Les Getchell | percussionist

Playing bodhrán in the Kerry style
Photo by Heather Mull

Traditional Irish/Scottish/Celtic + West African/Afro-Caribbean/Brazilian + blues

Bodhrán (Irish frame drum), bones, conga (hand-over-hand style), jaw harp, shaker, snare/caixa, triangle, etc. If the percussion is not musical, what is the point of the banging?

Also experienced in live sound reinforcement of acoustic music. Natural, clean, balanced.

Active ensembles

Hooley, traditional Irish
Samba Pittsburgh, Brazilian bateria
Matthew Craig and The Kerry Tipper Band, contemporary Irish
Mullaney’s Harp & Fiddle Tuesday night ceili band
Cue Ball (periodic guest), contemporary Irish and blues
Alasdair Gillies/Bruce Foley/Les Getchell, pipe and percussion
Ad hoc performances with the region’s foremost traditional musicians

Inactive ensembles

About Time, foot and hand percussion
All Strings Considered, contra dance
Ceili House, traditional Irish
Gumband, contra dance

Discography

Cathal McConnell/Richard Hughes, Music of the Hearth, to be released
It’s All in the Song: A Tribute to Andy M. Stewart, 2006
NewLanders, Born of Fire, 2006
Reel@113, A bodhrán solo for dance commissioned by Burke School of Irish Dance Pittsburgh, 2005
Pittsburgh Irish Festival, 15th Anniversary Music Celebration, 2005
20 Years of Irish Music at Augusta: 1983–2002, 2003
Hooley, Cuts from the Turf, 2001
Bozell Kamstra video soundtrack, Driven, 1999
Terry Griffith, For My Grandfathers, 1996

Bodhrán mp3s

The Butterfly, an Irish slip jig
Green Jello, a Breton reel
Swallowtail Reel, an Irish reel
About the Irish frame drum, the bodhrán

Photo

Download high-resolution bodhrán photo, 436 Kb .jpg file.

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