OTHERLANDS COLLABORATION #12
Location: Glasgow, Scotland • Date: Dec. 29, 2019
SPECIAL NOTE: Since our meeting and this recording, Michael has been named the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician for 2021. Congrats Michael!!!
*To learn more about Michael and his projects, please visit and follow his Facebook Artist Page.
After two weeks up in the Scottish Highlands, we headed south for Glasgow to embrace city life once again. Being away from family for the holidays, we felt that spending Christmas and New Year's around the decorations and buzz of the city could help get us in the spirit.
I had been contacting Glasgow and Edinburgh friends but, as happens at this time of year, many were away or busy for the holidays. But, the jam sessions don't seem to stop and are great for meeting new musicians. The evening after getting back from my collaboration with Éamonn Coyne, I was headed to my first Glasgow jam.
The bar was Machair, and the musicians were crowded around a rectangular table with a Christmas tree on one side. This group appeared to be in their 20's and had great spirit. I arrived a bit after they had set up, and the only space was next to the tree—on the opposite end of the table from all the melody players (fiddles & accordion). To my right was guitar, to my left, a harp had squeezed in between me and the tree, and across from me was a keyboard.
The bar was too noisy with holiday spirits to really hear more than the general shape of the melody. And without much Scottish repertoire, I was out of luck. However, the keyboardist saved my evening. He was fluid and interesting with his harmony, rhythmically unwavering, and he even held down the bass with his left hand. He was the main instrument I could hear. He glued the tunes together, and I glued my ears to him for the night, playing accompaniment rather than melody. His name is Michael Biggins.
When the jam was over, they told me about a few jams the next day, part of what's called "Sunday Funday" in Glasgow where you can attend sessions all day long, up until 3a. I had things to do during the day, so it wasn't until 9p that I headed out to the Ben Nevis session. A couple of the same folks were there from the night before, and we closed it down. They were moving on to the final jam of the evening at Broadcast. Sure I'll go, why not, I'm already out.
I arrived to find my new favorite keyboard player already set up. Musicians rolled in and out of the jam for the next few hours and we called it quits at 3a. Afterwards, Michael asked me if I would be interested in making a video with him. This was great because I was thinking of asking him the same thing—I hadn't played a duet with a pianist before, and as piano is a central instrument in lots of Scottish trad music, the ingredients were right for a collaboration. We planned to meet after Christmas.
Our original plan was to use one of the pianos at his school, but it was closed for the holidays. Thankfully, our AirBnB came with an upright piano—and it was relatively in tune! Problem solved. This place gets 5 stars for amenities.
But, what would we play? I thought back to the jam sessions we had and recalled one fun melody played at both. It was in 3/4 (not common for me), has 3 parts (interesting), is in E major (a lovely bright sound on the fiddle, not a ton of tunes in this key), and had harmony that lent itself for improvising. It's a modern tune called "Washington Square Park." I also remember it being played at the other session I attended, so I guess it's in the hot jam rotation. I was ready to really learn it.
Since medleys are common in Scottish tradition, I thought on what I could contribute. A bluegrass standard called "Brown County Breakdown" came to mind. It's one I've always enjoyed jamming on, also with three parts, also in the key of E major, with room in the harmony for Michael to stretch, but it was in 4/4.
Both of us had done some homework before the session, so on the day of recording, we fine-tuned our melody and harmony, and then set in on the arrangement. Our main challenges were to decide which tune would go first, and how would we change from 3/4 to 4/4, or the other way around. We settled on bluegrass to Scottish, 4/4 to 3/4—there was a great interlude part (call it a 3d part) in the original recording of “Washington Square Park” that inspired our transition, the subtraction of a beat gave it a sense of speeding up, and the intensity of the WSP melody and harmony gave a good lift to the arrangement.
As we played, I expected to hear a knock from my pseudo-neighbors, but it never happened. When we were satisfied, we finished the afternoon off with a bit of improvisation. Michael chose the keys and the harmonic starting point, and we let our ears guide us the rest of the way.
Getting ready to leave, Michael mentioned he was on his way up to the Highlands. Ross Martin, who I had recently done a collaboration with, would be on the gig. It would be their first time playing together. Keep a lookout for Michael on the scene… He’ll be holding it down.
CREDITS
Songs: Brown County Breakdon (Bill Monroe) / Washington Square Park (Angus Lyon / Ruairidh Campbell)
Music Arranged by: Casey Driessen & Michael Biggins
Piano: Michael Biggins
Fiddle & Audio/Video: Casey Driessen
Additional Music: Improvised