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Author Topic: John Kirkpatrick  (Read 5165 times)

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Daddy Long Les

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John Kirkpatrick
« on: February 08, 2017, 12:00:52 AM »

My wife and I have just got back from having seen John Kirkpatrick at our local folk club.

We paid just £7 each for the privilege.  I knew he would be good but I was shocked at just how good he was. I finally get what George Garside has been saying about the BCC# now.  He wasn't too shabby on the Anglo and the lovely two row that Emmanuel Pariselle made him either!!!

I guess this won't be news to most of you on here but to a relative new-boy like me it was an eye opener.  He's also incredibly witty and has an amazingly loud and mellifluous singing voice.

As I type there is a huge plume of smoke drifting over Rayleigh as my collection of squeeze boxes are being burnt as they are all now redundant. (Joke!).  (:)
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Thrupenny Bit

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Re: John Kirkpatrick
« Reply #1 on: February 08, 2017, 07:57:43 AM »

Yep, John is a force of nature...... good at everything include dance.
He's the person who arguably reinvented Border Morris when Shropshire Bedlams were born  Though if Baz pops along he will say quite rightly there were other sides going before Bedlams.
Generally too there's the odd 'typo' in his playing when listening that gives us lesser mortals some hope!
Welcome to the fan club  (:)
Q
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Thrupenny Bit

I think I'm starting to get most of the notes in roughly the right order...... sometimes!

Thrupenny Bit

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Re: John Kirkpatrick
« Reply #2 on: February 08, 2017, 08:02:43 AM »

.....and significantly, he's playing a Pariselle.
I'd heard a little bird whisper one was on the way to him. Until now he's been a staunch advocate of Hohners, and Pokerwork for a 2 row 8 bass box.
I'm curious as to why he's changed allegiance. Should bump into him in the summer so unless it comes to light before, I'll ask!
cheers
Q
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Thrupenny Bit

I think I'm starting to get most of the notes in roughly the right order...... sometimes!

Anahata

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Re: John Kirkpatrick
« Reply #3 on: February 08, 2017, 08:07:43 AM »

Don't burn, learn!

I last saw him on Saturday when he was running an excellent musician's workshop in the morning and did a concert set in the afternoon. And I finally managed to buy a copy of his tune book!

He's been an inspiration for forty years...

(Re: Q)
Yes, he was leaping about a lot in the workshop, and several bits in the concert crashed horribly, but he's got a well-rehearsed recovery procedure!

The Pariselle was intended to sound like a 4-stop one row. It is tuned LMMH, but there the resemblance ends. It's a lovely box (though I haven't actually had a go on it) but it ain't a Hohner.
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Thrupenny Bit

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Re: John Kirkpatrick
« Reply #4 on: February 08, 2017, 08:53:54 AM »

Pariselles are gaining a huge following presumably primed from the courses he runs.
I haven't been on a course but have popped in to three I think, visiting friends and Theo when at Yeovil. It is a lovely finished article people come away with.
Chatting to Andy Cutting about 6 months ago, he's made one in BbEb and I think making another in CF but not certain on that. His truly beloved DG Mory that he said has been with him on *every* gig he's done is getting side-lined a tad. At the time the BbEb was being used a lot.
Afterward the concert he offered me a go at exactly the time my friends wanted to leave .....I'm still regretting the lost opportunity!
Q
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Thrupenny Bit

I think I'm starting to get most of the notes in roughly the right order...... sometimes!

Lester

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Re: John Kirkpatrick
« Reply #5 on: February 08, 2017, 09:08:27 AM »

Afterward the concert he offered me a go at exactly the time my friends wanted to leave .....I'm still regretting the lost opportunity!

No longer a friend I trust  >:E

Thrupenny Bit

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Re: John Kirkpatrick
« Reply #6 on: February 08, 2017, 09:16:35 AM »

obviously...... but to compound the problem my wife was driving  ::)
Q
nearly in hot water
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Thrupenny Bit

I think I'm starting to get most of the notes in roughly the right order...... sometimes!

Daddy Long Les

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Re: John Kirkpatrick
« Reply #7 on: February 08, 2017, 09:23:45 AM »



(Re: Q)
Yes, he was leaping about a lot in the workshop, and several bits in the concert crashed horribly, but he's got a well-rehearsed recovery procedure!


That was the best bit of the show.  Hilarious!

No I won't be burning my boxes, I'm already hard at it on The South Wind this morning. Inspired and raring to go!!
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squeezy

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Re: John Kirkpatrick
« Reply #8 on: February 08, 2017, 09:24:57 AM »

I don't think I've ever seen a more complete player than JK. He has an uncanny knack of being able to introduce amazing complexities to his arrangements which often don't stand out and shout "look at me" they just sit under the performance making it better, I've been going to see him since before I played the box and only now am I actually realising what he's doing with his fingers.
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Squeezy

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Daddy Long Les

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Re: John Kirkpatrick
« Reply #9 on: February 08, 2017, 09:41:36 AM »

Jenny and I are were admiring his arms and fingers.  He seems to have enormous core-strength if that's the correct term - I guess you can't move a BCC# + stradella around like that unless you do!.  Looks like a beast - hence the two very substantial shoulder straps.

For a man of around 70 I fear for his neck and shoulder muscles when he does that doppler thing with the anglo.  Very entertaining though!!

I love the way he plays weaving patterns when he sings a song and doesn't just play the tune to double the vocal melody.

The musicality flows through him and out to his audience.

I can't believe you can pay just £7 to see someone of his talent from about 12 feet away.  Outrageously cheap!!

Folk clubs must be the best kept secret in the UK!!
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Ellison

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Re: John Kirkpatrick
« Reply #10 on: February 08, 2017, 09:42:40 AM »

He has an uncanny knack of being able to introduce amazing complexities to his arrangements which often don't stand out and shout "look at me" they just sit under the performance making it better,

Wot Squeezy said.

At age 16 I found myself in a Sidmouth session with JK and my new, shiny, stiff pokerwork stayed in its case mostly but then he started to play Princess Royal, which I'd learn't from Morris On. I joined in, thought I'd died and gone to heaven.
A few years later I was playing a tune in another session and JK was standing behind me and when I'd finished he said 'You're good aren't you?'. Bloody hell.

Listen to his playing on The Duck Race - he packs more into 32 bars than most of us do into a whole set and, as Squeezy says, it doesn't jump out and say 'listen to my clever variations'. A true virtuoso, an inspiration to me for over 45 years and a very, very nice man.

Martin
« Last Edit: February 08, 2017, 09:59:04 AM by Ellison »
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Thrupenny Bit

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Re: John Kirkpatrick
« Reply #11 on: February 08, 2017, 09:55:18 AM »

I've known John through morris and think of him as a dancer but now the box is concentrating my thoughts in other directions.
As a dancer he is powerful. Dancing opposite him when both sides were together at a weekend having a bit of post-pub fun in the back yard, he left a lasting impression on me. Bruises ( don't ask where ) but my goodness powerful isn't the word.
He brings that to his performance too, in his voice and playing.
I remember in my concertina days listening to him play and suddenly realising that I couldn't follow what he did to a simple tune - though it wasn't obvious until I tried to copy. I couldn't get anywhere near......
and best of all, a really nice man.
Q
in awe
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Thrupenny Bit

I think I'm starting to get most of the notes in roughly the right order...... sometimes!

george garside

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Re: John Kirkpatrick
« Reply #12 on: February 08, 2017, 10:03:09 AM »

to me John is  brilliant and unique and the 'bloke next door' all rolled into one!  But don't all rush out and buy BCC#'s  as only he can play   it  the way he does!

george  :||: :M :|glug
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Theo

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Re: John Kirkpatrick
« Reply #13 on: February 08, 2017, 10:05:25 AM »

don't all rush out and buy BCC#'s 

George are you feeling ok?
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waldoB

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Re: John Kirkpatrick
« Reply #14 on: February 08, 2017, 10:06:11 AM »

And at John's Button Box Weekend in September at Gleanings all the detail ( well quite lot actually ) of what goes on in the playing is generously shared
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Re: John Kirkpatrick
« Reply #15 on: February 08, 2017, 10:41:09 AM »

I was there on Saturday and Anahata was right, he was superb, such a nice bloke to chat to, always happy to talk and offer advice. I would love to see him down our way more often doing solo concerts, that's when he is at his best I think.
I went to his workshops a couple of years ago at M&M, so much to take in and so much humour, a great performer.
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Re: John Kirkpatrick
« Reply #16 on: February 08, 2017, 10:54:19 AM »

don't all rush out and buy BCC#'s 

George are you feeling ok?

reverse psychology?  ;)
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Re: John Kirkpatrick
« Reply #17 on: February 08, 2017, 10:57:08 AM »

I've seen JK several times now. I can only echo, if you get a chance to see him play, you really should take it.
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Julian S

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Re: John Kirkpatrick
« Reply #18 on: February 08, 2017, 11:05:19 AM »

I've known John through morris and think of him as a dancer but now the box is concentrating my thoughts in other directions.
As a dancer he is powerful. Dancing opposite him when both sides were together at a weekend having a bit of post-pub fun in the back yard, he left a lasting impression on me. Bruises ( don't ask where ) but my goodness powerful isn't the word.
He brings that to his performance too, in his voice and playing.
I remember in my concertina days listening to him play and suddenly realising that I couldn't follow what he did to a simple tune - though it wasn't obvious until I tried to copy. I couldn't get anywhere near......
and best of all, a really nice man.
Q
in awe

Well said ! I left Shropshire Bedlams about twenty years ago (bruises just about gone), and throughout my years dancing and playing with them John was a huge inspiration. I remember loaning him one of my Pokerworks for a recording - but sadly the returned box hadn't absorbed any of his talent for me to acquire...
Interesting to hear about his new box - looking forward to hearing it in action in the hands of the master...
Julian
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Chris Ryall

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Re: John Kirkpatrick
« Reply #19 on: February 08, 2017, 11:10:23 AM »

John's first "professional" tour (he said at the time) was up into the Northeast and we had him at Darlington workshop. I was sat next to Fred Jordan, mysteriously ALSO booked as guest that night.

Yes, a force of nature! His only fault being a tendency to "forget words" mid song, something John still does.  Fred leaned over to me and confided "Y'know, thar'll never get anywhere in folk music, f'gettin his words and all".

The rest is history
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