To say a person is ONE of the best, and to say he is THE best, are two different things. No question Carignan is among the very best - however, I think once you get to that level, each player will have certain strengths more highly developed than do the others, and how you rate them - should you be foolhardy enough to do so - will depend on which particular strength you particularly prize. In other words, it becomes a matter of taste, and when you're dealing with fiddling traditions, what is good taste in one tradition, is bad taste in another. Dancers tend to value a fiddler for his ability to play what they feel enhances their dancing - so a fiddling whiz from another tradition they may not think too highly of.

(Btw: Jarvis Benoit was quoted to me as saying that Simon Cremo, Lee's father, was the best fiddler he had ever heard. The same person that told me that, said that the best fiddling he had ever heard was from Richard Wood, at a late-night session in his Charlottetown pub.)