About Me
isaac alderson & sam amidon from Sam Amidon on Vimeo .
some tunes in amsterdam with james riley and dave mcnevin
hi, i'm isaac, i'm from chicago originally but i now call the bronx my home. my earliest inspiration to play music was my father, a true multi-instrumentalist who never had any formal training, but has always been able to pick up just about any instrument and make it sound good. since he was a kid my dad has been singing and playing keyboards, guitar, banjo, and harmonica, and my earliest memories of him are almost always with a harmonica in hand. i started playing the saxophone when i was about 10 but didn't get serious about music until i was 13, when i discovered irish music. soon it became a complete and total obsession. my stoic parents (neither of whom are irish at all) were gracious enough to allow me to remain under their roof, torturing them with the ghastly sounds i produced from a beat-up practice set of uilleann pipes until i actually learned how to play them. when i was 15 i went to ireland for the first time, carrying around my pipes and a few whistles in a paper department store shopping bag, timidly wandering up to sessions and being astonished by the warmth and kindness with which i was met by the experienced musicians there. since then i have come a long way, but have always kept in mind the beautiful spirit of community i experienced in my early days as an irish musician. it is difficult for me to convey the powerful effect irish music has had on my life, but it is very easy for me to say without hesitation that i would not be the same person today if i had never discovered it. from my early teenage years it has given me a community of older people to look up to and learn from, and peers to meet, play with and grow to love as some of the dearest friends i have. it has given me a skill to hone and a task upon which to focus, keeping me out of trouble (or in it) and providing me with goals towards which to strive. it has given me a way to make a living as an adult, and most importantly, it has given me the chance to participate in something much larger than myself, and i hope to continue passing it down for the generations to come.
since moving to new york in 2001, i've played in every kind of venue from the dingiest pub in queens to radio city music hall. i have had the honor and privilege of playing with a lot of incredible musicians, and incredible characters too. in many cases those two categorizations go hand in hand. i've played most extensively with guitarist and songwriter James Riley, and also done plenty of gigs with folks like Keith O'Neill, Johnny Cuomo, Dan Lowery, Sam Amidon, Donie Ryan, Denis McCarthy, Ryan McGiver, Bernie Fee, John Redmond, and many others too numerous to mention. i recently spent two years touring with the Eileen Ivers band, and also played up a storm with Jameson's Revenge and with singer Allison Barber. my most loved (though yet unfinished) recording works have been with a new instrumental band called Moakland , and an electronic production called Janitor with boston fiddler Cara Frankowicz. i have played many gigs with new york celtic rock bands like The McCabes, Alternatrad, and the odd gig with Trigger (do drunken beatboxing appearances count?), as well as some duet gigs with Dave Barckow. recently i played a few gigs with singer/songwriter Mike Brunnock. in 2003 i perfomed the inaugural performances of William Anderson's adaptation of The Job of Journeywork for uilleann pipes and chamber ensemble, which was truly an honor and a challenge for me, having come from an exclusively folk background. i was also really happy to get a chance several months ago to play on a couple of tracks for trumpeter Mark Tipton's forthcoming album of love ballads.
so basically you get the idea right? lots of gigs, lots of people, lots of different stuff! but really my happiest moments are when i'm just playing tunes around a table with my friends. thanks for taking the time to read and check out my page. :)
currently, i'm freelancing as well as playing with several different groups regularly. most of the time i'm with pubfunband Jameson's Revenge, or playing sessions around new york. i play occasionally with an awesome band from michigan called Millish, and also i play in a traditional trio with Sam Amidon and Keith Murphy.
for some projects i've been involved with, please check out the following links:
Jameson's Revenge
moakland
janitor
