Concert Reviews
FOLLOWING ARE SOME CONCERT REVIEWS FOR
"A Fingerstyle Guitar Odyssey: Celtic to Contemporary"
El McMeen and Larry Pattis

Larry and El

Sunday, April 9th, I went to the El McMeen / Larry Pattis performance at Boston's Club Passim. They are currently on tour, titling their concerts as "A Fingerstyle Guitar Odyssey : Celtic to Contemporary". I was so moved by the experience, I wanted to share my recollections with you.

Larry Pattis was the "contemporary" half of the performance, and his
contribution came first. Contemporary in the sense that his compositions are original and apparently inspired by his experiences. He performed melodies from his CD "Random Chance", as well as a few from a CD to be released, as he stated, hopefully in about 6 months. 

Larry was very entertaining and informative, explaining the compositions about to be heard. His fingerstyle technique was amazing, and performed with effortless precision in various tunings. The clarity of tone, as well as the phrasing and development of his themes, were like listening to a beautiful story. The man is incredible! Excellent composer and most excellent fingerstyle player.

El McMeen was the "Celtic" half of the evening. El has an extensive catalog of traditional and Celtic arrangements recorded on various CDs and books with tab/standard notation, including "Solo Guitar Serenade", "Playing Favorites", "Acoustic Guitar Treasures" as well as participating in various compilation CDs. In my eyes, he has been a major contributor to the availability of Carolan arrangements, as well as other Celtic and traditional music. His arrangements are primarily in "Low-C" (CGDGAD). If you're not familiar with this tuning, try it. You will be amazed at the wide tonal spectrum available to your fingers.

El's performance was astounding. He has the knack of finding the right melodies, then creating arrangements that grab your attention. He definitely sustained the audience's interest throughout the entire performance. The beauty of the cascading notes created a truly harp-like effect that had a captivatingly hypnotic effect on the audience. Strong melody and counterpoint were evident everywhere. I was constantly amazed at the range of expression he was able to emote. Varying from simple single melodic lines to very dense strongly rooted tone clusters. 

After El's performance, Larry joined him and they performed 2 duets. The first was an arrangement of the traditional Celtic song "Mo Giolla Mear". It was like listening to a chamber orchestra. Extremely tasteful. They complemented each other's notes to perfection.

The second was Jay Ungar's "Ashokan Farwell". This is the recurring theme in the PBS special "Civil War". I love that melody, and hearing them perform it as a duet was incredible. Two masters at their trade enhancing an already beautiful theme.

The only thing I didn't like about the performance was that it had to end. I spoke with them briefly during and after the performance and found them both to be gracious, friendly and supportive. Two nice guys playing beautiful music. Check 'em out.

Fred Albert

I did get the chance to see Larry Pattis and El McMeen at the North Elk Coffee House in North East, Maryland last weekend. North East is at the top eastern part of the Chesapeake Bay. Being a big fan of El's, I had looked forward to the concert for many weeks. I left an even bigger fan of El's and have added Larry to my list of guitarists to be greatly admired. Associated with a local church, North Elk is a wonderful venue replete with a fascinating mix of people who appear to be diehard enthusiasts of the venue thanks mostly to Rob Northrop who runs the coffehouse. A fine guitarist himself, Rob appears to spare no effort in bringing top flight, mostly folk, musicians to North East. With my cup of coffee and a homemade brownie, I was set to enjoy the concert. 

Rob and his partner did a nice job opening the show doing a few folk tunes (with an especially nice rendition of Dylan's All Along the Watchtower. Larry followed next. I have to tell I was immediately caught up in the beauty of his music, his flawless technique, and his original tunes. Larry played a number of tunes from his CD Random Chance--all of which, I believe, are original tunes except for Farewell to Tarwathie, which ended his set. He is a superb composer--many of his tunes striking me as classics. His opening comments to his intro tune Big Mountain Sunrise were indicative of his love of nature and the culture of folk music, especially in his home state of Utah. I did purchase his CD and have enjoyed listening to it a number of times since the concert. Larry is a fingerstylist who clearly has roots in classical music as well as folk. As rendered through his original compositions, it is a delightful combination

After a short break, El took the stage--a makeshift endeavor illuminated by lamplight, adding to the charm of the place. El began in a very Celtic mode, playing One Morning in May and Boys of the Old Brigade. The audience response was immediate--they loved it! It was my first time hearing El live. It was well worth the 1-1/2 hour trek I made to Northeast. For me, El has an original, beautiful 'voice' on the guitar. His low-c (CGDGAD) arrangements are alternately rich, haunting, and lovely. He has a way of getting to the heart of a tune. Much has been made of his emphasis on the melody. To hear him live is to confirm that he can make the melody sing on his guitar. El is also a great raconteur, introducing all his tunes with some background information--humorous, at times self-deprecating, always charming. What struck me in particular during his set was his love of O'Carolan. He talked about O'Carolan as an introduction to his arrangement of Fanny Power. You would have thought that O'Carolan was in the room the way El made him come to life. As El neared the end of his set, he hadn't played Mo Giolla Mear, a tune he 'owns', so to speak. But I wasn't to be disappointed. Larry joined El on stage and they did an arrangement together, El covering the basic tune and Larry providing the harmonies--it was rich and spirited. They ended with a wonderful rendition of Ashokan Farewell. 

It was a treat for all concert goers that as a last song, Rob joined El on stage to sing a version of the Beatles' tune Here Comes the Sun. We all know the legions of guitarists who have covered Harrison's riffs. But, certainly not to my surprise, El did his own low-C version of the tune. Simply fantastic . Rob had introduced the show by saying that Celtic guitarist John Sherman (who had played the North Elk a year earlier) had paved the way for fingerstyle guitarists in the area (referred to as the Delmarva Peninsula--Delaware, Maryland, Virginia). If John paved the way, it was clear by the end of the night that El and Larry had busted the door down. 

Both Larry and El played guitars with B-Bands. Ironically, the Elixir strings they use are made not far away. Larry told me that they were quite new guitars, one three weeks and the other 2 months old. I haven't heard a better acoustic sound live, high end clear as a bell and a deep resonant bass. Finally, I would say that after hearing them live, it's clear why El and Larry perform together--they both admire each other's playing greatly. Although they have unique voices on the guitar, they share a common interest in strong melodic playing. They are both, moreover, quite effective at reaching out to non-guitar playing members of the audience. I suspect that, in fact, there were few fingerstyle aficionados in the audience that night. Yet by the end of the night the enthusiastic response suggested that El and Larry took with them a whole new set of fans. 

Great concert. I hope they return soon. 
Sandy Shalk 
April 23, 2000

I was lucky enough to witness the maiden voyage of the current El McMeen - Larry Pattis tour this past Saturday, in Boonton, NJ. 

El has proved himself to be generous with his participation here. His generosity extends to the stage, where lovely melody and bounce are distributed in heaping portions. He's a captivating performer who was perfectly at ease Saturday. His wonderful personality rang clearly throughout his banter and his music. 

I heard the music of Larry Pattis for the first time Saturday and I'm looking forward to hearing more. Beautiful tones and stories live in his guitar instrumentals. 

If you're planning to see one of these shows, you're lucky too. 

Kurt Gallagher
April 4, 2000

AMEN! I was there too, with my daughter, and we talked with Kurt and El afterwards. It's nice to put faces on some of the Woodshedders. Nice people. 

The music was great. Larry played some beautiful pieces, in a variety of tunings. I never heard of him before, but I'd like to hear more. El also played a variety of tunes, all in his special Low-C, including his own, some Celtic, some popular tunes and a beautiful rendition of ''Greensleeves''. Especially amusing were his many variations on Stephen Foster's ''Camptown Races'' (Doo-Dah!) and the story he told about how he wrote that one. They ended the show with a lovely duet of ''Ashokan Farewell''. 

I had, earlier, asked a question, on the Woodshed, about playing a whole show, in one tuning and, therefore, one key, being somewhat repetitious or monotonous. Well, it turned out that El told me he played all his pieces in G or Gminor, but his set was anything but monotonous! Go see them, if they come your way. ''A pleasant time is guaranteed for all''.

Alex Mogieleff
April 4, 2000

Larry and El are phenomenal. El is such a master and an inspiration and it was a joy to see him perform live again. I was once again in tears with laughter over the saga of Doodah - what an ingenious piece of work. 

Larry is blowing me away with his giftedness as a composer and player. Larry - your art is masterful - folks, we have a major talent here. I understand that Larry is being profiled in the next Fingerstyle Guitar issue.

Donna Madden
April 11, 2000