Musicians of the Fire & Water Consort

"Jacqueline Schwab is one of the most immediately recognizable pianists in America, although very few people actually know who she is," writes Boston Globe correspondent Scott Alarik. Her signature folk piano improvisations have been heard internationally as background music to television programs ranging from Ken Burns' PBS documentaries Baseball and the Grammy-award winning The Civil War to Christmas family reunion scenes on Master Card commercials.

Drawing on classical, traditional, and dance music styles, Jacqueline performs solo concerts of vintage American music, improvising on Stephen Foster and Civil War songs, waltzes, folk hymns, ragtime, and tangos, and bluesy Billie Holiday ballads. Jacqueline's lyrical reflections on folk melodies are featured on two solo recordings: her new Down Came An Angel (Dorian), based on American folk carols, and Mad Robin, based on English dance tunes. She has performed and recorded with the improvisatory English dance music ensemble Bare Necessities, Scottish musicians Laura Risk, Jean Redpath, and Alisdair Fraser, glass harmonica performer Dean Shostak, and others. She has a degree in improvisation from the New England Conservatory of Music.

Bruce Molsky, one of the most influential old-time fiddlers around, is also a remarkable guitarist, banjoist and singer. His high-spirited music melds the archaic mountain sounds of Appalachia, the power of blues and the rhythmic intricacies of traditional African music. The Washington Post says Bruce's music "set[s] into motion melodies that radiate enormous spirit and momentum," and Sing Out! Says his fiddling "combines precision and abandon so perfectly that it raises the hairs on the back of your neck."

Among the long list of great players with whom Bruce has performed and recorded are Martin Hayes, Darol Anger, Alasdair Fraser, Mike Seeger, Hazel Dickens, Cathy Fink & Marxer, The Waverly Consort, and the early music ensemble Hesperus. His latest solo recording, Lost Boy (Rounder) received great praise. Bruce, along with the old-time string band Big Hoedown, was featured on Minnesota Public Radio's acclaimed A Prairie Home Companion in 1998. Bruce has been featured in Fiddler Magazine, Acoustic Guitar, Acoustic Musician, and Banjo Newsletter. He has performed extensively at festivals and concert venues, including The Lincoln Center in New York and The Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, DC. He toured the U.K. with internationally acclaimed fiddler Kevin Burke and others on the Fiddles on the Fire tour, and was featured performer at Fiddles of the World in Nova Scotia in 1999. Bruce is also an accompanist with the percussive dance ensemble Footworks (formerly The Fiddle Puppet Dancers). He has toured extensively in Germany, Luxembourg and Switzerland, the United States and Finland.

Ralph Gordon is a bassist and cellist much in demand in both the folk and jazz scenes. His warm tome, sophisticated harmonic sense, and solid, creative rhythm have been heard on many recordings and in live performances across the U.S. and Europe. He has recorded on the Rounder, Flying Fish, and the Red House labels, with Magpie, Childsplay, Trapezoid, John McCutcheon, and Freyda and Acoustic AttaTude, among others. His jazz recordings include Brooks Tegler & Hot Jazz, and Double Scotch with Kevin Wimmer and Tom Mitchell. Classically educated at Manhattan School of Music, Ralph has performed with the New Jersey Symphony, Hesperus, and jazz master Rusty Mason.

Jeremiah McLane has been performing professionally for the past two decades in both the folk and jazz worlds. He has studied music at Oberlin College, The Cornish Institute of the Allied Arts, The University of New Hampshire and The New England Conservatory. On his two principal instruments, accordion and piano, he draws from his diverse backgrounds to create a unique sound. His approach to traditional music is forward-looking but rests on a solid base of understanding the roots of American and European folk idioms. Jeremiah has performed at numerous festivals and concert venues throughout the U.S. and Europe, including the Picolo Spoleto Festival, The Philadelphia Folk Festival, and the Royal Festival Hall in London, England. In addition to his two solo recordings, and those with well-known bands The Clayfoot Strutters and Nightingale, Jeremiah has played on over twenty albums of traditional and folk artists.

Keith Murphy is known for his powerful Irish guitar sound in DADGAD tuning and a dance piano style based on Quebecois music. He also plays mandolin and is a master of French Canadian foot percussion. Keith is a member of the popular Vermont trio Nightingale. He is the group's lead vocalist, noted for his gentle and expressive singing. With Nightingale he plays guitar, piano and mandolin in their repertoire of music from Newfoundland, Quebec, Ireland, France and Scandinavia. Keith also performs with Ruthie Dornfeld and Joel Bernstein in a sort of Appalachian-Celtic fusion ensemble, and is the newest member of Popcorn Behavior. He has also accompanied some of the finest players of traditional Irish music including fiddler Liz Carroll and accordionist martin O'Connor. Keith has performed throughout the U.S. and Canada, as well as Denmark, Finland and England and appears as guest musician on many recordings.

Multi-instrumentalist Paul Oorts performs nationally on classical guitar with dulcimer player Steve Schneider from NY, with whom he recorded the highly acclaimed Momentum CD ("as good as it gets" said Dulcimer Players' News). He also often plays steel-string guitar and Irish Bouzouki in duo with his wife, dulcimist and flutist Karen Ashbrook. When not teaming up with dulcimers, he plays mandolin and tenor banjo in DC area contradance bands Cabaret Sauvignon (with his wife Karen, fiddler Andrea Hoag, and pianist Dave Wiesler) and Martin's Flight (with Alexander Mitchell on fiddle, Mark Glickman on piano, and Ralph Gordon on bass). He teaches part-time for the Humanities department at Peabody Conservatory and has been on the faculty of Common Ground, the Swannanoa Gathering, and the Augusta Heritage Center. His new great love is the musette accordeon.

send e-mail to Andrea Hoag

Azalea City Recordings