Jerry O'Sullivan is unanimously acknowledged as the greatest uilleannpiper ever produced by North America.
His 1998 CD, "The Gift" was
hailed as a masterpiece on both sides
of the Atlantic. The most sought-after
piper for
television and film projects, his voluminous credits include the
award-winning documentary "Out
of Ireland" and the film "Far & Away".
He is currently featured with the
Eileen Ivers Band.
Jerry O'Sullivan has been widely hailed as America's premier uilleann piper. His reputation for technical and melodic mastery of the instrument,
an Irish bagpipes known for their subtlety and expression, is unsurpassed in the United States, and is demanding considerable
attention overseas. Jerry is also widely recorded on the Irish flute, the tin whistle, the low whistle, the Highland bagpipes,
and the Scottish smallpipes.
Jerry has appeared on more than 60 albums, performing with
The Boston Pops, Sinead O'Connor, Dolly Parton, Eileen Ivers, Seamus Egan, and James
Galway. He was also a featured performer on Paul Winter's GRAMMY winning album, Celtic Solstice (Living
Music, 1999). His two solo albums, The Gift (Shanachie, 1998), and The Invasion (Green Linnet, 1987) have both
received critical acclaim, quickly finding their way to the top of a number of "best albums of the year" lists. Jerry has
also recorded a number of film soundtracks including From Shore to Shore, The Long Journey Home, Far and
Away, and Out of Ireland, and has appeared on numerous television commercials.
Jerry has toured extensively in the United States and Ireland,
and has even played as far afield as Japan and Israel. He has been a featured performer and instructor in numerous Folk Festivals,
including the Milwaukee Irish Festival, Boston's Gaelic Roots Festival, the National Council for Traditional Arts Folk Festival,
and the Swannanoa Gathering in Asheville, North Carolina. He has performed at such reputable venues as New York's Lincoln
Center, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and on the mall in Washington D.C. His symphonic concerts have included selections from John
Williams Far and Away, performed and recorded with the Boston Pops, and Patrick Cassidy's The Famine Symphony
and Siochan (Peace).
Born in New York city to an Irish-American mother and a father
from Dublin, Jerry first learned to play the Scottish highland bagpipes. During summer visits to cousins in Dublin, he learned
the uilleann pipes at the Piper's club on Essex street, and from listening to experienced players such as Matt Kiernan, Peter
McKenna, Fergus Finnegan, and Mick O'Brien. Back in the U.S., he built his strong repertoire performing with New York musicians
such as Bill Ochs and Andy McGann, and later Eileen Ivers and Joanie Madden.
Jerry O'Sullivan can regularly be found performing solo, or
with a number of other accomplished musicians such as fiddler Eileen Ivers, and guitarist Zan McLeod. On special occasions,
he is also known to perform with traditional Irish step dancers. As a former English teacher, he is also an experienced educator,
and has acted as a lecturer and demonstrator to a wide variety of audiences.
Jerry O'Sullivan is a gifted ambassador of the Irish uilleann
pipes, maintaining the historic traditions and melodies of the instrument while expanding the its range into new genres of
music and media. His mastery of the instrument, traditional knowledge, versatility, and dedication to education truly make
him America's premier uilleann piper.
The Scottish-born Tony Cuffe
was a superlative singer and guitarist.
A former member of Ossian,
he lived in Boston, until his very tragic, untimely death of cancer just a few days before Christmas 2001.
He was one of the most popular
instructors and performers at the annual Catskills Irish Arts Week.
The concert that he performed
in January 2001 in our series was one of his last , we
will miss his artistry and gentle way!
Tony Cuffe (vocals, guitar, harmonium, harp) with Jerry O'Sullivan (uilleann pipes, whistle), Pat O'Gorman (flute), John Skelton
(bodhran), Laurel Martin (fiddle), Derek Hoy (fiddle), Jenny Clarke (vocals), Norman Chalmers (whistle), Billy Jackson (harp)
and other members of Jock Tamson's Bairns.
Tony Cuffe was born 1954 in Greenock, Scotland and died in Massachusetts, December 2001. He came to the fore as a singer
and guitarist within the flourishing Scottish traditional music scene of the 1970s.
Comprising mainly previously unreleased material gathered from surviving private, concert and studio recordings, this album
has at its heart tracks from a projected solo album of Scottish and Irish love songs. Tony worked on these recordings at home
in Arlington throughout 2001 for as long as his health would allow, and the resulting takes were completed and mixed in Edinburgh
in accordance with his instructions. The results are powerful proof of his genius.
Tony was co-founder of Alba, a pioneering band that made an album of that name in 1978, and a year later joined and recorded
with Jock Tamson’s Bairns, who came out of Edinburgh’s famous session bar Sandy Bell’s. It is from the band’s
first album that the title track of this collection is taken. He became a member of Glasgow-based Ossian in 1980 and recorded
four albums with them.
In 1988 Tony made his only solo album, on Iona Records - When First I Went to Caledonia. He toured Europe and North America
with Ossian, undertaking radio and television work, and appeared with the influential 7:84 Theatre Company. He contributed
to the projects of Billy Kay, including Fergusson’s Auld Reekie, and to Billy Jackson’s ensemble works The Wellpark
Suite and St Mungo Suite.
In 1989 he moved to Massachusetts and settled with his young family in Arlington, near Boston. While continuing to tour
with Ossian and Billy Jackson, Tony became firmly established as a popular solo performer, adding harp, whistle and harmonica
to his skills, and was recognised as a gifted and inspiring teacher of traditional music.
He performed regularly with the cream of Scottish and Irish musicians in the United States and worked extensively with
The Windbags, who provide the track which opens this album. More recent recording projects included tracks on Gaelic Roots
and Fred Freeman’s Complete Songs of Robert Burns series.
The project would not have been possible without the generous contribution of skills, resources, advice and guidance from
many individuals and organisations on both sides of the Atlantic, detailed in the sleeve notes. Executive producer Stuart
Eydmann.
