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Back of the Moon are:
Gillian Frame
(fiddle, vocals)
Ali Hutton (border pipes, whistle, bodhran)
Findlay Napier (guitars, vocals)
Hamish Napier (piano, flutes, vocals, Scottish stepdance)
Want
to learn our tunes and songs? Go to:
Sheet Music &
Lyrics>
"...thoughtfully
pased repertoire, with tune sets both power-packed and reflective...recent
recruit Ali Hutton's whistle, pipes and bodhran have brought a real fillip
and the quartet have the look and confidence of a band on the way up."
Rob Adams, Back
of the Moon at The Arches, Celtic Connections 2005.
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Read each member's biog, photo, info and discography:
ALI HUTTON
Pipes, whistles
& bodhran with Back of the Moon. Also plays guitar
& bouzouki
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Ali Hutton plays Nigel Richard's Borderpipes.
Nigel has been established in Scotland as one
of the leading makers of Border pipes and Scottish
smallpipes since the late 1980s
www.borderpipes.co.uk
garviebagpipes@zetnet.co.uk,
+[44] (0)131 467 7535
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also plays a Misha Somerville MK low D whistle.
Misha founded 'MK Music' in 2000 with the intention
of making the world's best whistles. +44(0)1415548836
info@jazzwhistle.com www.mkwhistles.com |
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BIOGRAPHY
Ali Hutton (23) is from Methven in Perthshire and has
been playing the Highland bagpipes since the age of
7. He studied Scottish Music at the RSAMD under multi-instrumentalist
Brian McNeill and also plays guitar, whistle, bouzouki
and bodhran. He toured throughout Europe with the Vale
of Atholl pipe band for a number of years, winning the
national youth pipe band competition as their pipe major.
Through this he received tuition from the virtuoso piping
brothers Gordon and Ian Duncan. At 18, he was performing
at festivals in Spain and at Celtic Connections with
Gordon Duncan's band 'Clueless'.
Ali has a considerable amount of depping experience:
playing pipes/whistles for Deaf Shepherd, Cantrip, The
Gordon Duncan Band and The Scottish Fiddle Orchestra,
and playing bodhran with Glasgow-Irish instrumental
trad band Beneche. He joined young Scottish folk group
Brolum for their second album 'The Fair Face I Never
Saw', appearing several times with them on Scottish
Television and radio. Ali recently recorded with Karen
Matheson and Donald Shaw for the BBC Scotland Hogammany
show 2005 and BBC Burns Night 2007. He performed many
times with Dougie MacLean, including MacLean's 'Perthshire
Amber' production in the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
at Celtic Connections 2005. He played guitar on Glasgow
fiddler Jamie Smith's solo album, and on on Rodger Lyall's
Tale of the Howe - an album celebrating the history
of Kincardineshire in music and song, with narration
from Lewis Grassic Gibbon's famous novels. He currently
plays with Back of the Moon, Ross Ainslie & Jarlath
Henderson, Brolum, The Trotters and the Jamie Smith
Experiment.
PRESS REVIEWS
"The locked-on cohesion of
the ensemble playing is all the more impressive given
the replacement, during the past year, of original piper
Simon McKerrell by Ali Hutton, also on whistles and
bodhran."
Sue Wilson
"A brilliantly inventive musician, the band's set
was at its best when his pipes were in full flow."
Fergus Muirhead
"...recent recruit Ali Hutton's whistle, pipes
and bodhran have brought a real fillip and the quartet
have the look and confidence of a band on the way up."
Rob Adams
DISCOGRAPHY
Brolum - The Fair Face I
Never Saw
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"The
sheer flair of the instrumental tracks, and Kathleen
Graham's stunning Gaelic vocals make me wonder if
this young, very exciting band has the sort of potential
to become the new Capercaillie. Then I listen to
Andy Webster's richly Scots-accented vocals, and
find myself making mental comparisons to Malinky.
The arrangements are bursting with drive and energy
-- and the choice of material is spot on. Here you'll
find covers of tunes by Rory Campbell, Aidan O'Rourke,
many traditional tunes and songs -- all successfully
combined with the band's original music. Musically,
it's a dazzling cornucopia of blissful, heady Celtic
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fiddles, clarsach, whistles,Scottish small pipes,
bouzouki, guitars and piano. It's all rounded off
by a superb rhythm section - Martin O'Neill is mesmerising
to witness on bodhran with his powerfully rhythmic
playing, and Duncan Lyall is a stunning bassist
-- check out his pulsating intro to the puirt a
beul!
Kathleen Graham (from Skye) recently replaced Julie
Fowlis (Dochas) on lead vocals. She has a wonderful
voice for singing puirt, and I could listen to "The
Fantastic Breeks" all day - it's a truly fabulous
arrangement. The instrumentals are absolute stunners
Soymilk Sivy" (featuring O'Rourke's instantly
recognizable "Waves of Rush") is the epitome
of this band's potential - whistles, fiddle, accordion,
guitars and more swept along by the tightest, most
precise rhythmic flow - breathtaking, especially
when those pipes are cranked up to make for the
grandest and loudest of entries! Same goes for "Dinna
Get a Boose On" - it's a staggeringly enjoyable
instrumental, kicking up all the potent vibe of
a Finlay MacDonald Band set. A guest string ensemble
is put to sublime use on a couple of tracks, in
particular "Smiler," where it augments
the sparkling beauty of Graham's clarsach and Webster's
guitar-playing. There's a wonderful male/female
vocal sparring match on "Lovers' Tiff."
Recommended to any reader looking out for young,
exciting, upcoming Celtic bands - take it from me;
they sound GREAT, both live and on this recording.
I like to play this one very loud!"
Debbie Koritsas, 28 May 2005 |
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Tale of the howe - Rodger Lyall
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"This CD is a collection of songs celebrating
a region of South Aberdeenshire known as the Mearns.
It is punctuated with readings from local son
and famous novelist Lewis Grassic Gibbon and accompanied
by a selection of string quartet and folk instruments.
It has been an ambitious project by all accounts
but a great success."
"A "Tale Of The Howe" is a collection
of eight hauntingly beautful songs accompanied
by a selection of guitar, bouzouki, whistle, pipes,
accordion, strings and double bass." Jan
06
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Jamie Smith - Jamie Smith
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The
distinctive figure of this Glasgow fiddler is well
known from his appearances with Beneche and other
groupings. On this debut solo recording he mixes
Irish and Scottish tunes ancient and modern, adding
seven of his own compositions. There are some rare
treats here:
Little Jennifer from the repertoire of Tommy Potts,
Leddy From Cavan putting a name to one of Ed Reavy's
many reels, and the cracking jig Miss Catherine
Jane Sprees with Brian MacNeill's wizardry written
right through it. Jamie Smith fiddles in a clear,
no-nonsense style, cutting through all accompaniment
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accompaniment is
rich and varied here, ranging from the near-jazz
of Edinburgh's folk scene on Clare Toast to the
Spanish fiesta rhythms and Latin guitar on Palma
Perfecto. Jamie's composition Ma's Taxi stands
out, as do Eve's Jig by James Kelly and Christina's
Set featuring Jamie's talented younger sister
who divides her time between fiddling in Glasgow
and painting in Edinburgh.
Jamie finishes with a real blast of powerful fiddling
on Cuz Teehan's Barndance and Christy Barry's
Jig, showing how well he can get inside a tune.
His gutsy fiddle and fondness for the lower register
make this a very interesting album, raw tunes
over a meaty backing, promising plenty of pleasant
surprises to come from Jamie Smith."
Alex Monaghan
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