Jean Redpath

[johncorrigan]

I meant to mark the passing of Jean Redpath one of the great interpreters of the songs of Robert Burns who died last week. One of my favourite ever radio broadcasts was from Radio Scotland in the early 80s called 'The Miller's Reel' where David Hayman & Phyllis Logan played 'the Lover and his Lass', and Jean Redpath and Rod Patterson sang Burns' songs in accompaniment. The songs were beautifully arranged by Serge Hovey and she sounded so wonderful. I have it recorded on an old cassette and we often give it a spin in the dark months. In the 'Miller's Reel' Redpath and Patterson make a great duo.
Here she is singing Green Grow the Rashes from the series of records she made with Hovey.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV4lTPRJWSo

...and her obit from the Guardian

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/aug/22/jean-redpath

[french frank]

Some tributes here when a song was played on Breakfast.

[johncorrigan]

Some tributes here when a song was played on Breakfast.

Thank you, ff. I had meant to say something earlier but got caught up trying to find some of the 'Miller's Reel' to post. Never managed. Listening to her earlier pieces especially the songs on the Pete Seeger programme you can hear the strong influence of Belle Stewart one of the travelling people who settled with her family in Eastern Perthshire.
This is Belle's daughter Sheila who still sings on occasion singing in 1980 one of the songs she learned from Belle, who is also in the film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiC5sCZgWjM

[antongould]

I meant to mark the passing of Jean Redpath one of the great interpreters of the songs of Robert Burns who died last week. One of my favourite ever radio broadcasts was from Radio Scotland in the early 80s called 'The Miller's Reel' where David Hayman & Phyllis Logan played 'the Lover and his Lass', and Jean Redpath and Rod Patterson sang Burns' songs in accompaniment. The songs were beautifully arranged by Serge Hovey and she sounded so wonderful. I have it recorded on an old cassette and we often give it a spin in the dark months. In the 'Miller's Reel' Redpath and Patterson make a great duo.
Here she is singing Green Grow the Rashes from the series of records she made with Hovey.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV4lTPRJWSo

...and her obit from the Guardian
http://www.theguardian.com/music/201...2/jean-redpath

Shamefully John I had never heard of this lady until Kate played her on the Burns Breakfast Show ….. quite a voice, quite a lady, quite a life ….

[johncorrigan]

Shamefully John I had never heard of this lady until Kate played her on the Burns Breakfast Show ….. quite a voice, quite a lady, quite a life ….

Always great to be reminded of her, anton. Here's a bit of film of her on Pete Seeger's programme in the early 60s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnI9EWQr_K0

Such a glorious voice and a fine interpreter of our Bard's songs.

[Padraig]

Thanks John. My introduction to Jean Redpath has been your post and like anton I immediately appreciated her voice. Though unlike f f I don't balk when I hear 'folk', I think I understand why she made an exception for this Burns song. It occurs to me that there is a similarity between Jean's Songs of Robert Burns and the melodies of Tom Moore. I know some 'real folkies' don't rate Tom Moore because of a certain refinement in their arrangements and presentation - know what I mean John? However, Sheila Stewart's song, surely makes the case for excellence in the presentation of traditional folk singing.

[johncorrigan]

Thanks John. My introduction to Jean Redpath has been your post and like anton I immediately appreciated her voice. Though unlike f f I don't balk when I hear 'folk', I think I understand why she made an exception for this Burns song. It occurs to me that there is a similarity between Jean's Songs of Robert Burns and the melodies of Tom Moore. I know some 'real folkies' don't rate Tom Moore because of a certain refinement in their arrangements and presentation - know what I mean John? However, Sheila Stewart's song, surely makes the case for excellence in the presentation of traditional folk singing.

I remember back in the late 80s, not long after we moved to these parts, I had a job in a local bar where local folk singers came from time-to-time, Padraig. One Sunday afternoon there were a few folks playing and singing away in the snug, and this old woman stood up and started to sing in a voice that sounded like it was millennia-old, singing this ancient ballad passed down from one to another. I could tell immediately the awe the others in the room felt for her. This was Belle Stewart, the mother of Sheila Stewart, one of the travelling people whom Hamish Henderson had collected songs and stories from in the berryfields of Blair in the sixties. It's interesting to think about that afternoon, and to the times I heard Sheila sing - Belle and Sheila certainly did not have a purity in their voice, like Jean Redpath had, but that authenticity made up for it in spades. Here's Belle recorded in Blairgowrie in 1983.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0sMwlevTMU

[french frank]

Though unlike f f I don't balk when I hear 'folk'

I don't 'balk" when I hear folk - it was what I grew up with before classical, strumming my guitar using the 4-chord trick, and playing the folk rock songs when they came in. I just think that classical programmes get a raw deal on R3 in being expected to play folk, world, jazz, musicals mixed in with the classical works. I'd prefer there to be less airtime devoted to classical, more to jazz, world, folk &c - just so that classical listeners know what they're going to get when they do tune in.

Off topic. Respect to Jean Redpath. And this is one I used to sing with Scottish student friends back in the distant past in Eburdeen: