachers along her way into the tunes of Scotland and other Celtic musics was Alasdair Fraser.

Long a resident of the Boston area, Cassel has chosen to call her most recent recording Trip to Walden Pond. There’s a personal connection to that place for Cassel, and there are tunes on the album that connect to Kenya, China, Cape Breton, Scotland, and other places too. Cassel loves to compose tunes, and she also loves the work and the people of Many Hopes. That is a place in Kenya which, as she explains in her notes for the album, “rescues children from poverty and abuse, educating them to lead the next generation with justice and love.” To assist in raising funds to support Many Hopes, Cassel offered to compose tunes in return for donations. She asked donors to tell her their stories. Many of the tunes for Trip to Walden Pond arose from those stories.

Trip to Walden Pond is an adventure in contemporary Scottish American music. Cassel is known as much for her joyful personality and quick wit as she is for her thoughtful and reflective side: all of this comes in to her composing and playing. The Conchas Chinas set brings together three pieces whose melodies flow one into another with quiet strength. Coilsfield House is a tune from Scotland’s tradition: it was composed by famed late eighteenth century fiddler Nathaniel Gow. Cassel dedicates the tune to Carol Ann Wheeler, the teacher back in Oregon from whom she first heard it and the woman who, she says, first taught her to love the fiddle.

The Buddy’s Strathspey set is, as you might think if you know of strathspeys, a lively set which may have you dancing yourself or at least tapping your toes. The title tune of the set is one Cassel composed in honor of the late Buddy MacMaster, a legend in Cape Breton fiddle playing with whom she studied. The set includes two tunes she learned from another top class Cape Breton fiddle player, Jerry Holland. A set that celebrates an intricate dialogue between fiddle and piano, These 30 Years (for Jennifer) frame Cassel’s fiddle with piano played by longtime musical collaborator Dave Wiesler.

There are many more tunes on Trip to Walden Pond, ones that will take you from celebrating to dancing to reflecting. Cassel does not sing or speak a word yet the voice of her fiddle speaks eloquently of all these stories. Among them is the one inspired by that trip to Walden Pond.

That is a favorite place for this New England based artist.The tune itself is a lively reel that is based in Scotland while giving an nod now and then to bluegrass and Americana influences. On this tune and across the music of the album you will notice the creative work of Mike Block on cello. Block is part of the Grammy winning Silk Road Ensemble, and is respected as an innovative teacher and performer. One day, Cassel wanted to show Walden Pond to her longtime friend Block. The day after that visit, Block proposed. Soon after, she began writing the tune. Not long after that, the idea for the album began to circle around that piece.

You might also want to listen out for a tune on Ports of Call from Fraser and Haas -- it’s called Hanneke’s Bridal March.

You may also wish to see
Abundance from Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas.
For Reasons Unseen: Hanneke Cassel
Cathie Ryan: The Farthest Wave on which Hanneke Cassel plays a lovely fiddle break on the title track
Sounds of Cape Breton: Mary Jane Lamond and Wendy MacIsaac
A different version of Freedom Come All Ye: Robyn Stapleton sings the song, backed by Skippinish

Waterfall in Skye photograph by Steelogic; performer photographs by Kerry Dexter. Thank you for respecting copyright.

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Abundance: Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas

Abundance: that is the name Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas have chosen for their most recent recording. It is also an idea which informs the tunes they have composed, selected, and gathered for the project.

Fraser plays the fiddle: Haas is a cellist -- the wee fiddle and the big fiddle, as they sometimes call it.

The tunes encompass both traditional pieces and original ones. All are based in the music that flows from Scotland, with, at times, hints and flavours of other lands and other styles included, from jazz to classical to Cape Breton (which, yes, flows from Scotland too, but has its own voice).

What’s especially engaging here is the level of musical conversation between the bright lines of the fiddle and the dark rhythms of the cello, balanced always, turning and dancing and leading down paths expected and unexpected. The opening track, called The Corrie Man, is a tune from Arran which invites visions of lively step dancers, while the pairing of Neil Gow’s Wife and The Old Reel brings in a tinge of classical ideas. There are four tunes which are part of Connie’s Suite -- a commission for a long time friend's birthday which included elements of dance and place important to the honoree, including the intriguingly titled -- and played -- Ouagadougou Boogie. This turns out to be a really fine mix of Celtic, jazz, and African elements, a suggestion of a not so Scottish place place in Africa that’s near Timbuktu.

This is followed on by Braigh Lochiall, which evokes the heart of the Highlands of Scotland, Another tune, The Referendum was composed by Fraser to celebrate the upcoming vote (the referendum vote on Scotland;s independence is about ten days away at this writing) and in honour of Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond’s visit to his fiddle course at Sabhal Mor Ostaig on the Isle of Skye.

The musical conversations between Fraser on fiddle and Haas on cello center of the music on Abundance. They have invited friends into the story too, though -- several of them musicians you have met here before along the music road. Hanneke Cassel is on piano, James Macintosh handles percussion, Corey DiMario is on bass, Donald Shaw adds accordion, Brittany Haas joins in on fiddle Stefan Amidon is also percussion, Kai Welch and Oscar Utterström sit in on horns. This varied grouping of talents is particularly in evidence on the closing track of the sixteen on the disc, called The Kelburn Brewer.

In their notes, Fraser and Haas remark on the collaboration and community they’ve encountered as they follow the big fiddle and the wee one in their travels. Musical connection is, they suggest, part of the true idea of abundance,. They conclude with this wish: “So here’s to a healthy flourishing of new ideas amongst an open, questioning, listening synergistic group of people that honour the acts of creating and sharing. This album is both a tribute and a thank you to the people we meet along the way. It is a celebration of music and community and possibilities. To the spirit of Abundance!”

Photographs of Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas are by Kerry Dexter. They were made at the Celtic Connections Festival with permission of the festival, the artists, and the venue, and are copyrighted. Thank you for respecting this.

You may also wish to see
Highlander's Farewell: Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas
Hanneke Cassel: For Reasons Unseen
Scotland's Music: Nicola Benedetti: Homecoming -- A Scottish Fantasy

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Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas: Valley of the Moon Reel

In there work, fiddle player Alasdair Fraser and cellist Natalie Haas frequently play music from the Scottish tradition, reviving the centuries past tradition of fiddle and cello pairings. They also on occasion play music from Cape Breton, Spain, and other parts of the Celtic diaspora.

Then there are the times when they play music that one or another of them has composed. That’s what is going on here, as they offer Fraser's Valley of the Moon Reel.





The Valley of the Moon in the title gives the nod to Fraser’s fiddle camp of the same name, In California. Respected for his encouraging and inspiring style of teaching as well as his playing, Fraser has camps in Spain and Scotland as well, at which Haas also teaches.

you may also wish to see

Highlander's Farewell: Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas
Scottish music a different way: The Unusual Suspects
Hanneke Cassel: For Reasons Unseen

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Fiddle Masters in action on dvd

There is nothing quite like the experience of being present in person for a concert of music, whether it be music you love, a musicians who is well known to you you, or a musical adventure into something you’ve not heard.

That said, high quality, thoughtfully shot, well recorded, and well edited taping of such concerts offer a quality experience too. That’s definitely what’s going on with Fiddle Masters Concert Series, Volume 3.

There are twenty four sets taken from five concert recorded at the Violin Shop in Nashville, Tennessee. Players who take center stage include Casey Driessen, whose eclectic style crosses bluegrass, folk, jazz, and other things of his own invention, Daniel Carwile, a multi instrumentalist and educator who shows off is contest winning style on a series of rags and a haunting take on Midnight on the Water, Gabe Witcher, who is also a contest veteran and a current member of the hot acoustic group The Punch Brothers, and
Hanneke Cassel, former Scottish style national fiddle champion who offers fiery Scottish tunes and her own inspired compositions. Cellist Natalie Haas adds her unique style of rhythm on the cello to accompany several of Cassel’s tunes, and teams up with her sister Brittany for a medley of tunes from Norway. Young player Tatiana Hargreaves adds a classy take on the folk standard Pretty Saro, and joins up with Alex Hargreaves for Dusty Miller.

The Violin Shop is a place where musicians often meet up, a place where they know they can find quality instruments and get work done on the ones they already treasure, too. So it was a natural thing when the shop’s owners added an small space for performance to the place. That’s where these concerts where shot, and well done they are. Whether you are a player yourself, a fan on one or more of these artists, or just enjoy fine acoustic music, Fiddle Masters Concert Series, Volume 3 is well worth your time.

you may also wish to see
Music Road: Three Fiddle CDs for Fall
Music Road: Highlander's Farewell: Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas

Highlander's Farewell: Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas

Time was, several centuries ago when musical conversation between fiddle and cello defined the beat of popular dance music in Scotland. In recent years, Alasdair Fraser and natalie Haas have picked up that conversation. Keeping tradition in mind, they have taken it in new directions, too based in their own creativity and willingness to trust their ability to do that.

On their album Highlander's Farewell, they offer a musical journey which moves from the Highlands of Scotland to the lowlands, to Ireland, to Appalachia in the southern United States, to California, to Cape Breton, Spain, and back again. The title track is a strathspey which opens a four tune set, a set which finds the tune itself taking a trip from the Scottish Highland to Ireland and over to the Appalachian mountains. You can almost see the smokey mist which often pervades the air in the Highlands through the opening notes of the strathspey. Picking up its steps a bit as a reel and then a jig in Ireland, in the hands of Fraser and Haas it finds its way to the southern mountain of the United States as a lively breakdown. The Jig Runrig set brings things back with fast paced dance to Scotland. Two tunes by Scottish composer Nathaniel Gow take things on a quieter turn, as they are laments. A pipe hornpipe from the Uists in the Hebrides is paired with a contemporary tune from the work of the ever inventive piper Gordon Duncan. There are three original tunes by Fraser on the disc, among them McLaughlin’s Strathspey, which he wrote as a wedding gift for two friends. There is a set of Galician tunes, a classical sounding touch with La Sansonette, and Gloomy Winter’s Noo Awa, a tune in which you may hear the echoes of the melody of several familiar songs.

There are thirteen sets in all, each flowing naturally from the other and with the brighter notes from Fraser’s fiddle being framed by and then framing the darker sound of the cello. Haas and Fraser trade back and forth with rhythm and melody, creating an always engaging and fascinating journey. They are supported by fine musical friends, as well, including Hanneke Cassel in piano and fiddle, Dennis Cahill on guitar, Brittany Haas, Martin Hayes, and Bruce Molsky on fiddle, and others. It is, however, the connection between fiddle and cello which centers the music, inviting listeners along on a journey well worth the taking, and well worth the taking more than once.

aside: I had the chance to see Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas -- and a few special guests-- play this music at a concert during Celtic Connections a few months back. more on that evening to come.

you may also wish to see
Music Road: Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas: In the Moment
Music Road: Scottish music a different way: The Unusual Suspects
Music Road: Celtic Connections 2011:first look

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here is a way to do that, through PayPal. Note that you do not have to have a PayPal account to do this.Thank you.

Hanneke Cassel: For Reasons Unseen

For Reasons Unseen

Hanneke Cassel talks about the world through her fiddle. As she’s grounded in Scottish style fiddle playing (she the former US champion in the style, among other things) that world often includes Scotland seen in various ways, from traditional tunes to her own new ones. There are some of each on this recording

Cassel is also a world traveler with her fiddle. In the past she’s written about the Red Sox and and rural Tennessee, as well as Ireland and pop movie heroes, all without saying a word, mind you. Here she offers, among other things, tunes for a friend’s wedding, a sister’s birthday, a lullaby, a tune called the The Goat Whisperer, and a tune and song learned on her travels in China. A mixed bag, sounds like, but what it actually sounds like is a lively story and an unfolding conversation where you’re eager to hear the next way things will turn.

If you’ve heard Cassel play in person, or listened to one of her earlier albums, you’ll know she offers a sure touch, vibrant energy, strong faith, and a sense of humor through her music, and if you’ve yet to make her acquaintance, this album is a fine place to begin. She’s just been on a trip to Kenya, where she shared tunes and songs with the people at One Home, Many Hopes. Tunes to come from that, as well, no doubt.

Meantime, every track on this recording is well worth more than one listen. Especially take note of Blackberry Festival Footrace, The Crane Estate, The Dusky Meadow set, and For Reasons Unseen/Rong Hua. Musicians sitting in with Cassel include Natalie Haas, Christopher Lewis, Alasdair Fraser, and Brittany Haas.

you may also wish to see

Music Road: voices: Hanneke Cassel

Music Road: Hanneke Cassel and Christopher Lewis: Calm the Raging Sea

Music Road: Cathie Ryan: the farthest wave

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here is a way to do that, through PayPal. Note that you do not have to have a PayPal account to do this.Thank you.

Steve Johnson: Lowlands

Lowlands


Steve Johnson is a storyteller. That’s apparent from the first lines of the first song on his new CD, Lowlands. That first song is The Labouring Man’s Daughter, a ballad that’s traveled in varied forms across England, Ireland, and the Appalachian Mountains of the United States. It opens the door to a gathering of songs, both familiar and less so, that have at their heart the power of story, and the power of connection.

Johnson usually likes to share these songs through informal sessions around his home base in the Bronx, New York. These are stories meant to be told, reflected upon, perhaps embellished and retold as they have been over time, stories drawn from Irish, Scottish, English and American folk music. There are a dozen of those, along with two songs whose composers are known, one a poem from the 1860s and another from the 1930s. What they all share is Johnson’s ability to express narrative through rich tone, thoughtful phrasing, and clear understanding of the lyrical and melodic ideas of the song he chooses. Though his back up cast is a stellar one, including Greg Anderson (who also produced the project), Lisa Gutkin, Sara Milonovich, Eamon O’Leary, and Natalie Haas, it’s Johnson’s voice and interpretations which center the album. Whatever your taste in music, if you enjoy good singing you’ll find much to like here.

Outstanding tracks include Wake Up Little Maggie, Molly Bawn, Blackwater Side, and The Rocks of Bawn.

you may also want to see

Ian Tyson: Yellowhead to Yellowstone

Jeff Talmadge : At Least That Much Was True

John Doyle: Wayward Son

cathie ryan: the farthest wave

now playing: Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas: In the Moment

Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas In the Moment


It’s a compelling conversation between two musicians through their instruments, this second collaboration between fiddler Alasdair Fraser and cellist Natalie Haas The music is at times a bit more laid back than the driving stuff on that earlier recording, but that only adds interest -- and there’s more than enough fire to keep any Celtic music fan happy. Fraser’s a fiddler, from Scotland, an acknowledged master and gifted teacher; Haas is an American cellist whose training includes both classical music and Celtic. Fraser wrote many of the pieces here, including the high powered opener, Valley of the Moon Reel, and the lively and thoughtful tribute to his dad which closes the collection, Rob Fraser’s Welcome to San Francisco. Hanneke Cassel, whose work you’ve met before here at Music Road, adds graceful piano to the latter track. Of the dozen other tunes [it’s an all instrumental album] one that Haas composed, Between, is a standout, but really, they’re all worth the listening, and more than once. And if you ever get the chance to see Fraser and Haas live, take it -- they really are in the moment with the music and their listeners when they play.

In the Moment was among my choices for best albums of 2007. to see what else made the list, look here.. Fraser and Haas played a really inspired show at the Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow recently, too. More on that to come.

Now playing: Celtic Connections

In the midst of Celtic Connections, which maintains its moments of musical intimacy despite thousands of attendances, hundreds of performers, and venues scattered across the city center of Glasgow in rainy Scottish January. Maybe it’s that weather that helps draw people together: it’s time to go within and share music.

Highlights thus far include:
*Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas in absolutely inspired musical conversation at the City Halls at the end of an evening’s program which also included gigs from the Swedish group Oleman, who took us to back porch in Scandinavia, and the amazing guitarist Tony McManus with a many musical friends.

*Mary Ann Kennedy, James Graham, and Mick West in the intimate listening space above the Universal club, trading songs in Scots and Gaelic about emigration, and the audience joining in on many songs to everyone’s delight.

*The Rooney Family, Ryan Young, and The Laurels as new rising talent

*Brian Finnegan’s Singing Tree, an adventure into the music of Northern Ireland, old and new and future, with Cara Dillon, shown at left, Damien O’Kane, and others

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now playing: Athena Tergis

A Letter Home

Fiddler Athena Tergis has lived in San Francisco, New York, and points between, in Belfast, Galway, London, and points between, and she’s now based in the Tuscan region of northwest Italy. When she decided to call her first solo recording A Letter Home, she was considering all that. Her background also includes playing in Riverdance on Broadway, touring with Sharon Shannon, and backing up many world renown musicians while at TG4, the national Irish language television channel in Ireland. A Letter Home is a collection of Celtic based tunes which are true to the traditions from which they arise but which also allow the listener to hear Tergis’ own instrumental flair and line of thought quite clearly. The music includes a lively set of barn dances and a Scottish tinged strathspey, after opening at a fiery pace with a set of Irish reels. In all there are fourteen tracks : jigs, reels, highlands, set dance tunes, flings, and slow airs, tunes with origins in Galway, Cork, Antrim, and Donegal as well as in the Scottish Highlands, the Irish community of Chicago, and the heart of Cape Breton in Nova Scotia.


John Doyle, whose music you’ve encountered before on this site, produced the collection, and there’s really collaborative ensemble work from Sharon Shannon and Billy McComiskey on accordions, cellist Natalie Haas, Ben Wittman on percussion, and fiddler Liz Carroll.

Autumn music

North of the equator, at this time of year the quality of light, the sound of the breeze, the face of the clouds and the colors of the forest begin to call attention to the idea of change, to the memories of summer, and the gathering in of families, and of harvest. Of course, there’s music for all that, some straightforward, some perhaps more distantly connected.

One of the straightforward ones is Jay Ungar and Molly Mason’s Harvest Home. Titles including The Farmer's Set, Haymaker's Hoedown, and Bound For Another Harvest Home give the clue about this music which it at once both reflective and joyous. Ungar is a fiddler, mason is a guitarist, and they’ve a lovely dialog going here of music which reaches beyond the fall season but is very fitting for it.




The Celtic Colours Festival begins tomorrow on Cape Breton. Though she’s not playing there this year, Hanneke Cassel, pictured at right, often uses elements of Cape Breton style in her original compositions. Her latest release, Silver , is a really fine piece of listening for autumn, or any other season.


Keeping with the idea of instrumental music for the moment, Mark O’Connor, Natalie Haas, and Carol Cook collaborated on the interesting set Crossing Bridges, an upwelling of classical technique and American folk theme. Opening horizons all around.

That's what this turn of season is about, in a way, too. turning landscapes, new views, changing times, harvest home, new directions and familiar ones. And always, a time for great music.

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Now playing: Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas

Here's a bit of video of Alasdair Fraser on fiddle and Natalie Haas on cello in concert in Boston n playing the slow air Mo Ghile Mear and rockin' out on later on another tune.
Give a look; you'll enjoy it even if you're not so wild about Celtic music, for the lively and sometimes funny interaction between the two players, and between them and their audience as well.

That same interaction, musical conversation, and sense of humor backed by and in service of great playing and deep knowledge of the music is found on a fine CD they have together, Irish, Scots, and all sort of Celtic tunes which live up to the title, Fire & Grace