Famous flute players
Present day Jazz flautists of note include Herbert Laws and
Dave Valentin, with past greats including Yusef Latif, Frank West and Herbie
Mann. As one would expect, many of the famous
jazz musicians were American, for
example Frank Wess originated from Kansas City, born in 1922, and was a member
of the Count Basie Orchestra from 1953 to 1964. There are many classical flautists who are famous amongst
those who art aficionados of such music, such as Jean Pierre Rampal, Auriel
Nicolet, William Bennett, Emanuel Pahud and more, but the flautist who has
probably made himself famous to the public in general is the Irish flautist
James Galway, now Sir James Galway, OBE. He crossed the border between purely
classical music and light music, particularly with Annie’s Song, and became
being nicknamed “the man with the golden flute”. As well as being a virtuoso flautist, he had that very
special Irish charm which when put together with his broad view of music, has
made him a household name. I remember him being interviewed on the radio some
years ago, and asked how he managed to play the flight of the bumblebees at such
a speed, without pause for breath. He confirmed that the speed was his
virtuosity, but the lack of pause for breath was not his doing, but due to some
very good sound editing. In reality, he had taken breaths, and no he didn’t
breathe in through his ears. The issue of taking breaths is something that comes up in
Irish folk music played on the flute. Particularly in an
Irish ceilidh band, where
the seeming seamlessness of the Irish tunes in gender is a sort of hypnosis in
the dancers. In classical music, the flautist would take breaths between
phrases. The equivalent of phrases in folk dance music is the end of the eight
bar line, typically four sets of eight bars making up the 32 bar trick or real.
An Irish flautist however, will not breathe at the end of the line, but will
breathe somewhere fairly randomly in the middle of the line, so their breath is
partly disguised by the other instruments, and is partly unexpected in such a
position so that it goes unnoticed by the listener. It’s the sort of conjuring
trick, doing things when no one is paying attention is not expecting things to
happen. The flute is not an instrument commonly used in pop bands,
but one notable exception was the Jethro Tull rock band who were famous in the
early 70s bands vocalist was also a talented flautist, and I think guitarist as
well. He played the flute with microphone attached, to enable high volume PA
system to be used without feedback, or at least only with feedback when he
wished it to occur. I remember sitting on the floor of the concert hall at
wedding University in my first year there, at a concert given by Jethro Tull. It
was the sort of rock band where the volume of the base notes in particular moved
one’s intestines around. It wasn’t so much an experience of hearing, the volume
was so high that it cause distortion in the eardrums, it was more an experience
of feeling the music through the whole body as the sound waves hit you. (The
military have experimented with infra-sound weapons, which vibrates the whole
body to incapacitate the enemy. This was an experience that came close to the
weapon system.) Anyway, he was a super flautist, or at least I enjoy displaying.
I’m not sure that he went down too well with some classical flautists! Many of the best folk flautists play in Irish ceilidh
bands, and the instrument being a key part of the melody. There are a number of
Irish flutes and whistles, transverse flute being a large hold flute without
keys, then there’s the Irish piccolo, a keyless piccolo sized wooden instrument,
then there are the tin whistle style flutes in various sizes and keys, made from
wood, metal and some quite good ones in plastics. One you are a mere you are a walk down a you are you are a
answer no to a notable band amongst many, is the Irish band Flook, who play
Irish and and concert flutes in their performances, including the base flute. Great Jazz flautists
Great classical flautists
Pop Flautists
Folk flautists