J. J. Chaisson and Margie Waldrum at Agawam

Event Summary

Date: 2009 March 14 (Saturday) and 15 (Sunday)
Time: 19h30 (Saturday) and 14h (Sunday)
Venue: Private house concert at the Captain Charles Leonard House, 663 Main Street, Agawam, Massachusetts
Description: J. J. Chaisson from Prince Edward Island on fiddle and Margie Waldrum of Sonas on piano provide a concert of traditional Scottish music in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day.
Admission: $14.00 by advance reservation via e-mail to Meg Sullivan at
msullgreen@gmail.com
or by phone at +1 (413) 789-9267; $18.00 at the door

Review for the Cape Breton Music List
(Posted 2009 March 20)

In what has become an annual St. Patrick’s Day tradition, J. J. Chaisson gave two concerts of the finest Scottish traditional music at the Captain Charles Leonard House over the week-end. Joined by Margie Waldrum, of the New Jersey Celtic group Sonas, on keyboards, the exhilarating music delighted the audiences both days.

J. J., an extremely talented musician belonging to the well-known Bear River Chaisson clan on Prince Edward Island, won the 2009 Music Prince Edward Island award for Instrumental Recording of the Year for his latest CD, The Gift, released last summer. A composer as well as a multi-instrumentalist (fiddle, guitar, bass, piano), eight of his roughly thirty-six compositions to date appear on the new CD along with three tunes by his uncle Kevin Chaisson and one by his cousin Brent Chaisson. As well as a great helping of traditional Scottish tunes, there are a number of Cape Breton tunes composed by Dan R. MacDonald, Dan Hughie MacEachern, Donald Angus Beaton, Jerry Holland, J. P. Cormier, and Glenn Graham. J. J.’s two previous recordings, In the Genes (1997) and Class Act (2002), had long been favourites of mine so I snapped up a copy of The Gift last July at the Rollo Bay Fiddle Festival shortly after its initial release and have been enjoying its fine music ever since. Margie, who had never met J. J. before this week-end, used the recordings to familiarize herself with J.J.’s style and carried off both concerts with great aplomb; a previous student of Kolten MacDonnell’s, she has become a fine piano accompanist in the Cape Breton style.

J. J. opened both concerts with J. Scott Skinner’s beautiful slow air, The Rosebud of Allendale, often heard from Buddy MacMaster, and followed it with strathspeys and reels. A jig set in A minor then followed. Then came Dan Hughie MacEachern’s Kennedy Street March, followed by two strathspeys and two reels. Next came a guitar set, where J. J.’s flying fingers picked out on the guitar the fiddle tunes Sheehan’s Reel, Princess Reel, and Paddy on the Turnpike. Returning to the fiddle, J. J. next played ‘Seas the Moment’, my favourite piece on The Gift; a lament written in memory of his older friend Charlie Campbell, like J. J. a lobster fisherman (the song’s title is the name of Charlie’s boat), who was killed while jogging by a drunk driver. Margie’s accompaniment was especially fine, adding light and beauty to the darker sad tones of the fiddle—the overall effect was not unlike tolling bells over an organ. After a Happy Birthday was played and sung in honour of an audience member’s birthday, J. J. played a set featuring MacNab’s Hornpipe, Jingle Bells (Dashing Through the Snow), and St. Anns Reel. The first half concluded with the first track on The Gift: a traditional strathspey; Ella Rose’s Reel, J. J.’s tune in honour of his daughter; Karen’s Reel; and Molly Maguire.

The second half began with another J. J. tune, The Icing on the Cake, a waltz written in tribute to his wife, Julie, on their wedding day. The second set featured a clog and some reels. Another incredibly high-speed guitar set followed. Then, J. J. and Margie gave us Iain MacLachlan’s beautiful pipe lament, Dark Island; again, Margie’s accompaniment was both subtle and stunning. J. J. then launched into a blazingly fast Tulloch Gorm, unaccompanied until the tempo changed to reels. J. J. then asked Zoë Darrow, who was in the audience, to join him on stage and he gave Margie a break by moving to the piano; Zoë played with great energy and vivacity a tremendous blast of fine tunes, giving J. J. as much of a work-out on the keyboards as he had given Margie. Margie then returned to the piano and the concert ended with J. J. and Zoë on dual fiddles playing another long set of great tunes, during which Zoë step-danced. A standing ovation and many Cape Breton yells greeted the end of the concert, forcing J. J. and Zoë to repeat with another fine set of tunes.

Sunday’s concert was very similar to Saturday’s, though J. J. played some different tunes and Zoë was not present and so did not play. The audience was also somewhat smaller—it was a gorgeous day outside—but no less enthusiastic over the very fine music we all enjoyed. J. J. invited us all to attend the 33^rd Rollo Bay Fiddle Festival, which will be taking place 17-19 July of this year and features three days of fine traditional Scottish music and some of both Prince Edward Island’s and Cape Breton’s best players. After having a lot of fun accompanying J. J., Margie says she hopes to be at the festival this summer for a return engagement. For sure, it will be a great time!

I thank J. J. very much both for making the long trip down from Prince Edward Island and for his fine music; Margie for her great accompaniments; and Meg and Dan for hosting a superb series of house concerts at the Captain Charles Leonard House. Year after year, they provide an amazing cornucopia of live Celtic traditional music in Western Massachusetts and I am deeply in their debt for their dedication and follow-through.