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Subject: Review: JP Cormier From: GUEST Date: 19 Nov 02 - 12:33 PM Just caught a show with this awesome talent. Phew! Anyone else in here seen this guy play live. I went home and burned my guitar!! He played 5 string banjo, fiddle madolin and anything else he could find with stings on it. Writes...sings and has one hell of a Keyboard player as his wife. Catch them if you can!! |
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Subject: RE: Review: JP Cormier From: Murray MacLeod Date: 19 Nov 02 - 01:39 PM Yes, I have seen JP live a few times , and he is as you say an awesome talent. His piece de resistance on guitar is Scott Skinner's "The Mathematician", a tour de force which I do not believe anybody else in the world except Tony McManus is capable of pulling off. btw, GUEST, although I admire your taste, I think you need to develop your review-writing skills just a little more .... Murray |
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Subject: RE: Review: JP Cormier From: Steve Latimer Date: 19 Nov 02 - 01:46 PM I've only seen him on Television. I would love to see him live. He was awesome on the East Coast Music Awards a few years ago. |
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Subject: RE: Review: JP Cormier From: Rick Fielding Date: 19 Nov 02 - 02:10 PM I've had him on my radio show. and ... in a nutshell He's the strongest picker I've ever seen or heard...and I think I've heard (almost) all the great ones. Simply has a right arm from the Gods. PLUS He's a world class Fiddler (in ALL keys!), banjoist, mandolinist, and god knows what else. His wife Hilda really gets around on piano. Believe that she's on a lot of albums by Maritime fiddlers. Cheers Rick |
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Subject: RE: Review: JP Cormier From: Bee-dubya-ell Date: 19 Nov 02 - 04:33 PM Just before J.P. started to become well-known as a solo act, he was living in Alabama and touring with a regional country/bluegrass band. We were having a regular Sunday afternoon Celtic session in Pensacola, Florida at the time and J.P. had met one of the session regulars who had invited him to join in the session if he ever had a Sunday off. So, one Sunday we pulled up to the Barkley House where the session was held and there's a couple sitting in a car. They introduced themselves as Jean Paul and Hilda and told us that our friend had told them about the session. I asked Jean Paul (J.P.) if he played and he said he played a "little bit of fiddle". Anyway, the session got started with a few of the usual Irish standards and it rapidly became obvious that J.P. played more than a "little" fiddle. Then we asked him to choose the next set of tunes. Six or seven minutes later, after J.P. had played a Cape Breton medley that moved through seven or eight different keys, with Hilda backing him on keyboard, we were all sitting there with our mouths gaping open. Needless to say, the rest of the afternoon was an incredible experience. But what really impressed me more than anything else was that J.P. was continuously complimenting all the other players on what they were doing. A great musician and a very nice person. A few months later Fiona Ritchie played a cut off of J.P.'s new CD on "Thistle and Shamrock" and we sorta had a feeling he wouldn't be back to our session again. His success couldn't have happened to a nicer person. Bruce |
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Subject: RE: Review: JP Cormier From: George Seto - af221@chebucto.ns.ca Date: 19 Nov 02 - 05:12 PM Yes, JP is a phenomenal talent. As well as his wife. She does a great job on step-dance as well. I have had the honour of being a few home-sessions like Murray described. Both he and his wife are extremely nice people, and humble as all get out. Some people think he has a big ego, but I've never encountered that side of him, if it exists. One of the most fascinating things I've ever seen is in the middle of playing, JP will re-tune his guitar in the middle of playing. Amazing. Re: The Mathematician PS - Tony and his lady Denise are ALSO very nice people. Very accommodating as well as accomplished talents. |
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Subject: RE: Review: JP Cormier From: GUEST,Willie-O Date: 19 Nov 02 - 05:16 PM Saw him a couple of years ago in a small theatre. Yowsers! My reviewing skills fail me too. I think I did write a review at the time for my newsletter. I didn't burn my guitar, in fact I went and learned a couple of his songs. Kelly's Mountain being one, that Cape Breton Bluegrass rewrite of El Paso. Always gets a great reaction, it's a wonderfully crafted piece; the guitar break he plays, no one else could touch. I just don't play a break. Yup, they seemed real nice folks. The ECMA show you're talking about, Steve, was that the one where he was supposed to play a duet with fiddle wunderkid Richard Woods, whose pickup completely failed him, and it ended up being a guitar solo with big empty spaces? JP played great of course but it was pretty hard to enjoy, you had to feel so bad for young Richard. I'm sure JP felt that way too. One of the toughest breaks I've ever seen on live TV. W-O |
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Subject: RE: Review: JP Cormier From: Steve Latimer Date: 19 Nov 02 - 06:45 PM Willie-O, No, I don't think it was the same one. The one I saw he played several instruments. He just switched from guitar to fiddle to banjo etc. It was amazing. |
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Subject: RE: Review: JP Cormier From: Beer Date: 19 Nov 02 - 08:04 PM He was at the Montreal Celtic Festival two years ago and when he was getting ready to play, he sang a song called " The Miner's Song" which I had never heard. It touched me deeply as does " The Working Man" by Rita McNeil. I finally was able to get the recording by Dave Gunning ( Thanks to Mudcatters.). But I still wish J.P. had recorded it. He just seemed to add so much more to it. Beer |
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Subject: RE: Review: JP Cormier From: Rick Fielding Date: 19 Nov 02 - 09:05 PM Borealis put out an album a couple of years ago called "Six Strings North of the Border". It's a decent album and we all play pretty well.....but....they used that damn "Mathematician" tune. JP leaves the rest of us at the starting gate with that one. Couple of things that some pickers might find usefull. I sat beside him (without a guitar) for a few minutes at the 12th Fret in Toronto and we chatted. He played (softly) while we talked, but his playing was still amazing....clean, clear and lightening fast.....when we stopped talking, he brought the volume up to ear-splitting level (he was playing a new D-45) without sacrificing a bit of tone. I looked at his web-site and wasn't surprised to find that he was a child prodigy. See him if at all possible. Oh one more thing. Before his appearance at Hugh's Room in Toronto, he was telling us about his previous gig in Ottawa. "Ahh, they just talked over us all night" he said. Obviously a bar gig, and obviously idiots who had no idea what they were seeing or listening to. One of the reasons why I have a low opinion of the general public's musical taste. Rick |
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Subject: RE: Review: JP Cormier From: Marion Date: 20 Nov 02 - 01:57 AM I got that "Six Strings North of the Border" compilation a year and a half ago, and was amazed by the Mathematician/Sleepy Maggie medley. It didn't make me burn my guitar, though, it made me decide to work up a strathspey/reel Cape-Bretonish flatpicking medley of my own. A year and a half later... well, I'm still practicing it. The Twelfth Fret has an ex-guitar of JP's in the store now, a Taylor 614CE. Marion |
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Subject: RE: Review: JP Cormier From: Songsmith Date: 20 Nov 02 - 09:11 AM I had the great pleasure of watching J.P. and Tony McManus in the entertainers room at Stanfest last year. They played for hours on end both Saturday and Sunday and I came away knowing I'd seen the best of the best. Both are really nice people. What a thrill! What an experience! Jim |
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Subject: RE: Review: JP Cormier From: gnu Date: 20 Nov 02 - 10:10 AM Yup. JP's amazing. I also recall Kendall once posting that another of our local lads, Bernie Houlahan, was one of the best guitar players he ever saw. But what is truly amazing is the amount of people here in Moncton who have never heard either of these guys, or Ivan Hicks, or... must be something in the water. |
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Subject: RE: Review: JP Cormier From: Murray MacLeod Date: 20 Nov 02 - 11:41 AM I also recall Kendall once posting that Gordon Bok was one of the best guitarists he ever saw. Murray |
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Subject: RE: Review: JP Cormier From: Rick Fielding Date: 20 Nov 02 - 01:19 PM Indeed I remember that too. Yup, Kendall's got a good ear. Gordon has been right up there with the finest pickers for years. His accompaniments for "Call the Ewes" (please excuse my spelling) "Bay of Fundy" and especially "Where do you Go Little Herring" are simply world class. When you consider just HOW many years ago he came up with these, it's no wonder so many pickers cite him as a major influence. Like several other virtuosos (Pete and Peggy Seeger come to mind) he's better known for other attributes...in his case, his VOCAL RANGE. (if you ain't heard him, he's REALLY bass!) But, he's been right up there with the most influential guitarists for a lotta years....He's never done a lot of FAST pickin', but there's far to much of that around anyway....lots of speed, NO dynamics. J.P. and Tony are as fast as you can (probably) get, but they both have soul and taste. Cheers Rick |
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Subject: RE: Review: JP Cormier From: kendall Date: 20 Nov 02 - 02:58 PM You should get Gordon's cd, A Rogues Gallery of tunes for the 12 string. Gordon is my oldest best friend, so, I may be biased. |
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Subject: RE: Review: JP Cormier From: Bee-dubya-ell Date: 20 Nov 02 - 03:41 PM A brief addendum to my "jamming with JP" post above.... JP is the first fiddler I have met who plays fiddle tunes in medleys only twice through before going to the next tune instead of the usual three times. (It may be common in some areas, but I had never heard anybody do it before.) He explained that dancers on Cape Breton really like for bands to play a lot of tunes during a dance. If you repeat a tune more than three times or if you go back to a previous tune they're likely to stop dancing and throw fruit. So, to make sure that the dancers never have reason to complain he only does each tune twice through. That way, if he ever does forget how to count to two and plays a tune one extra time the dancers won't shoot him. Bruce |
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Subject: RE: Review: JP Cormier From: Bardford Date: 20 Nov 02 - 04:31 PM I'll be seeing JP Thursday night at the Karma Cafe here in Calgary. It's nice venue for him, small and close in. He was at the same place a few months back and I had the pleasure of talking with him at length (okay, hogging his time)during a break. Genuinely nice guy. One of his songs (Another Morning) is doing fairly well, and he was quite moved at the positive responses he's been getting from people. I remember this from our conversation- "There's something true in all of my songs." And yes oh yes, the man can play. |
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Subject: RE: Review: JP Cormier From: Sandy McLean Date: 20 Nov 02 - 04:34 PM Just a note on that Taylor guitar mentioned by Marion. JP played it at the Celtic Colours Guitar Summit it Judique a few years back. He made some remarks from the stage that he had a low opinion of it. In any case when he played it sounded great to me. Maybe the touch of the masters hand. Sandy |
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Subject: RE: Review: JP Cormier From: Songsmith Date: 20 Nov 02 - 07:01 PM Hi, I have to share this story. I spent a few hours with J.P. on the Sunday of last years Stan Roger's festival. J.P. had played on a recording with me way back in 1990 so we were getting ready to do the tune after never having played together it since the recording. Not that J.P. needed the rehearsal. We had a workshop that afternooon with another of my heros Lennie Gallant. Lennie J.P. and I were chatting up this and that when JP told us the story of an operation he'd had a few years back. Of a Doctor who'd performed what was then experimental surgery on both of his hands. He showed both Lennie and I the scars that travel from the palm of his hands up to his inner forearms. He told us of the six weeks he spent in casts nearly helpless in many aspects. I was overwhelmed with the story and the thoughts of horror in having such a unique gift snatched away in a moments notice. I find it hard to comprehend the many emotions that he must have lived through during that frightful time.I find it just as hard to comprehend the fear the doctor must have had putting his scapel to those gifted hands. His gift is still intact thanks to that brilliant doctor. His name was Winston as J.P. told me when I asked and I sort of think of him as perhaps another J.P. in regards to what he does. I have a sense he's as mingboggling with his gift as J.P. is with his. I'm even thinking of searching him out an have him operate on me. Can't hurt. Just go see J.P. once in your life and you'll know what I mean. |
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Subject: RE: Review: JP Cormier From: Murray MacLeod Date: 20 Nov 02 - 07:15 PM Uh, Sandy, are you sure you got it right about the disparaging remarks JP made being about the Taylor guitar? Reason I ask is that I also saw JP at the Celtic Colours Festival (and maybe it was a different year) and yes, he played the Guitar Summit (which if memory serves wasn't held in Judique, but I could be wrong), however, I remember him getting really pissed off during his own show later in the week when his recently purchased , very expensive Santa Cruz custom built guitar was giving him all sorts of problems. Murray |
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Subject: RE: Review: JP Cormier From: Sandy McLean Date: 20 Nov 02 - 10:59 PM Murray The Guitar Summit was always in Judique. It was a few years back so my memory may fail me but I thought it was a Taylor but it may have been a Santa Cruz. He was bemoaning the price that he paid in any case. Sandy |
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Subject: RE: Review: JP Cormier From: Marion Date: 21 Nov 02 - 09:22 AM Sandy, Murray, the Taylor is royal blue, so that might help you remember if it's the guitar he was talking about. Not that I want this guitar - I'm done guitar shopping for the rest of my life - but it's kind of a mixed endorsement, isn't it? Do you look at it as a guitar that your hero chose, or one that he chose to get rid of? Marion |
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Subject: RE: Review: JP Cormier From: Sandy McLean Date: 21 Nov 02 - 10:02 AM Marion, I don't think that guitar is the one that I recall. I think it had a natural finish with a lot of inlay. Murray is probably correct that it was a Santa Cruz. As part of the Guitar Summit the players would give some information and history of the insturment that they were playing. JP was unhappy with his at the time. Sandy |
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Subject: RE: Review: JP Cormier From: kendall Date: 21 Nov 02 - 10:06 AM "If you're runnin' down my guitar, son, you're walkin' on the fightin' side of me.." |
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Subject: RE: Review: JP Cormier From: Murray MacLeod Date: 21 Nov 02 - 10:29 AM Sandy, Marion, that was indeed the Santa Cruz. It must have been the same Guitar Summit I saw. Let's see, on stage reading from left to right there was John Allan Cameron, Gordy Sampson, Dave McIsaac, Tony McManus, JP Cormier, and Archie Fisher, am I right ? I remember JP being slightly disparaging about his guitar at the Summit, but he got really annoyed with it during his concert later in the week. I think it was the pickup system that was bothering him, if I recall correctly. Murray |
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Subject: RE: Review: JP Cormier From: Sandy McLean Date: 21 Nov 02 - 01:19 PM That sounds about right Murray. It was probably the first or second year of Celtic Colours. The shows tend to run together in my memory now. What a line up that was! Sandy |
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