BLOOMINGTON

Grey Larsen's new album, Dark of the Moon, reconfirms the man can really play.  And the 480-page book Larsen has written that is due in stores later this month, The Essential Guide to Irish Flute and Tin Whistle, should help a lot of others learn how to really play.

Larsen, a master musician who has graced the Bloomington scene for most of the past quarter-century, has rarely seemed more active.

He continues to serve as a recording and mastering engineer. He teaches. He has an ever-expanding Internet site (www.greylarsen.com, now including a repository of Irish traditional melodies called "The Irish Tune Bank"). He plans to release further publications and CDs in the upcoming year.

Larsen also continues his decade-long practice of leading weekly Irish music sessions in Bloomington. The current incarnation is from 6:30 till 9 p.m. Tuesdays at Michael's Uptown Cafe.  

"I'm really busy," Larsen confirmed during an interview at his westside home last week, "and happy about it."

Dark of the Moon is the second straight album Larsen has recorded in tandem with Paddy League, who adds bodhrán (the Irish goatskin-wooden frame drum) and guitar to Larsen's Irish flute, tin whistle, concertina and harmonium playing.

"I'd say it's more of an upbeat album than its predecessor (2001's The Green House)," Larsen said. "The repertoire we chose to include lent an overall feeling that is a bit more high-spirited."

Larsen composed the new album's title track, but said he got the title itself from Joe Dawson, an old-time fiddle player who lives in Larsen's neighborhood and has taught Larsen "about 100" Monroe County and Brown County fiddle tunes.

"Joe has talked often about the phases of the moon, about how many old folktales there are pertaining to that," Larsen said. "The gist of it is that during the waning moon - the dark of the moon - things are more stable and settled, and then more volatile during the waxing of the moon."

Larsen is accustomed to utilizing what he learns from musical elders such as Dawson. He's done it his entire career as a Celtic-oriented musician, which started during his teen years in Ohio.

"I already had access to really good Irish traditional musicians at that age," Larsen said. "I instantly connected with the music, and felt I had to learn to play it.

"I was just very lucky to find elderly, expatriate Irishmen to guide me - Michael J. Kennedy in the Cincinnati area and Tom Byrne and Tom McCaffrey in Cleveland."

The late Kennedy, born in 1900 in County Galway, was featured in some bonus tracks from the 1970s added to The Green House, and tunes collected from Kennedy adorn Dark of the Moon. "His influence has been a constant thread through all the albums I've made," Larsen said.

Influences abounded when Larsen moved to Bloomington in 1981, too. He found Dave Molk and Malcolm Dalgish, friends from days at the Oberlin (Ohio) Conservatory of Music. He found Tom Sparks, Dillon Bustin and Chris Smith.

And he was introduced to Lotus Dickey, the musical/folklore savant from Orange County for whom Bloomington's Lotus World Music and Arts Festival is named.

Serving as a co-editor of The Lotus Dickey Songbook was one of Larsen's first forays as an author. The first of his forthcoming books, The Essential Guide to Irish Flute and Tin Whistle, has occupied a lot of his attention for the past eight years.

The Essential Guide to Irish Flute and Tin Whistle sports, among other things, two accompanying CDs, 49 ornamentation exercises and 27 transcriptions of recordings by important flute and whistle players from the last century - such as Matt Molloy.

Molloy was in the Bothy Band, perhaps the most prestigious Irish group of the 1970s, and now plays with an even more legendary aggregation, the Chieftains. Malloy wrote the following for the back cover of Larsen's book:

"Grey has, through his research, patience, and diligence, completed a work on Irish flute and tin whistle that I feel is essential for anybody interested in getting it right."

 

Larsen tried to get it right, across the board.

"There's a lot of history in the book about the players, the music and the culture," Larsen said. "It had started out as a book about how to play and how to understand the music.

"Now, with all the history and transcription and accompanying CDs, I don't believe there has ever been a book this comprehensive about any instruments in traditional Irish music."

Larsen is also issuing, again through Mel Bay Publications, The Essential Tin Whistle Toolbox, a more beginner-oriented work with 160 pages and one companion CD.

Planned for 2004 release are The Celtic Encyclopedia for Irish Flute and The Celtic Encyclopedia for Tin Whistle, each at about 100 pages, with one CD containing tunes mentioned in the text.

Larsen figures his books will find some willing readers and students in Bloomington.

"I think the awareness of Irish music has risen quite a bit here, over the years," he said. "The number of people learning to play the music has really grown.

"The scene isn't competitive, like you might find in cities with a large Irish contingent, but is vibrant and nurturing."

Just another reason Larsen plans to remain on the Bloomington scene indefinitely.

"I love it here," Larsen said. "I couldn't imagine why I would ever move away."