Up Against the Flatirons

In October 2006, at the recommendation of Robbie Hannan, Gay McKeon invited Eliot Grasso to record an album of unaccompanied uilleann piping for the Na Píobairí Uilleann catalogue.

Grasso’s recording is Volume I of what will be a continuous series of recorded piping masters entitled “The Ace and Deuce of Piping.” Up Against the Flatirons was recorded in 2007 at the University of Limerick. Read review in An Píobaire here.

Track Listing

† composed by Eliot Grasso

§ composed by Kirk Lynch

‡ composed by Jerry Holland

Dublin Press Release - May 25, 2007

‘Up Against the Flatirons’

A recording of Uilleann piping by Eliot Grasso

Volume 1 of Na Píobairí Uilleann’s Ace and Deuce of Piping Series

Na Píobairí Uilleann is delighted to present Up Against the Flatirons, a solo recording of uilleann piping by gifted young piper Eliot Grasso, the first CD in NPU’s new ‘Ace and Deuce of Piping’ series.

Eliot Grasso is an exciting young virtuoso performer from Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. Still only 24, he is a master of technique and precision, having been influenced since his earliest days by the playing of Kieran O’Hare and Robbie Hannan.

It is timely that the launch of Up Against the Flatirons should coincide with the publication of the collection of Séamus Ennis’ music as the influence of Ennis’s technique on Eliot’s playing is evident throughout this recording.

However, while these influences can be easily discerned, Eliot has developed his own unique, complex style and he performs a number of his own compositions on this CD, including the eponymous Up Against the Flatirons.

The dynamic strains of Donegal fiddling can also to be heard in Eliot’s playing, the staccato bow hand mirrored in his intricate fingering and use of variation. He performs on pipes pitched in B made by Andreas Rogge in Germany.

About Eliot Grasso

Eliot Grasso was born into a musical family in Baltimore in 1983. His father Mark is a fiddle player and Eliot was introduced to Irish music from a young age, taking lessons initially on the whistle and flute. He was introduced to piping by the late Paul Levin and then Kieran O’Hare, the latter had a profound influence on Eliot’s playing. Having competed at the 1996 Fleadh Cheoil in New York, he travelled to Ireland for the first time to study at the Scoil Éigse which strengthened his interest in Irish traditional music and piping. Eliot became a regular visitor to Ireland subsequently and received tuition from Robbie Hannan, Tommy Martin, John O’Brien and Seán Potts. Having performed on NPU’s New Dawn, he produced his first solo recording as an 18-year-old Standing Room Only followed by North By NorthWest where he performed with Dave Cory. Eliot Grasso is also a talented classical pianist and organist and is currently a student of Ethnomusicology in Limerick.