ArtistInfo

Bad Haggis, Ruben Blades
Span

Album US 2004 on AIX Records label
(Latin Jazz, Celtic, African)

Recorded on November 25,2003 in Zipper Hall at The Colburn School of Performing Arts. Eric Rigler is THE session player in Los Angeles when it comes to Uilleann pipes, whistles, and bagpipes. His work was featured on James Cameron's Titanic and Mel Gibson's Braveheart. I first spoke to him about the Jennifer Warnes project but unfortunately he was unable to participate because he was touring with his band and Ruben Blades. That sounded rather interesting to me, to I asked him for a disc and some information about his band. Boy were my ears opened up! Here were the familiar melodies and harmonies of traditional Irish music ratcheted up with electric guitar and bass, standard drums, amplified fiddle and Latin Percussion. Add to that the sensitivity of Ruben's lyrics and singing and you've got an indescribeable sound. This a true fusion disc. The tunes are derivative of the Celtic sound but powered by electric guitar, electric bass and amplified pipes and fiddle. Add in the Latin percussion of Ruben Blades and Alberto Lopez and the music takes on a rhythmic complexity that is very hard to describe. There's even singing in Spanish on a number of tracks. Span was nominated in 2004 for "Best New Artist" and "Best Additional Features" in the Surround Music Awards. The other nominees in the same category were better know bands including: The Rolling Stones, The Who and The Grateful Dead! In typical AIX form, there are a lot of bonus features on this release. Weve included lots of interviews, rehearsal footage, archival photos and video and a "making of" video segment. On "The B-52", special guests the Los Angeles Scots Pipe Band contribute the traditional sound of Scottish bagpipes in what is one of the loudest things that AIX Records has ever delivered [after spending hours trying to get these things in tune!]. Ruben Blades, Hollywood actor, salsa musician and former state official of Panama, is a very special guest on this eclectic project. He contributes his musicianship and vocals to the entire project. AIX Records' premium DVD-Audio/Video discs have two sides. The first side in an interactive DVD-Video disc and the other side is a DVD-Audio disc [which requires a DVD-Audio capable machine to play it back]. The sound of this recording brings these incredible musicians into your listening space. The HD-Audio surround mixes immerse you in the musical interplay with full range frequency response and dynamics. -- Mark Waldrep

Musicians

	Bad Haggis , US album by
	Ruben Blades voc, acg, *1948 PA percussion, vocals, album by, featuring
	Bryon Holley perc, dr, drums, percussion, vocals
	Mike Hoffmann eg, electric guitar, acoustic guitar
	Kathleen Keane acc, voc, fl, US fiddle, whistle, vocals
	Alberto Lopez cng, bgo, tim, cwb, voc, percussion
	Eric Rigler fl, US uilleann pipes, highland pipes, northumbrian pipes
	Mick Linden voc, eb, b, vocals, bass guitar
	The Los Angeles Scottish Pipe Band , featuring

Producers

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Acknowledgements

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