{"id":6532,"date":"2015-03-16T23:05:47","date_gmt":"2015-03-17T06:05:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/?p=6532"},"modified":"2015-03-17T23:03:11","modified_gmt":"2015-03-18T06:03:11","slug":"may-the-leprechauns-be-near-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2015\/03\/may-the-leprechauns-be-near-you\/","title":{"rendered":"May The Leprechauns Be Near You"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"St.<\/a>St. Patrick\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Day arrives bringing a reminder of a record that never was. In the 1960s Paul Desmond and guitarist Jim Hall, frequent collaborators in those days, came up with an idea for an album of Irish music. In their planning—and possibly—drinking session, they decided on some of the tunes they would record, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Tralee Song,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Lovely Hoolihan\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Fitzhugh or No One\u00e2\u20ac\u009d among them. That, regrettably, is as far as the project went. <\/p>\n

Ben Webster to the rescue. Although the Irish repertoire is not overloaded with songs that lend themselves to jazz interpretation, a notable exception is “Londonderry Air,” also known as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Danny Boy.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Webster had great affection for the tune, and it required little to persuade him to play it, always with emphasis on melody and emotion. Here he is in 1965 at the Jazhus Montmartre in Copenhagen. His rhythm section is Kenny Drew at the piano, the young bassist Niels Henning-\u00c3\u02dcrsted Pedersen, and Alex Riel on drums. <\/p>\n