The first thing you notice about Daniel Payne when you see him up close and personal is how friggin' tall he is! It doesn't come across when he's performing onstage, esp. when he spends so much time sitting down to play his fiddle, accordion or wooden flute. But talking to him one on one, I felt like I had to stand up as straight as possible just to look him in the eye. And I'm not exactly short either! I have heard about this guy for years, and this week was my first encounter with him. Not only is he a terrific performer, and put aside for a moment the fact that he is a walking encyclopedia of not just Newfoundland traditional music, but that of all corners of the world - Daniel Payne is a really nice, sincere, humble, unpretentious guy. Very nice guy. Takes his music and his craft seriously but doesn't take himself too seriously at all. Engaging, accomodating, helpful, only too happy to explain, elaborate, enlighten.
He began with some accordion playing, and spoke a bit about his Castagnari. He described his approach to playing; the fact that he likes to be a bit "more melodic" with his bass buttons intrigued me. I thought of Paul McCartney's bass playing with the Beatles, how that flowing bassline can drive a song forward, or just help it "float" along nicely. I'm glad Daniel didn't hesitate to speak using musician's lingo. Sometimes you have to get a bit technical to be clear. A couple of mods he's added: he had the left thumb button moved to make it more ergonomic, and he removed some reeds to take out the third of the chord in the bass buttons, allowing him to switch from major to minor in the treble without clashing chord tones. Plus, he removed the brass feet because they're "heavy as hell."
Next, he picked up the fiddle, played a tune, and talked about the two years he spent in Ireland, cutting his teeth as a fiddler, playing dances, etc. and just learning all he could. He pointed out that when he came home to Cow Head and played West Coast of Newfoundland tunes, using "Irishisms" as quick little 3 and 5-note runs, they didn't fit the West Coast tunes. This was when he became aware of the stylistic differences between these two schools of playing.
A Rufus Guinchard tune sounds "off" when filled with these little decorations. A big part of a Rufus tune, however, is sitting down and stomping both feet, a tradition that originated from playing for square dancers. Coincidentally, I heard Kelly Russell explain the exact same thing at a concert not even two weeks ago: you had to stomp your feet just to be heard over the dancers. Rufus also liked to end a tune by double-stopping it with the 4th degree of the scale, which sounds cool. Whether he meant to imply a IV chord or just thought it sounded cool, who knows? It sounds like Rufus was the Jeff Beck of the fiddle.
Finally he got to the wooden flute - I'm not normally into flute, but I find the wooden flute intriguing, and I like the sound. Daniel's flute comes from Windward in Nova Scotia, who are Forbes and Yola Christie, a husband-and-wife team of instrument makers. Daniel spoke very highly of their approach, their desire to improve, and their consultation with Daniel and other artists to get things just right. He spoke so sincerely and passionately about his collaboration with the Christies that I decided to check out their website:
http://www.windwardflutes.com/index.html
Daniel concluded with a flute tune, and I went to chat with him a bit after. I mentioned a guy out in my area, Gerry Strong, who is a local musician and folkie, known for his own wooden flute playing. Daniel knew all about him, knew exactly the type of flute, its range and what it could do! This guy knows everybody! As I said, a walking encyclopedia of things traditional and musical. Someone to watch.
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