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“This album is remarkable not only for its bold
venture into a new idiom. Simply put, it is also the loveliest guitar
album I have heard. What the listener hears is a waterfall of cascading
arpeggios and intricate guitar passages emanating from 10 fi ngers and
12 guitar strings, seemingly one musician with four hands and a guitar
of enormous depth of sound. Steve Baughman and Robin Bullock have
forged a new path and created a musical statement so strong that it
will set a new standard for others to follow. This is the template for
a new genre, the Celtic guitar duet.”
~ ~ Art Edelstein, music journalist, author, guitarist
Celtic guitar master Steve Baughman and virtuoso
multi-instrumentalist Robin Bullock have gotten together to record a
rarity in Celtic music: an entire album of guitar duos. With the two of
them living nine time zones apart, it wasn’t an easy collaboration to
put together, but we are absolutely certain you’re going to agree that
their fi ve intense days and nights at Al Petteway’s studio in Maryland
was truly worth the effort.
washingtonpost.com
STEVE BAUGHMAN & ROBIN BULLOCK "Celtic Guitar Summit, Groovemasters Vol. 9" Solid Air Records SACD 2029 CD
Friday, March 14, 2003
Five of the tunes on the new album from Steve Baughman and Robin
Bullock were composed by Turlough O'Carolan, the blind Irish harper who
lived from 1670 to 1737.. The sound of his Celtic harp is approximated
in these acoustic guitar duets, though the two additional hands
involved allow for crisper articulation and better control of dynamics.
The results shed new light on O'Carolan's enchanting melodies and on
the long history of Celtic music they inspired.
Bullock, a D.C. native now living in France, is a founding member of
the folk trio Helicon and an alumnus of Greenfire and the John Whelan
Band. Baughman, based in the Bay Area, is best known for his
instructional books and videos that espouse new tunings and techniques
for Celtic guitar. They met at a guitar camp in the North Carolina
mountains in 2000, an accidental encounter that grew into hours of
picking and years of friendship. That relationship has finally been
documented on this album with the clarifying help of Takoma Park
producer-engineer Al Petteway.
Though Baughman and Bullock obviously arranged the precise harmonies on
these instrumental pieces -- five by O'Carolan, one original from each
guitarist and seven traditional numbers from Wales, Brittany and
Ireland -- their playing is so relaxed that you don't even notice the
work that went into them.
-- Geoffrey Himes/Washington Post
Steve Baughman & Robin Bullock, "Celtic Guitar Summit", Solid Air SACD 2029, SACD 2029 CD
The work of Steve Baughman and Robin Bullock on "Celtic Guitar Summit"
contains a delightful set of intriguing melodies and heartfelt duets.
Not matter what the style, creating an album of duets is not a novel
idea in itself, but the precision and harmonic blend that Baughman and
Bullock achieve here is quite impressive. By evoking more familiar
tunes mixed with compositions from their own hand, the two guitarists
make possible a whole spectrum of different emotions, moods, and
textures while still maintaining a distinct Celtic flavor. The
diversity of music presented here cannot go unnoticed, for the album
encompasses tunes from less known lands such as Brittany, the Celtic
part of France. "Breton Dance" - a piece from this very region - was
one that immediately catches the attention of its listener. Here,
Baughman and Bullock appear to be equal partners in the production of 3
consecutive melodies, rather than two distinct voices made to fit
together. "Celtic Guitar Summit" speaks to those who are interested in
Celtic music that has a soul and not just the commercialized version
that's become far too popular.
© Bernard Richter + Review on www.minor7th.com
SACD 2029 "Celtic Guitar Summit: Groovemasters Vol. 9" Steve Baughman and Robin Bullock..CD
July 2003 ACOUSTIC GUITAR MAGAZINE: Editor's Pick (with cover photo)
I'ts a rare joy to witness the start of something new in Celtic
music. That's just what Steve Baughman and Robin Bullock have
accomplished here- arranging Celtic tunes, well known and exotic ,
perky and pensive , for two interlocking guitars. In the hands of
these masterful players, the results are rich and engaging. The
O'Carolan harp airs blossom with new depth and harmonic possibility,
and the excursions into Breton and Welsh repertoire make one wonder why
we haven't heard more of this stuff. "Celtic Guitar Summit" makes
your fingers itch to play along, especially on tunes like "Hewlett" ,
which Baughman and Bullock turn into a wild ride to Grateful Dead
territory and back again. Judging from the guffaw on the CD
jacket, it was clearly as much fun for the boys to record this as it is
to listen to. (Solid Air Records)
Irish Music Magazine:
STEVE BAUGHMAN & ROBIN BULLOCK
Celtic Guitar Summit SACD 2029 CD
Art Edelstein, himself no mere slouch on the guitar
and a well-known champion of the O'Carolan cause in
the US, poses a question in the liner notes of this
exemplary album: Why he asks aren't there more Celtic
guitar duos? After all the music is great, the guitar
is the folk instrument of modern times and when you
hear what can be done by two masters, you really do
suspect that there's an almost new branch of
traditional music here.
A duo works best when there's empathy as dense as
Bovril, and Baughman and Bullock have a deft touch of
technique beneath their fingers, empathy, yes, they
have it good and thick. Being a Celtic album, there's
a hearty feed of Carolan on this platter, he's the one
composer that so easily translates to the six-string,
no surprises therefore to find Fanny Power, Lord
Inchiquin, Hewlett or Captain Sutley here. The good
news is that these two guitarists understand the
essential musical quality of the work and unlike some
are not simply content to do a guitar version of a
Derek Bell setting. Indeed the opening track, Lady
Blayney, is one of the least-known of Carolan's pieces
(number 5 in the O'Sullivan collection) and they give
it a truly crystal clear workover with Bullock leading
the piece and Baughman providing the harmonic
counterbalance.
There's more to Celtic music than Carolan and this duo
are well aware of the fact with offerings of Welsh and
Breton tunes (Kas Ha Baarh is particularly haunting)
to give the mix an exotic flavour. Call me an anorak,
but I really enjoyed jamming along with this album,
and these two lads not only tell us how they tune each
guitar (or cittern or bouzouki) on each track, they
even let us into the secret of capo placing.
Well done the brothers B! Fine recording quality, fine
choice of tunes. Planxty to ye boys, Planxty to ye.
-Sean Laffey
| Artist: |
Steve Baughman & Robin Bullock |
| Product Type: |
AMR CDs |
| Item #: |
SACD2029 |
| Price: |
$15.00 $10.00 |
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