Kimberley Fraser and Troy MacGillivray Dance
at the Canadian-American Club

Event Summary

Date: 2009 April 24 (Friday)
Time: 20h-0h
Venue: Canadian-American Club, 202 Arlington Street, East Watertown, Massachusetts 02472-2004
Description: Canadian-American Club Dance with Troy MacGillivray and Kimberley Fraser.
Admission: $14 at the door

Review for the Cape Breton Music List
(Posted 2009 April 26)

This past Friday, ECMA winners Kimberley Fraser and Troy MacGillivray played for a dance at the Canadian-American Club in Boston. This was not the regular Cape Breton dance, which is held there on the second Saturday of each non-summer month, but an extra one added to take advantage of Troy’s presence in the area and held on Friday rather than Saturday in order to fit in other venues over the week-end. Since both Kimberley and Troy are as talented on the piano as on the fiddle, they switched between the instruments as the evening progressed. The crowd, alas, was small, with from thirty to forty people, several of whom, given the regular Friday night playing session with Ludger Lefort taking place concurrently downstairs, came and went as the evening progressed. And there were not many dancers—only three Inverness sets were danced during the entire evening and there were no step-dancers, though there were several couples dancing for the waltzes that were also played at various points during the evening. With such gifted players as Kimberley and Troy, it was clear that most were there, as was I, for an evening of the very best Cape Breton music.

And that is precisely what Kimberley and Troy delivered, in spades! Troy opened on fiddle with Kimberley on keyboards playing two fairly short sets, the second one of jigs. Kimberley then took over the fiddle and Troy the keyboards and played three very long sets during the next thirty minutes, giving us a selection of the great tunes in the Cape Breton repertoire, whose names, alas, I do not know even though I’ve heard them hundreds of times. Troy’s keyboard accompaniments were absolutely spot on, during these sets and throughout the evening, with subtle sequences of treble notes, occasionally doubling the melody but usually adding beautiful counterpoint to it, inserted from time to time into the rollicking rhythmic stream of notes that so beautifully undergirds the fiddle in the hands of the best piano accompanists in this style. These perfectly unobtrusive but enchantingly distinctive and delightfully decorative fillips detracted in no way from the tunes themselves—one had to listen very closely to even detect them—but they greatly added to my enjoyment of Kimberley’s beautiful fiddle playing.

After switching again, with Troy now on fiddle, dancers took the floor for the first Inverness set of the evening. There were only five couples in the first figure, but three more were added for the second and third figures. They clearly enjoyed themselves and it was great to see folks of all ages on the floor together, as one sees in the family dances in Cape Breton. After a waltz and a gorgeously played jig set, Troy and Kimberley again switched places. Another group of dancers then took to the floor for a second Inverness set, dancing this time to Kimberley’s fiddle. After the dance had ended, Kimberley launched into another set of great fiddle tunes, even longer than those she had played earlier. There could have been no one there whose toes were not tapping to this superb music. She followed with Jerry Holland’s waltz In Memory of Herbie MacLeod. And then came another attempt to coax dancers back to the floor: she played at least five jigs to no takers, so she changed tempo into several strathspeys and continued with several more reels, with a number of key changes to heighten the musical excitement. It was an amazing tour de force indeed, with lilt and drive and gorgeous sonorities from her fiddle throughout, matched by Troy’s marvellous accompaniments.

Troy then took over the fiddle once again and played a set of jigs to still no takers, though by the end of this set, one determined couple was on the floor soliciting others to join them. By the end of that set, they were still there. Troy then started another set of jigs and this time seven more couples came out on the floor for the third and final Inverness set of the evening; a ninth couple joined the dance at the second figure. After another waltz, with a gorgeous piano accompaniment from Kimberley, Troy played a set consisting of the Trumpet Hornpipe, J. Scott Skinner’s Madam Neruda, and his James D. Law Reel.^[1] Troy’s fiddle playing is as masterful as his keyboard accompaniment and always a joy to hear; his rock-solid rhythm, drive, and phrasing make him a widely sought-after dance player, but hearing him in concert mode is an especial delight.

By then, it was eleven and Troy took a break, inviting Doug Lamey to the stage while Kimberley continued on keyboards. Doug gave us a beautifully played set consisting of an air, strathspeys, and reels. A second long set, including the Wedding Reel,^[2] was equally impressive. Kimberley then left the stage for a break. With an empty bench at the keyboards, Doug launched into a third set: I am not much enamoured of solo fiddle, but I found Doug’s unaccompanied playing absolutely gorgeous and compelling, a feat few players can accomplish for me. Troy returned to the stage halfway through and beautifully embellished Doug’s fine playing. Doug is certainly more than able to hold his own in this august company.

Kimberley then picked up the fiddle, with Troy remaining on keyboards, and gave us another long set, starting with a gorgeously phrased and beautifully played slow air followed by strathspeys, including Devil in the Kitchen,^[3] and finishing with reels, all superbly played on both instruments. Another great set of strathspeys and reels followed. I had earlier requested that Kimberley play Aberdeen, the beautiful air which I first heard on track six of her Falling on New Ground CD, so she finished the evening with a stunning rendition of that gorgeous tune; the tone she got out of her fiddle sounded at times like a cello or viola and the phrasing was perfection itself. It was an incredible finish to a wonderful evening of the very best Cape Breton music.

^[1] I am indebted to Marcia Palmeter for these tune names.↩

^[2] I again owe this tune name to Marcia Palmeter.↩

^[3] This tune name identification is again from Marcia Palmeter.↩