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Product Description
From Amazon.com
Heroes finds the self-styled "New Nashville Cat" playing fiddle duets with 14 of his idols. Although the guests come from the fields of jazz (Jean-Luc Ponty and Stephane Grappelli), classical (Pinchas Zukerman), worldbeat (L. Shankar), bluegrass (Byron Berline and Kenny Baker), hillbilly blues (Vassar Clements), old-timey (Benny Thomasson, Terry Morris and Texas Shorty), Cajun (Doug Kershaw), Texas swing (Johnny Gimble), country rock (Charlie Daniels) and Nashville sessions (Buddy Spicher), there's a bit of country fiddling in every performance. O'Connor is more interested in the similarities between these styles than the differences, and the common ground is American frontier dance music.
Ten of the 14 tracks are instrumentals, and as anyone who recognizes the above names might guess, they're filled with some astonishing virtuoso performances. To hear O'Connor, a four-time National Fiddle Champion by the time he was 22, trade licks with French jazzman Jean-Luc Ponty or the "Louisiana Man" himself, Doug Kershaw, is to rediscover what the violin can do as lightning-fast melodies and variations slide by in long legato phrases. Most of the pieces are built atop a chunky rhythm section, but the fiddles are pushed to the front of the mix, where they can "sing" like vocalists.
And "sing" they do, for O'Connor has wisely chosen these pieces for their personality and melodic pleasure rather than their technical challenges. Vassar Clements, for example, could certainly play a more complicated and showy piece than the slow blues, "House of the Rising Sun," but it's unlikely he could play anything as expressive. Likewise, Johnny Gimble can play a whole lot faster than he does on his signature tune, "Fiddlin' Around," but he'd be hard put to play anything as catchy and fun. And it would be difficult to find an instrumental as sweet and eloquent as the airy fiddle lines played by the 85-year-old Stephane Grappelli on Rodgers & Hart's "This Can't Be Love" and Fats Waller's "Ain't Misbehavin'."
Not all the distinguished guests are fiddlers. Mandolinist Bill Monroe and fiddler Byron Berline reunite 25 years later to reprise their composition, "Gold Rush," with Berline's regular partners, guitarist Dan Crary and banjoist John Hickman. On another Monroe composition, "Jerusalem Ridge," O'Connor and Monroe alumnus Kenny Baker are joined by bluegrass legends, dobroist Josh Graves and mandolinist Sam Bush. And the album's best track, "House of the Rising Sun," features Bush, dobroist Jerry Douglas and guitarist Russ Barenberg behind O'Connor and Clements. To hear the fiddles and Dobro bending notes into weary moans and anguished groans on this old song about a brothel is to understand why some songs just don't need a vocal--and why the fiddle is still American music's best link to its past. --Jeffrey Himes
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mark's the fiddler in the right channel ;-),
By Bob Zeidler (Charlton, MA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Heroes (Audio CD)
The tongue-in-cheek brief description above serves to point out that this “Heroes” album of Mark O’Connor is a series of duets between O’Connor and other famous fiddlers of every conceivable genre: blues, bluegrass, Cajun, Celtic, country, jazz, Texas-style; even classical (with Pinchas Zukerman) and Indian “raga-style” improvisations with Lakshminorayana Shankar. The fiddlers include (in addition to Zukerman and Shankar) Vassar Clements, Charlie Daniels, Stephane Grappelli, Doug Kershaw, Jean-Luc Ponty and, in a fitting tribute, Benny Thomasson (O’Connor’s initial fiddling mentor), as well as three or four others.I’m not going to question how it was that O’Connor succeeded in assembling this roster of famous fiddlers (all of whom played roles in his early development of style and repertoire, and who were hence his “heroes”), but just express my thanks that such a project was not only made possible but has seen the light of day in this recording. “Let us not look a gift horse in the mouth.” There isn’t a track here that fails to have some phenomenal hot licks on it. Anyone who enjoys fiddling will find something (probably quite a bit) to go ga-ga over in these performances. I certainly enjoy the jazz duets with Grappelli, the echt-classical work with Zukerman, and the sweet tribute to Thomasson, who was to survive the birth of this project by barely a year after his session work. But, like most of O’Connor’s projects along these lines, there are inevitably the “jaw-droppers,” the tracks that cause one to ask “How’d they do that?” Here are my three favorites: “New Country,” with Jean-Luc Ponty: Simply awesome swapping of jazz-rock fusion hot riffs between Ponty and O’Connor, treasurable because Ponty almost never has been involved in projects with fellow fiddlers. “The Devil Comes Back To Georgia,” with Charlie Daniels: ALL the stops are pulled out on this one, with not only Mark and Charlie sawing away like crazy but with back-up vocals by the likes of Johnny Cash, Marty Stuart and Travis Tritt. Priceless. “Nomad,” with Lakshminorayana Shankar: A real success of an effort on Mark’s part to realize an accurate “raga-style” extended improvisation, in duet with Shankar playing on his own invention of a double-necked violin to provide both melody and drone accompaniment. At eight minutes, this is by quite a bit the longest track on the album, but shorter than what a complete and authentic raga might take. I wouldn’t have minded a bit had these two guys simply kept right on going. Is there anything that Mark O’Connor cannot do? I tend to think not. As mentioned in the nice introductory notes by Matt Glaser, the Chairman of the String Department at the Berklee College of Music, “…it’s a fiddle player’s ultimate garden of delights.” Amen, brother!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pure Genius!,
By
This review is from: Heroes (Audio CD)
Immerse yourself in the incredible genius of Mark O'Connor and his amazing chameleon-like creative ability to tease so many different moods and styles from his violin. If you like Cajun music - this is for you. If you like Western Swing - this is for you. Like a bit of foot tapping fiddle with a Celtic slant? Then this is for you! Classical fan? Jazz? Blues? Country Rock? Then yeah - you guessed it - this CD is for you! This is an absolutely fantastic album - a brilliant collection of melodies that bring together some of today's greatest violinists. Pure Genius.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.7 out of 5 stars (15 customer reviews) 17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mark's the fiddler in the right channel ;-),
By Bob Zeidler - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Heroes (Audio CD)
The tongue-in-cheek brief description above serves to point out that this "Heroes" album of Mark O'Connor is a series of duets between O'Connor and other famous fiddlers of every conceivable genre: blues, bluegrass, Cajun, Celtic, country, jazz, Texas-style; even classical (with Pinchas Zukerman) and Indian "raga-style" improvisations with Lakshminorayana Shankar. The fiddlers include (in addition to Zukerman and Shankar) Vassar Clements, Charlie Daniels, Stephane Grappelli, Doug Kershaw, Jean-Luc Ponty and, in a fitting tribute, Benny Thomasson (O'Connor's initial fiddling mentor), as well as three or four others.
I'm not going to question how it was that O'Connor succeeded in assembling this roster of famous fiddlers (all of whom played roles in his early development of style and repertoire, and who were hence his "heroes"), but just express my thanks that such a project was not only made possible but has seen the light of day in this recording. "Let us not look a gift horse in the mouth." There isn't a track here that fails to have some phenomenal hot licks on it. Anyone who enjoys fiddling will find something (probably quite a bit) to go ga-ga over in these performances. I certainly enjoy the jazz duets with Grappelli, the echt-classical work with Zukerman, and the sweet tribute to Thomasson, who was to survive the birth of this project by barely a year after his session work. But, like most of O'Connor's projects along these lines, there are inevitably the "jaw-droppers," the tracks that cause one to ask "How'd they do that?" Here are my three favorites: "New Country," with Jean-Luc Ponty: Simply awesome swapping of jazz-rock fusion hot riffs between Ponty and O'Connor, treasurable because Ponty almost never has been involved in projects with fellow fiddlers. "The Devil Comes Back To Georgia," with Charlie Daniels: ALL the stops are pulled out on this one, with not only Mark and Charlie sawing away like crazy but with back-up vocals by the likes of Johnny Cash, Marty Stuart and Travis Tritt. Priceless. "Nomad," with Lakshminorayana Shankar: A real success of an effort on Mark's part to realize an accurate "raga-style" extended improvisation, in duet with Shankar playing on his own invention of a double-necked violin to provide both melody and drone accompaniment. At eight minutes, this is by quite a bit the longest track on the album, but shorter than what a complete and authentic raga might take. I wouldn't have minded a bit had these two guys simply kept right on going. Is there anything that Mark O'Connor cannot do? I tend to think not. As mentioned in the nice introductory notes by Matt Glaser, the Chairman of the String Department at the Berklee College of Music, "...it's a fiddle player's ultimate garden of delights." Amen, brother! Bob Zeidler 13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pure Genius,
By Mrs. M. A. Hughes "Maria Hennings Hunt" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Heroes (Audio CD)
Immerse yourself in the incredible genius of Mark O'Connor and his amazing chameleon-like creative ability to tease so many different moods and styles from his violin. If you like Cajun music - this is for you. If you like Western Swing - this is for you. If you like foot tapping fiddle with a Celtic slant - then this is for you! Classical? Jazz? Blues? Country Rock? Then yeah - you guessed it - this is for you! This is an absolutely fantastic album - a brilliant collection of melodies that bring together some of today's greatest violinists. Pure Genius.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Heroes All!,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Heroes (Audio CD)
I recently visited Nashville and went downtown to a huge record store there to ask the staff to recommend some fiddle music for me. (Who better to ask, and what better city, eh?) They picked out three cds: 'The Big Tiger Roars Again' by Benny Martin for 'traditional' fiddle, 'The World's Greatest Country Fiddlers: 36 Legendary Performers' (CMH, 1989, 36 cuts, wow) for an 'overview', and 'Heroes', this Mark O'Connor cd, for 'contemporary' fiddling. It's impossible to say which of the three is the best! I've come around to the opinion that one needs to own ALL THREE to really get it. Pure heaven.
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