Rodney Miller and Bob McQuillen are pillars of the New England contra trdition and here they are captured as they might sound at the Peterborough, N.H. Town House on contra dance night.

13 MP3 Songs
FOLK: Traditional Folk, WORLD: Celtic



Details:
RODNEY MILLER and BOB McQUILLEN PURE QUILL
Rodney Miller Fiddle
Bob McQuillen Piano, Accordion
-----------------------------------------------------------
PURE QUILL is an old New England expression meaning âthe genuine article⦠the real thing.â Here you have it with Rodney Miller, New Englandâs foremost fiddler teamed with Bob McQuillen, legendary contra piano player and composer of over 1000 contra tunes. This recording captures the two as they might sound at Peterborough N.H. Town House on contra dance night. All thatâs missing is the merry clop of a few hundred feet. For McQuillen and Miller both, the secret to contraâs continued vibrancy is that the future and the past are not adversaries, but fellow travelers. And the dance itself remains their greatest teacher.
-----------------------------------------------------------
PURE QUILL
Contra dance music is nearly unique among traditional instrumental genres in that it continues to exist primarily as a dance form. While this venerable New England folk dance is enjoying broader popularity now than at any time in its history, its revival has come not on the concert stage, but the dance floor; in town halls, dance societies and festivals throughout North America, Europe and Asia.
Leading the charge is Yankee fiddler Rodney Miller, whose seminal âNew England Chestnutsâ recordings still form the contra revivalâs core repertoire. With his adventurous âAirplangâ records and the more recent âAirdance,â he has also led the way in presenting contra tunes in ensemble settings for pure listening pleasure.
Here, Miller enjoys a lifetime dream come true: a duet record with one of his chief contra music heroes and mentors, accordion and piano player Bob McQuillen. Now a vigorous 76, McQuillen, or âMacâ as his friends call him, has been at the epicenter of the contra resurgence since joining the legendary Ralph Page Orchestra in 1947.
âMac is an anchor in the contra dance scene.â Miller says. âThereâs a real rootedness to his very distinctive piano style. Playing with Mac, I stay closer to home. He lays down such a solid rhythmic foundation, not traveling far distances in the chord structure, that my improvisation tends to be more subtle.â
This recording captures the two as they might sound at Peterborough, N.H. Town House on contra dance night. âPure Quill,â in fact, is an old New England expression meaning the genuine article. All thatâs missing is the merry clop of a few hundred feet.
McQuillen lays down a granite floor of cadence â listen to his bold opening chords for âI Donât Love Nobody.â But then hear how his plucky strut evokes a delightful sassiness from Millerâs fiddle. With
strains of a Chinese folk melody, McQuillen sets a delicate mood for âGem Varsoviana.â
It is constantly evident how much these two enjoy each otherâs musical company. Fiddle and accordion commiserate over the 18th-century Scottish air, âLowlands of Holland.â And they have grand, hokey fun with the old vaudeville novelty, âHuskinâ Bee.â
â We speak the same language in ways you donât with people you have not played with so much.â Miller says. âItâs not just the same words; itâs the same dialect.â
When they met in 1970, McQuillen was already among contraâs most seasoned veterans and finest composers (several of his tunes are here, including the darkly pretty âElviraâs Waltz,â written for Millerâs daughter, now a fine contra player herself.) The contra revival was just underway, thousands of young novices flocking to the old dance. The Canterbury Country Dance Orchestra, where Miller got his start, was founded by Dudley Laufman to make the music stage as welcoming to newcomers as the dance floor. Guest musicians were always welcome, the ranks often swelling to more than thirty. In the midst of that, a strong rhythm section was crucial, and in contra, the piano often is the whole rhythm section. McQuillen was the perfect man for the job, his chops sharpened from years playing accordion alongside Johnny Tromblyâs authoritative piano in the Ralph Page Orchestra. Page was to contra dance music what Bill Monroe was to bluegrass, its chief exponent and most definitive performer.
McQuillen had begun haunting New Hampshire contra dances after mustering out of the Marines following World War Two. He fell in love with the friendly mix of sociability, dance and music. After just one night sitting in with Pageâs orchestra, he was hired as its accordionist. Since then, he has been in constant demand at dances, in addition to a long career teaching at Contoocook Valley Regional High School in Peterborough, N.H.
He says he enjoys how much less formal â and more social â the dances have become in recent years.

(Insert Page 4 of 4)
âThe dancing is less stiff, more of a free expression of joy through movement. Theyâre having the time of their lives, so I find no fault with what the dancers are doing. So long as theyâre not hurting their neighbor, why, they can do as the damn please â thatâs my version of it.â
McQuillen is to Miller what traditional music is to most of us; a touchstone to times past, a melding juncture where the best instincts of that past flow freely into the fleeting present.
âAfter Iâve made excursions with other bands,â Miller says, âcoming back to Mac I always know what to expect â that reverence for the tradition mixed with his very outgoing nature, the way he has of personally reaching out to dancers.â
McQuillen says, âI am still pretty fussy about tempos. Thatâs certainly something I got from Ralph. He never wanted to see it get too fast. If it gets too fast, it gets too excercize-y, too aerobic. The music wants to be that way to a degree, but it has to be slow enough to be social for the dancers. The emphasis is not on how fast can you do it, the emphasis is on how much fun are you having.â
For McQuillen and Miller both, the secret to contraâs continued vibrancy is that the future and the past are not adversaries, but fellow travelers. And the dance itself remains their greatest teacher.

Scott Alarik
Special thanks for research by Jack Beard.
-----------------------------------------------------------