OK, so the jazz was disappointing but there’s more to this town. Sunday offered two possibilities. First up, a jam session at Irish Murphy’s pub. It’s a local institution that we’ve visited before for dinner and Kilkenny. The jammers took a while to arrive. This is a time of family travel so we could expect a small turnout: today just a button box, a mandolin and a bodran. But the music was entertaining and at least one accent was authentic Ireland. I amused myself with writing rhythmic patterns: all cut time with quarter and eighth notes in blocky phrases. The melodies seemed pretty straight arpeggiations and scales. Nice to see how they picked up on lines: this is improv in Celtic style.
I enjoyed it but the turnout was small, presumably given it’s Christmas/NY week.A Celtic jam session was held at Irish Murphy’s pub in Ballarat, 3pm Sunday arvo.
