Ogham

Dalkey Song Thal Records****

Over the years, Irish traditional music has proved strangely resistant to the jazz virus. While other European traditions, from the Baltic to the Balkans, have produced their own new strains, there have been relatively few attempts to infect Ceoltóirí Chualann with Coltrane. Derry- born guitarist Tommy Halferty is one of the few, as he has proved in the past, particularly on recordings with composer Ronan Guilfoyle. Ogham is the result of Halferty's collaboration with adventurous French bassist Michel Zenino, who has arranged tunes like My Lagan Love, Mairi's Weddingand She Moves Thro' the Fairso that they lay well for the guitarist's lithe, exuberant style. With assistance from piano virtuoso Martiniquan Mario Conange, this is a cosmopolitan affair, but at the heart of the album are Halferty's flights of melodic invention, applying the lessons of John McLaughlin and Pat Metheny to some venerable chestnuts of the Irish ballad tradition. See tommyhalferty.com