Chris and Mark O'Connor

[fiddlegirl2]

I just got home from Nashville.Last night I saw an amazing concert.It was a tribute to Mark's 30 years in the music biz.Chris totally shined in this performance.They recorded it live and the cd will be out late next year.

I got to meet Chris after the show.He is so nice.Some guy was asking him to play a mandolin he brought, so there was just a few people standing there and a little boy asked him to play How Great Thou Art it was so pretty

Jessica

[waltage]

let me start by saying chris thile is one of the most gifted, talented, practice proven musicians of all time...i respect him very much and do not mean anything negative towards him at all...
yay christ thile...:)

I also was at the o'connor tribute concert...wednesday night...but it didn't seem to be an O'CONNOR tribute concert....
thile has played with sutton and house before (both are on his solo album(s))...but it seemed as if the group was slightly divided, leaving the one being attributed behind

i'm a firm believer that one passage played on a violin and on a mandolin will sound most likely cleaner (for lack of a better word) on a mandolin...maybe some years from now i'll come up with why i think that....

thile tortured o'connor....well...not torture....but it became the chris thile show almost as soon as they walked out...
He's quite gifted, but I think he has a lot yet to learn about group work...
from what i've heard of his work, he's used to being the featured artist...his solo albums (obviously), and the nickel creek album specifically FEATURE the mandolin in a way...but that should not have been the case with this concert...ESPECIALLY since it was a tribute concert

i don't hate chris thile....in fact i continually have to correct myself for accidently typing christ hile...not that that means anything...but i thought i would break up my comments with something that had no point whatsoever....

continuing

the other thing i didn't like about the ensemble:
thile is a vertical soloist...and o'connor is a melodic soloist....that didn't go hand in hand
what i mean is thile moves around theoretically very much on the mandolin (his frets might have something to do with that :) )...but o'connor openly admits to thinking of notes a split second before he plays them...
it was obvious that technically thile's solos were more challenging than o'connors (they were also more abundant...) ... but wider is not better necessarily when dealing with technicallities in improvisational playing....
in short....the group was playing two different styles....and the more flashy of the two , thile's, became the feature


please don't eat me



please don't kill me



yay chris thile....

[matt the fiddler]

waltage - just be glad you got to get there...... :)
i hear what you are saying - it is funny though most people i have talked to [including sara] think of mark as more of a fast paced, show em off get as many notes in type of soloist- gogin for the technically challanging, while fiddlers like stuart would be more considered to be the melodic ones... i do think that Marks stage he is at right now is more melody oriented [just listen to hot swing]- pretty cool..
i got to watch them the first time they ever played together- and the blend then was magical.
it will be interesting to see what happens in the future with these 2 - i hope they keep on playing!

matt

[waltage]

i also agree that o'connor has become more of a show off with his newer albums
but the tribute concert only had one song from midnight on the water...one song from appalaichan waltz....and two from appalaichan journey...
most of the stuff done was from the early albums
the cool movement....

[Sarahnchs2003]

Hey I went to that concert at Vanderbilt too! I got to meet Chris during the intermission. It was awesome! What day did you go? I went july 5th. Well write back!

[fiddlegirl2]

I went on the 5th too.Where were you sitting?

Jessica

[Sarahnchs2003]

I was sitting in the will call section like the fifth row up I think... I was wearing a white shirt and a jean skirt... I was sitting next to my uncle his friend and two college age guys... where were you sitting?

[fiddlegirl2]

I was in the second row.I was with my mom and there was an older man sitting beside of my,he left after the first half.

Jessica

[mandoBob]

waltage,
thanks for sharing those thoughts. I think you'll find most folks around here respectful of those with different opinions...
i for one appreciate a critical eye to chris's playing. it's gotta be tough coming up as the whiz kid and remain humble off stage, much less humble on stage when needed.
what makes me excited is that chris DOES have a lot to learn (even tho he's light years beyond so many) b/c I believe it's not possible to plum the depths of music in one lifetime. too many of us too easily think our musical heros are nearly flawless, while if they are truly heros they know that they've always got something to learn. so I look forward to chris being a better group player too! and a better whatever else too. I find it too cool that I'm older than one of my musical heros so I can take it in as long as the good Lord chooses to bless him with the ability to play and me with the ability to listen.

[Peakbagr]

Let me begin by stating that Chris Thile is one of my favorite musicians. I really love his stuff.
Mark O'Connor, though, is one of the true musical prodigies of our time. Lets remember that he's won National championships in flatpicking, fiddle and mandolin and had had thousands of performances and studio gigs under his belt.
We need to see what the test of time and fame does to Chris Thile over the next 25 years before we're ready to talk about CT in the same breath as Mark.

[NCFan4Ever]

well i wasnt at the concert and ive hardly heard mark o at all...but i just wanted to say that this is a great discussion...and waltage, you need not worry about us eating or killing you. we get mad when people say negative, petty things about nickel creek.... but when they make an intelligent discussion (like you did) we have no problem at all! lol!

[lilolme]

I was there also - at the Friday night performance. While Thile did shine through a bit, I thought it was all pretty even. It was a great concert! Thile's background playing seems to make the foreground music more interesting, I think.