Kevin O'Connor: From the Chest (Malgamu Records)
There's a kind of a turf-ad warmth to the inventive, eclectic string arrangements around this seductive and gently decorous fiddler: dancing, heady little phrases around the melodies, with every roll in its rightful place. He has fine fellow-travellers in Verena Commins' accordion and Emer Mayock's flute - and, indeed, Breda Mayock's spooky voice. Among the strings and percussion, the Spanish Asturias is superb, Donal Siggins' mandola makes nice work of tunes like Michelle O'Sullivan's, while Paul Kelly evokes Horslips' Charles O'Connor on a less-resolved Faerie King. Kevin O'Connor's own tunes include some keen reels (Gallows Hill) and some drifty descriptive airs. There are moments when the band strays into hairy pastures, but mostly the carefully contained session, its ignition always inches away, keeps the foot tapping nicely.
By Mic Moroney
Niall Keegan: Don't Touch the Elk (Elk Records)
Never has jazz taken such root in trad as with this gifted flautist from Micheal O Suilleabhain's musical GM farm in UCL. On a D-flute with full chromatic keys, his fingers knock out the ultra-percussive ornament; the tongue blowing bubbles of triplets or flutter-tongued, half-growled notes. But he pushes the boat out altogether on cascading tune deconstructions with formidably fast jazz improvs, key shifts and melodic shapes which shatter the modality, but find their way home somehow. The vaudevillean cleverness will be too severe for some -
I'm still chuckling at Peadar O Riada's image of Clare set dancers keeling over in all directions trying to keep up with it - but Keegan is a consummate virtuoso destined for the big stages, or there's no justice.
By Mic Moroney
B.B. King: His Definitive Greatest Hits (Universal)
So what do you do when you've been playing the blues for more years than you care to remember? You put together a double CD of your own favourite numbers, that's what. In this B. B. King collection the live material stands out, especially the numbers featuring another great blues singer, Bobby Bland. From the earliest track, The Thrill Is Gone, through the hit that made his reputation, the slow ballad Three O'Clock Blues, up to the one everyone knows, When Love Comes To Town - recorded in 1988 with U2 - this is an album that every King fan will want to have. It's also a good introduction to a lifetime of this man's music. Definitely the definitive B. B. King.
By Colm Banville