NORMAN MACKAY

MUSICIAN - COMPOSER - FURNITURE MAKER

folkworld.de – ALBUM REVIEW

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Norman Mackay “The Inventor” 
Own Label, 2019 

We all know what happened to the famous Thane of Cawdor. Well, here’s another Nairnshire lad who’s on track to be crowned Scotland’s button accordion king. This second “solo” album is all Norman’s own compositions. Although the button box fronts almost every track, it is joined by a pantheon of Scottish and other musicians: Megan Henderson, Kristan Harvey, Claire Campbell, Greg Lawson and Jani Lang on violins, Su-a Lee on cello, Duncan Lyall on bass, Jack Badcock on guitars, Lorne MacDougall on pipes and Toby Shippey on trumpet are the ones I recognise, but there are many more. Phil Alexander takes a piano solo on the final track, a reprise of the opening title piece, a waltz in the French style with scope for feeling as well as fancy fingerwork. There are a lot of waltzes on The Inventor, at least six, all different, from the unmistakably Scottish Mackenzie Cottage to the sultry Latin Monachil Waltz which belongs in a pirate film about burning another king’s Spanish mane and suchlike. 
The Inventor keeps to a moderate tempo, nothing too fast, but the music is intense and demanding at times. Gentle pieces like the haunting air Ian Mackay and the graceful Coach House are balanced by the insistent slow reel Carly’s Trip to Ecclefechan (a sort of Scottish Shangri-La without the health benefits, but with more tarts) and the musing Gellatly’s March which gets an injection of highland bagpipes over a choral canvas of Edinburgh singers. On the march Missy of the Mhor, Mackay’s arrangement builds from a simple accordion melody to include piano and trumpet lines, a string section, and multiple harmonies. This album reaches its energetic climax – peak heuch, you might say – on the improbably-named Disco’s Inferno, a modern contrapuntal jig approaching ceilidh speed, with added banjo and percussion. In general, though, this is not music for letting your hair down: keep it up, lift it right off your ears, and really listen to Norman Mackay’s music, a dozen exquisite melodies arranged and presented here with rare skill. 
© Alex Monaghan

http://www.folkworld.de/70/e/cds3.html#mack

Northern Sky – ALBUM REVIEW

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Norman Mackay – The Inventor

The accordion in the hands of a master like Norman Mackay is such an evocative instrument, drifting between noir film soundtracks, eastern European cafe music and visceral Folk music.

Album Review | Self Release | Review by Marc Higgins | Stars: 4/5

With a title like The Inventor, this interesting album couldn’t sound more like a Victorian novel if it was finished in worn hand tooled leather and gold leaf. The sleeve, off white, like the eponymous Beatles album, is deceptively simple, open the tasteful case to an evocative photo of Mackay’s hands and instrument alongside a quote. “The Earth has music for those who listen”. One run through and you know two things, one Santayana’s quote is right and two the album title is no jocular boast. The accordion in the hands of a master like Norman Mackay is such an evocative instrument, drifting between noir film soundtracks, eastern European cafe music and visceral Folk music. It is a credit to Norman and his assembled musicians that this genre defying shifting music, sometimes hits all of these reference points in one track. 

The achingly atmospheric opening title track moves from rainy film soundtrack to buoyant fairground, with Cameron Jay’s trumpet a small string section and Phil Alexander’s piano helping tell an array of beautiful stories. “Missy of the Mhor” is a more folk setting for the same ingredients with Norman’s accordion managing to always bring colour and interest. “Walter’s Waltz for Ali” is nimble dance music for all, but it’s the glide of a mirrored ballroom not a frantic dance in a barn, there is beauty in the melody of Greg Lawson’s violin and Mackay’s accordion melody. Adam Bulley’s deft guitar accompanies Norman’s melody on Mackenzie Cottage, a tune for the musician’s parents. Su-a Lee’s Cello provides a stirring solo on this album that reveals delight after delight. “Carly’s Trip to Ecclefechan” is a piece of different moods, a choppy accordion intro, a hypnotic tune, an eldritch fiddle and a frolicking Miles muted trumpet. “Ian Mackay” is a straight ahead beautiful tune in memory of Norman’s father Ian. There is so much emotion carried in the strings and accordion. “Lord Anselm / Disco Inferno” had me at disco inferno. As you expect this a piece of two halves a pastoral duet between Jack Badcock’s guitar and the accordion, followed by a more rousing storm of a tune, the first percussion of the album driving the piece on. “Monachill Waltz” is a slow burn with a burst of colour from the strings and an emotional trumpet at the close. “Gellatly’s March”, written for Norman’s sisters wedding, manages a quietly stirring first section showcasing the strings and accordion, this builds to the bagpipes and finally a simply stunning climax by the Edinburgh Singers Choir. If that doesn’t make you sit up and listen, then you haven’t got a Soul. Phil Alexander closes the album, beautifully restating the title tune on a piano as lyrical as late period Brubeck. Simply beautiful. 

Review at Northern Sky by Marc Higgins –https://northernskyreviews.com/…/norman-mackay-the-in…/amp/…