John McKenna

 JOHN McKENNA/HIS ORIGINAL RECORDINGS

The John McKenna Traditional Society, no date

John McKenna (1880-1947) is considered as the first Irish traditional flute player to have established the concert flute in the 20th century. He was as famous as Michael Coleman and he came from a flute-fiddle area ie Co. Leitrim and he emigrated to the USA in 1911.
Here we have 18 sides of 78rpm recorded between 1921 and 1937 made for different labels such as Columbia, Decca or Gennett. These sides were remastered by Harry Bradshaw a man of great importance in the preservation of old recordings. The notes are made up partly of interviews with several people who knew McKenna and partly of biographical information by Jackie Small.
Other musicians played along with him : Michael Gaffney on banjo, James Morrison on fiddle, Barney Conlon on fiddle and Eddie Meehan on flute, all hailing from Co. Sligo, Leitrim or Roscommon. All the sets are backed by a piano as it was the custom at the time.
Needless to say that the repertoire is entirely ''local'' so if you are a fan of that part of Ireland you must know about this tape. Great music by a great player. 

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