Amazon.comEd Reavy was perhaps the greatest composer of Irish dance tunes of the 20th century, and musicians have played his compositions on dozens of recordings and in countless kitchen and pub sessions around the world. In the late 1970s, Mick Moloney recorded Reavy, who was then in his late 70s, playing some of his favorite selections from his vast collection of melodies. Moloney also gathered together musicians like Liz Carroll, Brendan Mulvihill, and Maureen Fitzpatrick to play some of Reavy's tunes as a tribute to the composer. These recordings include "In Memory to Coleman," a tune Reavy wrote in honor of the great Sligo fiddler Michael Coleman, "Love at the Endings," which was inspired by a poem by W.B Yeats, and "Bridget of Knock," a melody Reavy composed for his wife. Reavy gave up performing publicly a couple of decades before these recording were made, but he still plays his fiddle with a lilt that few can match. And even if the younger musicians demonstrate a greater technical facility, none of them can play these tunes with the same understanding as the man who wrote them. --Michael Simmons