Micheál Ó Súilleabháin - Oíche Nollag (Christmas Eve)
I've never known how to pronounce Micheál Ó Súilleabháin. Being the descendant of imperialists, I naturally feel guilty in attempting to anglicise it as Michael O'Sullivan, but the next most plausible pronunciation seems to involve calling him Mr. O'Swillybean, which I refuse to do. So caution takes hold, and I am forced to refer to him as simply as "that Irish piano player". Well done, Ó Súilleabháin. You win.

Oíche Nollag is the opening track from his 1987 album The Dolphin's Way, in which he took traditional Irish musical themes, dressed them in sharp new clothes, and released them on an unsuspecting public. While he never strays far from his Celtic roots, Ó Súilleabháin brings an ineffable sense of modernity to this music, flavouring it with just the merest hint of jazz. It works startlingly well. Oíche Nollag is a traditional jig, that here is played with a fearsomely tight sense of drive and rhythm. It's virtuoso stuff, and even if this is the sort of thing you'd normally steer well clear of, I suspect you will end up being impressed.

Micheál Ó Súilleabháin - Oíche Nollag (Christmas Eve)