Review: Kammen & Swan - Wild Wood

Subject: Review: Kammen & Swan - Wild Wood
From: Big Mick
Date: 25 Jan 03 - 11:48 AM

Most of the long time inhabitants of these parts know p.j. as a performer, as well as the partner of Dave Swan. Dave is one of the founding members of the venerable Oakland/San Francisco area singing group "Oak, Ash and Thorn". All this by way of introduction to a new CD that you simply must get.

p.j. is really Pam Swan. To say that she is a major talent seems trite in light of her incredible talent. She is multi instrumental, in that she plays piano, bodhran, pandero, pandereta, adufe, darbuka, wire bell, palmas, txalaparta. In addition to all this, she is a vocalist whose voice is a thing of great beauty. Couple this with an ability to tell a great yarn vocally, and you start to get the picture that she is a wonderful talent. And if you ask Rick, he will tell you that she ain't too hard on the eyes either............not that that has anything to do with the music.

I always assumed that if she collaborated with anyone, she would naturally be the lead person. Not so. Pam apparently is a great judge of talent too. She understood that a truly great collaboration happens when great talents join together, committed to the music, and determined to use all the talent they possess to give due homage to the music. And so she became a partner in this enterprise with Shira Kammen. This woman plays fiddle, violin d'amore (I love that instrument name!!!), viola, and palmas. And a voice that just draws the emotion out of the listener. Between her vocal offerings, and her excellent bow work, she absolutely fills up the other half of this offering.

The result? One of the finest CD's I have heard in a long time. This offering is a musical, ....and magical,..... trip through the tunes and songs of Ireland, Scotland, Cape Breton, Shetland Islands, Isle of Man, Brittany, and Galicia. Listening to it is a feast for the ears, and the soul. Every so often a collection comes along that fools you. You assume that it is the type of music that would be nice to put on while reading a book, conversing, or just relaxing. And this music is wonderful for all of those things. But, every so often you find the one that is so well crafted, so intense in its interpretations, so warm in its delivery, that you just cannot let it move to the background. You are drawn to it, and absorbed by it. Such is how this CD is. It combines wonderful tunes, and rich vocal interpretations (many of them in dialect)to produce a collection you just can't stop listening too. The arrangements are right on the mark, the delivery polished, and the spirit of the music comes blasting through. One of my favorites is the song from Brittany titled "Son ar Sistr". But I must tell you that the Irish sets are wonderful, as well. And p.j..................you may take this as official notice that I am cobbing you arrangement of "Pat Do This". I am going to have to dirty up the vocals a bit, but I have just swiped it from you..............hahahaha.

The liner notes are wonderful and detailed. This is one of the things I always look for as the crowning touch. This is, most likely, from being influenced by Sandy Paton and his wonderful Folk Legacy liner notes. And this CD of Kammen & Woods tops off the deliciousness of this serving with superb notes.

The final set of tunes on this CD is titled "Girls Night Out". It is three tunes about women. I am telling you something folks. These women need to get out more so the rest of us can hear more of them.

Five Mudcat chip rating on this one. Get it.

All the best,

Mick

Subject: RE: Review: Kammen & Swan - Wild Wood
From: Dave Swan
Date: 25 Jan 03 - 01:27 PM

O.K., so Mick's my partner in LFPS, and Pam's my wife, but I AM forced to agree. This is an outstanding album, and should be added to everyone's collection.

I was lucky enough to be around for the rehearsal and production of this work. Pam and Shira are great friends and a natural musical partnership, and it shows through on the album just as it does whenever they're together.

Just to make it easy, you can order it from Kammen and Swan's website.

Subject: RE: Review: Kammen & Swan - Wild Wood
From: catspaw49
Date: 25 Jan 03 - 01:53 PM

Well I hate to make this a meeting of Lane, Fielding, Patterson, and Swan, but I have to chime in here too. I didn't get yesterday's mail til this morning and here it was. I read the liner notes and flipped the disc on........and everything Mick said is true. On about the third or fourth track, Karen arrived home and asked, "Who is THAT?" We both listened through breakfast and although I generally prefer to have nothing else going on, we both listened well and talked little while we cooked. This is one helluva' disc folks.

I need to add a note on the multi style fiddlin' goin' on here which is the mark of someone exceptional. But even more, the voice blend here is just about perfect. The voices aren't at all the same and yet the blend is fabulous.

One other note that I guess could be easy to miss. Pam is a superb pianist with a great touch on an instrument where "touch" is often overlooked by most. Those of you who watched the Civil War series loved Jay and Molly, but did you notice the pianist? I bet you didn't. Her name is Jackie Schwab(sp) and if you listen closely you'll find that her touch is so perfect and so matched to the tunes that you are unaware of a piano actually being there. Pam Swan has this same kind of touch with the instrument. It doesn't get much better than this anywhere. If you're not a pianist or don't have a good knowledge of the instrument, it is very hard to explain the difficulty and dexterity involved in adding a crescendo or decrescendo in a 2 bar, 16/th note run. Listen to Pam.....Sometimes it's hard because like Jackie Schwab, the perfection lies in the not noticing.

Great GD ...... What else can I say?

Spaw

Subject: RE: Review: Kammen & Swan - Wild Wood
From: Peter T.
Date: 25 Jan 03 - 02:22 PM

As an ex-officio brick heaver at LFPS, I heard some of these tunes real early, and felt pretty honoured then. A whole album, whew. Plus txalaparta thrown in for good measure (what a sound a thrown txalaparta must make, probably a sound like TXALAPARTA!!), what more can you ask for?

yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Review: Kammen & Swan - Wild Wood
From: catspaw49
Date: 25 Jan 03 - 02:34 PM

How about a Bacardi and Coke?

Well, you asked PT.........

Spaw

Subject: RE: Review: Kammen & Swan - Wild Wood
From: Amos
Date: 25 Jan 03 - 03:11 PM

Like all the above except Swanno The Lucky, I am forced to be a distant admirer of PJ's talent, which I have been awestruck by on the one occasion I saw her. And, can only imagine what being a "close admirer " would be like, but manners forbid!

I can certainly vouch that this CD has a pair of real fireballs on it, and it is at the top of my list as of now!

A

Subject: RE: Review: Kammen & Swan - Wild Wood
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Jan 03 - 03:32 PM

Gee, thanks guys! I'm so glad you like the album, Shira is an amazing talent and a dream to work with. Fans of early music will know her as one of the world's premier violin and vielle players of that genre. She is also a terrific singer, a great friend and a kick in the pants to hang out with.

We had a great time making Wild Wood and have been very lucky to have it so well supported in early sales. Marketing and distribution is where the real work begins, as so many of you know.

I'm currently lining up venues around the country to promote the album and give us a chance to broaden our audience. Shira teaches and tours internationally with early music groups including Boston Camerata, Fortune's Wheel and Ensemble Alcatraz, so we're booking small to mid-size venues in cities where she will already be performing for the early music crowd. Since our concerts are Celtic oriented, our gigs don't compete and we can appear in or near the same area they're already flying her to! Cuts our travel expenses in half since we only have to pay for me.

The trick is finding venues in those cities who are interested in booking us during the time she's there. I'd love to have your recommendations for contacts in the places we're looking at for 2003-- house concerts, pub stage venues, folk clubs, festivals, etc.

Here are the areas and times we're looking at as possibilities so far...

Portland, OR (end of April)
Washington/SE Alaska (first of May)
Scotland/Ireland (mid June)
Mass/Conn/New England (late June)
N. California/Oregon (mid-late August)
Spain/France (mid-September thru early October)
Nova Scotia/SE Canada/New England (mid October)

If you know of a place we should check into during those times, please let us know and I'll get a promo package in the mail right away. We could be coming to a town near you!

Thanks again for your support and kind words...

xoxo
p.j.

Subject: RE: Review: Kammen & Swan - Wild Wood
From: Big Mick
Date: 27 Jan 03 - 01:05 PM

I am refreshing this because I see this as a very important CD. I hope that fellow Mudcatters will do everything in thier power to assist these wonderful artists. The survival of this type of music depends very much on folks being able to be successful doing it. My only disappointment is that this schedule doesn't have anything close enough that I can assist.

Mick

Subject: RE: Review: Kammen & Swan - Wild Wood
From: Peter T.
Date: 27 Jan 03 - 02:44 PM

Does the name Toronto mean anything to you? (sob)
yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Review: Kammen & Swan - Wild Wood
From: p.j.
Date: 27 Jan 03 - 03:32 PM

If I thought anybody would pay us to make music in Toronto, we'd be there in a heartbeat-- with or without an early music gig. But travel is pricey and you know what high standards those Torontoans have, they'd probably CHARGE us to play there. I don't think we can afford the airfare AND the annoyance tax we'd have to pay.

Seriously, I haven't had a lot of success with venues who want to hire American musicians in that area, though you know I'd love to come.

If you hear of anything...

xoxo
p.j.

Subject: RE: Review: Kammen & Swan - Wild Wood
From: Amos
Date: 27 Jan 03 - 03:35 PM

Can't you get lined up at the Belly-Up Tavern here in San Diego?? Or sompn??

Sighhhh.


A

Subject: RE: Review: Kammen & Swan - Wild Wood
From: p.j.
Date: 27 Jan 03 - 04:37 PM

Do they have a lot of Medieval French vielle music there at the Belly-Up Tavern, sweetie? If we can get Shira booked I'll set up a Kammen & Swan gig! 'Twould be fun to see you guys again...

pj

Subject: RE: Review: Kammen & Swan - Wild Wood
From: Mudlark
Date: 28 Jan 03 - 02:25 AM

Pam...

If San Luis Obispo county is close enough to your N. Cal. stop (about 3-4 hrs south of San Fran.) SLOFolks books acts, usually in 3 venues, sometimes just one, over wkends. The largest venue is at the N. end of the county, seats about 100 people I think...the other 2 can do about 60 each., and they are all usually sold out. And CD sales are always brisk. (We're starved for good music down here!) If you are interested in making a little southern detour in August PM me and I'll send you particulars on who to contact.

Subject: RE: Review: Kammen & Swan - Wild Wood
From: p.j.
Date: 28 Jan 03 - 04:18 PM

Thanks, Mudlark! We could actually make it to SLO without another gig attached, our home base is the SF/Oakland Bay Area. I'll contact SLOFolks (great name) and check it out.

p.j.

Subject: RE: Review: Kammen & Swan - Wild Wood
From: Amos
Date: 28 Jan 03 - 05:14 PM

PJ:

I think "Belly Up" refers to the ultimate posture of the patrons, rather than to the kind of entertainment! :>) But lemme dig around -- I will find something, for the pleasure of a visit!!

A