fiddle player for recording sessions

Brendan Power is arguably the country's leading harmonica player, with a stunning technique and a wide range of styles.. He got a job on Riverdance for a year, during whic he fixed me up for a week's depping on the show. Having learned the tunes (no small job!) it was great when he asked me to play on his cd of Riverdance tunes. On this tune "American Wake" Brendan wanted a low down dirty fiddle sound, which I got by playing lots of false harmonics, double stops and blue notes.

Oumou Sangare is a superstar in her native Mali, and very big on the World Music scene. Tony Engle of Topic Records recommended me to Nick Gold (of World Circuit), who produced this record.
I'd never done any African music before, but some of her previous albums featured an old Malian guy on violin. Everything he did was on a pentatonic scale, so it was quite easy to follow the style, though some of the rhythms were quite baffling. This track Denw has a superb groove, complemented by a great brass section provided by Pee wee Ellis

One of the many recording sessions where I didn't get to meet the man himself. "The Man with the Golden Flute" does both classical and "crossover" repertoire. This album included a version of the love theme from "Titanic", for which he wanted a nice clean traditional Irish fiddle sound. I was asked to improvise a jig in the same feel and tempo as the song's intro, so that the two would neatly lock together.

I used to play with an excellent Hot Club jazz band lead by Neil Stacey- The Kimbara Brothers. As well as a couple of cd's of the band's gig repertoire, we were also asked to do this "generic" gypsy jazz album for a company that did budget albums for the mass market. This album contains 20 well known swing standards, and we recorded the whole thing in two days. Here's the fiddle solo from "After you've gone"


	CHRIS HAIGH;SESSION MUSICIAN/VIOLINIST/FIDDLE PLAYER
contact me: chris@fiddlingaround.co.uk 07759 680 533	If you're looking for a fiddle player for a recording session, you've got a potential problem. "Straight" string parts are easy- there are lots of orchestral players with the technique and experience to play whatever you put in front of them. If, however, you're looking for a particular style, such as country, Irish, swing or gypsy, you're in danger of landing yourself with a fish out of water- highly trained, skilled and experienced- but still a fish out of water! Worse still if you haven't got a written part, but just want a fiddle player to play something generic to fit the piece you're recording- you're then looking at red faces all round and a quick leaf through the MU book. Enter stage left, bashfully but confidently -renowned "round the world" fiddler Chris Haigh. As a session musician I've seen most of what people can throw at me: I've played fiddle on over 60 albums, covering the commercial (Michael Ball, Alison Moyet, Rolf Harris, James Galway, Steps, All About Eve), the exotic (Oumou Sangare, Ute Lemper, Kremlinaires, Tziganarama) the cool (Morcheeba, Daily Planet), and the obsure (too many to mention!) I've done library albums, film scores and jingles by the bucket load. Here's a bit of a barnyard hoedown on a butter commercial, which I did with banjo ace Leon Hunt. In 2008 I got a call from Malcolm and Nainita at Soundology, to play on the soundtrack for the four -part BBC series Billy Connolly-Journey to the edge of the World. I played on most of the tracks- a wonderfully diverse mixture of Scottish, Irish, bluegrass and country styles, and got "featured musician" status on the credits. Here's a clip: I've rarely been given a score at a recording session, though I can read one, and rarely need to go more than a couple of takes. I've spent thirty years delving into all the different fiddle styles- Irish, Scottish, Country, cajun, bluegrass , western swing, Russian, Balkan, Klezmer, gypsy, jazz, rock and blues. Not just in a shallow way but seriously and in detail (check out my book "The Fiddle Handbook " and the associated website www.fiddlingaround.co.uk.) Click here for a more detailed cv. So if you're looking for a safe pair of hands to cover a fiddle or violin session, get in touch. You can email me at chris@fiddlingaround.co.uk or ring me on 07759 680533. REMOTE SESSIONS I'm based in London, but am happy to travel. I can also do a "remote session" by email if you prefer. I've done several jingles this way, as well as a backing track for a Russian theatre production. I have a simple but effective home setup using Garageband, a desk and a high quality DPA mic. If you send me a track with click, I can send back a stereo mp3 at at 320 kbps. You're probably in two minds about using some unknown and remote person to do your session. Here's how it works; if you send me an mp3 of the track, I'll send you back a rough guide of what I might play on the track. Only when you've heard this do you have to decide if you want to use me. I'll then work on the track, listening back and forth until you're happy with the result. Then you can pay me by paypal, or direct transfer. Easy!
	Here are a few fiddle recording sessions I've done over the years

		Brendan Power is arguably the country's leading harmonica player, with a stunning technique and a wide range of styles.. He got a job on Riverdance for a year, during whic he fixed me up for a week's depping on the show. Having learned the tunes (no small job!) it was great when he asked me to play on his cd of Riverdance tunes. On this tune "American Wake" Brendan wanted a low down dirty fiddle sound, which I got by playing lots of false harmonics, double stops and blue notes.

		You never know what you're getting into when you go for a recording session. This one was at Pete Waterman's studio, for the first single of an unknown pop band. They were looking for a down-home country fiddle sound; it was pretty obvious to me that the song was a cross between Cotton Eyed Joe and Achy Breaky Heart. I first heard the song again on Blue Peter (Yeah!), and it went into the charts the following month. Because they used to mime to backing tracks at their gigs, thanks to the MU I used to get handomly paid for NOT going on tour with them! Here's the fiddle intro to 5,6,7,8

		This album, by Frazier Chorus, was produced by Ian Broudie (of the Lightning Seeds); he rang me up out of the blue for this fiddle session.

		Oumou Sangare is a superstar in her native Mali, and very big on the World Music scene. Tony Engle of Topic Records recommended me to Nick Gold (of World Circuit), who produced this record. I'd never done any African music before, but some of her previous albums featured an old Malian guy on violin. Everything he did was on a pentatonic scale, so it was quite easy to follow the style, though some of the rhythms were quite baffling. This track Denw has a superb groove, complemented by a great brass section provided by Pee wee Ellis

		One of the many recording sessions where I didn't get to meet the man himself. "The Man with the Golden Flute" does both classical and "crossover" repertoire. This album included a version of the love theme from "Titanic", for which he wanted a nice clean traditional Irish fiddle sound. I was asked to improvise a jig in the same feel and tempo as the song's intro, so that the two would neatly lock together.

		I used to play with an excellent Hot Club jazz band lead by Neil Stacey- The Kimbara Brothers. As well as a couple of cd's of the band's gig repertoire, we were also asked to do this "generic" gypsy jazz album for a company that did budget albums for the mass market. This album contains 20 well known swing standards, and we recorded the whole thing in two days. Here's the fiddle solo from "After you've gone"

		The session fixer Levine Andrade got me this job, playing violin on an album by Ute Lemper. It's an atmosheric, smoky central European cabaret sound, and they were looking for some authentic sounding klezmer fiddle.

		This track (When we began) on a Michael Ball album was produced by Brian Spence; he give me this simple but strong lick to play at the start of the song, repeated at various points in the arrangement.

		Leon Hunt takes the banjo to places it was never intended to go; with his band Daily Planet he has taken bluegrass as a starting point to almost anywhere you can imagine. This track, Dark Water, from the Album Clark's Secret is highly atmospheric- steamy, fetid swamp music for which he wanted some very bluesy fiddle.

		I did a series recording sessions on six albums for Kingsway called "Celtic Expressions of Worship"; beautifully produced and atmospheric Celtic versions of hymns. Lots of reverb, tinwhistles, Uillan pipes, mists and twilight- you get the picture! On this track I demonstrate the anicent and noble art of Celtic Noodling.

		I play in a band called Klezmania which does a mixture of klezmer and jazz; as well as arts centres and such like we also do a lot of Jewish weddings and Bar Mitzvahs. Here's an extract from a set of Hasidic Wedding Dances. I use all the typical klezmer fiddle techniques such as the kretsch (sob), a close trill and the sliding down of some notes. I love the "umpah" piano rhythm on this one.

		Zumzeaux was a band I played in during the late 80's and 90's- musically one of the most wide-ranging and ambitious outfits I've been in. We covered jazz, cajun, western swing, klezmer, balkan, celtic - in fact whatever came into our heads. This track, Painted Desert is a bluegrass-tinged western fantasy.