The Chieftains
Live At Montreux 1997
Eagle Eye Media
www.eaglerockent.com
By George W. Harris

Being together as a band longer than most of us have been on God’s
green earth, the Chieftains make absolute sense to show up at the 1997
Montreux Jazz Festival. The classic lineup of Paddy Moloney (pipes,
whistle), Matt Molloy (flute), Kevin Conneff (Bodhran/vocals) Sean
Keane (fiddle), Martin Fay (fiddle) and the late Derek Bell (harp) is
here, promoting their then recent release The Long Black Veil. The band
swings like no other, and as Art Blakey stated, “all jazz is dance
music.” The band rolls like a stem engine on “Murphy’s Hornpipe” that
includes some marvelous Irish dancing by Donny Golden and Cara Butler.
The Irish melody “Carrickfergus” has some formidable fiddle work by
Martin Fay, while the hilarious “Dueling Chanters” (a satire of the
Deliverance theme) has some wonderful pipe work. Infectious, joyous,
and most importantly, REAL music played my men who ooze four leaf
clovers.