Ronnie Drew had a voice that was technically one-dimensional, but he could express more emotion and pathos than many supposedly superior vocal acrobats. Indeed he easily holds his own on this album’s ‘Love’s Own Sweet Song’ on which he duets and duels with the classically-trained Emmanuel Lawler.
Throughout A Fond Farewell the quintessential Dubliner seems wholly at ease among such notable Irish jazz musicians as Hugh Buckley, Richie Buckley and Dave Fleming. He’s also joined by Mary Coughlan (on Mike Hanrahan’s superb ‘We Had It All’) and Damien Dempsey (for ‘Rainy Night In Soho’). ‘The Auld Triangle’ and ‘Molly Malone’ come across much as you’d expect, given how long they were essential parts of the man’s repertoire, although the subtle jazz noodlings give both a fresh feel. But what will enthrall many is the way Ronnie packs extraordinary emotion and power into Kurt Weill’s ‘September Song’ and the Bessie Smith classic ‘Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out’. It’s also quite remarkable that these recordings were made mere months before he passed away, and that his well-publicised decline in health didn’t daunt him from tackling a totally new song in the shape of Aengus Fanning’s evocative ‘The Last Wave’. A Fond Farewell indeed.