Dan Ar Bras Made In Breizh CD

Dan Ar Bras (or Braz, as he's styled here), has a storied past in Breton and Celtic music, having played with any number of the great names. But he's also released a number of excellent solo records, and this adds to the canon. There's no shortage of people lining up to appear with him, including Capercaillie's Karen Matheson, who offers vocals on three tracks, percussionist Noel Bridgeman, and, inevitably, Donal Lunny, who seemingly has a contract allowing him to guest on every Celtic album released. But it's certainly not a case of too many cooks (33 to judge by the booklet) spoiling the broth; instead, the result is a delicious soup, with plenty of nimble and thoughtful electric guitar from Ar Bras on a disc that's largely made up of his own compositions, with "Faces of Spain" a standout, as is "Scottish Suite," with its selection of strathspeys and reels elegantly performed on bagpipes. The songs don't always work quite as well, occasionally coming off as a little too lightweight and Celtoid in arrangement. But buy this for the instrumentals and you won't be disappointed. ~ Chris Nickson

Audio Mixers: Ciaran Cahill; Eoghan O'Neill; Andrew Boland; Rob Kirwan; Tim Martin; Brian Masterson.

Recording information: Ca Va Studio, Glasgow, Scotland; Studio Chapeau Rouge In Quimper; Theater Of Quimper.

Unknown Contributor Roles: Emma Jane Lennon; Patric Molard; Olivier Lecuyer.

Arrangers: Dan ArBraz; Donald Shaw; Nollaig Casey.

Personnel includes: Dan Ar Braz (acoustic & electric guitars); Elaine Morgan, Gilles Servat (vocals); Nollaig Casey (fiddle); Liam O'Flynn (whistle, Uillean pipes); Donald Shaw (keyboards); Eogham O'Neill (bass); Ray Fean (drums).

Personnel: Dan ArBraz (acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Gilles Servat, Karen Matheson (vocals); Jacques Pellen (guitar, acoustic guitar); Dónal Lunny (acoustic guitar, keyboards); Alan Smale (violin); Nollaig Casey (fiddle, viola); Nicholas Quemener, Ronan Browne (flute); Bagad Kemper (bombard, cornemuse, horns, organ, percussion); Liam O'Flynn, Ronan Le Bars (Uilleann pipe); Richie Buckley (soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone); Rod McVey (piano, keyboards); Donald Shaw, Patrick Peron, Graham Henderson (keyboards); Eoghan O'Neill (bass guitar); Jim Kilpatrick, Ray Fean (drums); Noel Bridgeman (percussion).