Genre Jumping - The Best of Dave Flynn Vol. 1-3 Dave Flynn is an award-winning musician and composer, and a ceaseless cross-genre collaborator who has worked with some of the world's top musicians and ensembles. Genre Jumping - The Best of Dave Flynn Volumes 1-3 is being released to coincide with Flynn's 40th birthday year in 2017. Comprising three albums – Chamber Music, Celtic Strings and Indie Pop – the series lets listeners sample the best of Flynn's recorded output to date as well as introducing several previously unreleased tracks. Paul O'Connor (former traditional music editor at the Journal of Music) has described Flynn as a 'genre-jumping genius'. His thought-provoking liner notes on the release explain the importance of Flynn's work and speculate as to why this compilation is necessary to help bring his music the wider audience it deserves. Genre Jumping - Liner Notes by Paul O'Connor Honestly, I often wish Dave Flynn would shut up. That might seem a little harsh as an opening sentiment for a note about his latest release, but I’m being straight. I wish Dave was in a position to be able to just make music and not have to talk about it or re-invent its presentation or promote it or analyse its cultural reception or critique its social contexts; all of which he has done many times over; all of which he is very adept at; but all of which take him from his outstanding talents as a music maker. Between the amazing power and authenticity of his Clare Concerto (for the Irish Memory Orchestra – his creation), the perfect fit and cathartic beauty of his Music for the Departed (for Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill), his impressive body of classical compositions (including commissions by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, Irish Chamber Orchestra, Crash Ensemble, Lyric FM and Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival), his sparkling folk-world-pop music projects (including his solo album Draíocht and D.F.F., his group with Vyvienne Long and Niwel Tsumbu), his arrangements of Philip Glass' music (for the Dublin Guitar Quartet) and everything in-between, it is no wonder that Dave has received high praise from many quarters: “Dave Flynn occupies a unique position in the world of music: his work reflects an intimate and respectful knowledge of the Irish folk tradition along with deep insight and skill in the world of modern classical composition." Martin Hayes - (The Gloaming) “Perhaps most impressive of all are Flynn’s orchestral and song-writing skills; he pens seductive and warming tracks which are performed with a level of class unparalleled in a lot of folk/classical crossovers.” Andrew Latimer (Three Weeks Daily, Edinburgh Fringe Review) “Irish music is this Dublin composer’s passion and main inspiration, and at times he has the quartet’s two violinists digging into their instruments with the kind of power and grittiness you hear from Celtic fiddlers at their most raucous.” Alan Kozinn, The New York Times Despite such acclaim for his work, Dave has yet to receive the kind of official approval and financial support afforded to some of his peers. He is yet to be included on the bill at some significant festivals in Ireland where one would expect to find his music, and most tellingly, his work did not feature in any of the official 2016 state events marking the centenary of Ireland's Easter Rising, including the largest festival ever dedicated to Irish composers. Why the exclusions? Well, certainly the centrality of traditional music in his output has – sadly and ignorantly – marginalised him among some, as it did Seán Ó Riada. Then, perhaps his genre jumping has made it awkward for others to fit him neatly into certain marketing strategies and perhaps even “take him seriously”. Above all, I think, it is the responses such barriers have induced from Dave that have caused him the most problems. He has refused to compromise his visions just to tick certain boxes, refused to roll over lap dog-like and accept crumbs from the table, refused to stay quiet about the prejudices and nepotism that determine so much of the arts landscape. He fights backs, writes open letters and opinion pieces, satirises the status quo, and puts his money where his mouth is by providing his own solutions. In doing so, he has probably annoyed certain people, and put himself at a disadvantage. Since he released his debut album, Draíocht, on his own label, Frisbee Records, in 2007, Dave has produced a further four albums and two EPs – all entirely with his own funds – to considerable acclaim: “An interesting and intriguing collection from a tunesmith, instrumentalist and composer, Dave Flynn is a name to conjure with and Draíocht is very definitely worth an open-minded listen.” – John O'Regan, Irish Music Magazine ‘’In an era dominated by fret-burning virtuosity, gently persuasive releases such as this are a rare and precious resource...One of the most effective chill-out discs ever to come my way.” – Paul Fowles, Classical Guitar Magazine, writing about Contemporary Traditional Irish Guitar " D.F.F. is a seven-piece super-group founded by multi-instrumentalist/songwriter Dave Flynn and Pouric Songs is its stellar debut recording....Sophisticated yet instantly accessible, the enchanting Pouric Songs is surely one of the finest pop debuts to come out of Ireland in many a moon." – Ian Patterson, All About Jazz "Fresh and stimulating…Irish guitarist Dave Flynn’s Winter Variations just released is a bit of a discovery. Flynn’s style is eclectic drawing on a range of musics including Irish traditional music, and pastoral American jazz influences be they Pat Metheny or Bill Frisell, with hints of African music and the minimalism of Steve Reich sewn in for good measure." – Stephen Graham, Marlbank Despite the widespread praise from many critics and fans, the audience for Dave's music has remained unsustainably small and largely developed by his own efforts. Though it’s only a fraction of his work Genre Jumping nonetheless represents a welcome chance for us all to sample the range of his art across genres and moods and modes. Aontacht, Music for the Departed and his entire output for the Irish Memory Orchestra including The Clare Concerto are sadly not represented here as they would need such large resources to record commercially. I, for one, hope that the release also helps attract the kind of support Dave needs to concentrate his energies on music making. I will be so bold as to suggest that if Dave Flynn was given the kind of patronage and support other composers have had, we might end up, finally, with a body of work to compare to that of the likes of Dvorák or Bartók or whoever you may care to mention yourself, by a single Irish composer who exhibits a deep understanding of and does justice to the fullness of our musical culture. Paul O’Connor, December 2016