Reviews and by every means, from researcher to tive American currents all fed the great performer. (Wade produced and anno­ stream of American fiddle tunes. Alan Jabbour and Stephen Wade tated this CD.) At the time of this 1998 Produced by Wade in the months fol­ Americana Concert: concert in the Coolidge Auditorium of the lowing Jabbour's January 2017 pass­ Traditional Fiddle & Banjo Tunes from the Appalachians , Wade had recently ing, this is a heartfelt tribute to his produced and annotated A Treasury of Li­ friend, mentor, and musical partner. brary of Congress Field Recordings, an indis­ It's also a first-rate performance of fid­ pensable distillation of the Library's vast dle and banjo tunes by two artists who holdings issued on CD by the Rounder brought as much fire as scholarship to label. Little did anyone suspect that was the stage. At no time will listeners feel merely a warm-up for Wade's magnum they're hearing an academic exercise: opus, the extraordinary The Beautiful Mu­ these are two guys who played with sic All Around Us: Field Recordings and the joy and certainty and a sense of be­ American Experience (University of Illinois ing in the tradition. The CD's 12-page Press, 2013) . The two men onstage for that booklet offers Wade's recollections of noon concert twenty years ago shared a Jabbour, the concert, and comments varied and vast knowledge of American on Jabbour's commentaries, as well Alan Jabbour: fiddle; Stephen Wade: banjo vernacular music. as photos of Jabbour and some of the But they weren't there to lecture, they important people, Henry Reed among Stony Point I Introductory Remarks were there to entertain. Their perfor­ them, in his musical life. I Thoughts on Stony Point and Shoes mance was entitled "Americana Concert, M ARK H UMPHREY and Stockings I Shoes and Stockings I Traditional Fiddle & Banjo Tunes from To order: www.pxrec.com Thoughts on Santa Anna's Retreat I Santa the Appalachians." It ran a little over its Anna's Retreat I Thoughts on Bonaparte's advertised hour duration, giving the duo Retreat I Bonaparte's Retreat I Thoughts time for fifteen "musical offerings," as on Washington's March I Washington's Wade describes them, with Jabbour ex­ March I Thoughts on Paddy on the Turn­ tensively commenting on the tunes. He pike I Paddy on the Turnpike I Thoughts called his commentaries "raps," and, as on Isom Waltz I Isom Waltz I Thoughts Wade writes in the liner notes: "Unlike on Schottische I Schottische I Thoughts his other published recordings, this live on Ragged Bill I Ragged Bill I Thoughts concert reflects Alan's raps in addition to on Shooting Creek I Shooting Creek I his playing." Thoughts on Cabin Creek I Thoughts on The recording of the concert by the Falls of Richmond I Falls of Richmond I Library's John Howell was first rate, Thoughts on Betty Likens I Betty Likens I though the audio level of Jabbour's Thoughts on Liza Jane I Liza Jane I Liza speech is such that you have to lean in a Jane I Thoughts on Red Fox and Leather bit to catch it all. It's worth the effort: Jab­ Britches I Red Fox I Leather Britches bour presents himself as naturally and deeply knowledgeable without needing In this era of border closures and travel to prove it. He had a relaxed, friendly bans, it's worth noting that one of the manner and a knack for conveying sub­ best friends Anglo-American old-time tleties without reverting to academic fiddling ever had was the grandson of jargon. He comes across as a likable guy an immigrant from . Jabbour's CV and damn fine fiddler. is well known to readers of this publica­ Jabbour's "raps" offer food for thought tion. He was an ardent polymath whose and debate: he plays a couple of creek­ early experience as a classical violinist, titled tunes and then comments on their coupled with a keen interest in folklore, "cascading" nature, "starting up at the led him to explore old-time fiddling. He top and then cascading down." He says dove deep into the genre on every pos­ this is common to a lot of upper South­ sible level, especially absorbing and dis­ ern tunes but quite uncommon gener­ seminating the music of West ally in Anglo-American fiddling tradi­ fiddler Henry Reed, hailed by Jabbour tions. Wondering at the source of this as a "prospectus for American music." unusual melodic development, Jabbom At the time of this performance Jabbour posits this may have been a borrowing was a year shy of retirement from a long from Native American music. Else­ tenure as founding director of the Ameri­ where he comments on relationships be­ can Folklife Center at the Library of Con~ tween music and the environments, nat­ gress. ural and cultural, in which it develops. His accompanist, Stephen Wade, is a The choice of, tunes in the concert allow kindred spirit and fellow passionate ad­ Jabbour and Wade to demonstrate how vocate of traditional music on every level Anglo, Irish, German, African, and Na-

34 THE OLD-TIME HERALD WWW.OLDTIMEHERALD.ORG VOLUME 14, NUMBER 10