Irish bagpipes, violin, drum, HMV IM480. Two of this charming trio's recordings were reissued on the Classics of Irish Piping LP/CD. According to Sean Reid (who wrote the reissue's liner notes) it was an impromptu recording of Leo and two studio musicians who weren't players of Irish music, but read off charts Leo wrote out on the spot. One of the standard reels in old days. Francis O'Neill wrote of taking a trip home to Ireland in 1908 and hearing little else but "Miss McLeod and her brethren" in the cities; tunes such as this were the staples of musicians in all parts of the island. The violinist keeps right up with Leo, making me wonder if the story about these players merely being studio musicians was the truth. Leo's burst of regulator chugging at the end sounds like a signal to the others.

More of Leo's 78 RPM recordings may be heard on the CD "Classics of Irish Piping" on the Topic label. Leo's 50s LP Ri Na Bpiobairi (The King Of The Pipers) has also been reissued on CD. Walton's has published an excellent book of Leo's transcriptions, the Leo Rowsome Collection of Irish Music.

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