Taxi Chain combines Bagpipes and R&B
Grier Coppins, who fronted the renegade Canadian bagpipe-jazz-funk-fusion band Rare Air in the 80's, went on to found Taxi Chain in 1993. Imagine the Commitments with a bagpipe section next to the horns. Coppins, who grew up in a traditional Highlander bagpipe brigade, has always been dynamic and fiercely original.
When I saw Rare Air perform at the Owen Sound Folk Festival in 1986 it was a revelation.
Bagpipes? Bagpipes???
But I was completely transported by the high-energy fusion band as it brought down the house at the festival's climax. Grier, face painted blue, and Patrick O'Gorman in a wizard's robe, turned the stone amphitheatre on the shores of Lake Huron into a druid funk-rock ritual in the pouring rain. But my most vivid memory is talking all night at a nearby farmhouse and then marching behind Grier and Patrick's pipes, across the misty hills of Ontario into the dawn.
Taxi Chain's third album, Sadness and the Good Doctor,
was released last year, and based on the sample they've posted
on the net, this band has soul. You can hear an MP3 of "MacLeod's
Daughter" from their new album at:
http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/149/taxi_chain.html
You can also check out their homepage to find out more:
http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/Delta/1507/
Actually, in this case, I prefer the fansite:
http://www.taxichain.homestead.com
Hugh Blumenfeld, Editor
hugh@balladtree.com
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