Steve Shaw and Martin Cole
Blowing Through the Reeds
Own
label SSAMCCD001; 45 minutes;
2004
Harmonica
albums are rare birds, so when one flies in unexpectedly from the big blue
yonder, it is time to sit back and savour (well, at least, if you share this
reviewer’s passion for the instrument). 
Steve Shaw
is an Englishman, based in Cornwall, and his aptly-titled album, Blowing
Through the Reeds, reveals a rather special talent. Though the liner cover
describes this as a collection of traditional music from Ireland and Great
Britain, Irish tunes predominate. Indeed, the only exceptions are a couple of
Northumbrian tunes (Proudlock’s Hornpipe and Hesleyside Reel) and
a pair of Scottish reels (Barrowburn and Far from Home). The
opening track, City of Savannah, has also increasingly found its way
into the repertoires of Irish musicians and can be found on both Matt Molloy’s Stony
Steps and Joe Derrane’s The Tie That Binds.
Two facets
of Steve’s playing rapidly come to light. The first is that he can produce some
of the choicest triplets and rolls you are ever likely to hear on a harmonica
and the second lies in his preference for a steady pace, one in which the full
joys of the melody and his playing become readily apparent. Two adjacent
examples spring to mind. His rendition of the Carolan piece Lord Inchiquin has
an innately stately presence while the set of reels begun by Mary Staunton’s
has an irresistible quality.
Perhaps
sometimes the pace veers towards the plodding, as on the jigs Out on the
Ocean and Blarney Pilgrim, but his technical agility on a pair of
polkas (Ger the Rigger and Bill Sullivan’s) more than compensates
for this lapse. Indeed, sometimes the slower speed does work to his advantage,
as on The Butterfly slip jig, where the combination of mouth harp and
fiddle provides a wonderfully suggestive resonance.
That
excellent fiddle is provided by the album’s producer, Martin Cole, who also
supplies guitars and mandolin, usually to appropriate effect, though again, the
pace his guitar sets on the aforementioned jigs might be the cause of the
problem. Martin also provides the album’s only song, his own atmospheric and
powerfully performed Farewell Rose of England.
Blowing
Through the Reeds is a
thoroughly engaging album and we will certainly be hearing more of Steve and
Martin in the future.
Geoff Wallis
22nd
December, 2004
The album is available directly from Steve whose website is mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/trad_irish_harmonica (bet you’re glad you didn’t have to type all of that!).