"Cooley's Reel" (also "Luttrell's Pass"), one of the
most popular Irish reels of the 20th century, has no
ironclad history. Usually played as a two part reel,
the third turn surfaced recently on a 2 CD compilation
of Sligo fiddler Michael Gorman (1895-1970) which was
assembled by Reg Hall for Topic records.
The alternate title "Luttrell's Pass" refers to the
Battle of Aughrim, fought in Joe Mills' neck of the
woods in the early part of the 17th century. Other
titles include Joe Cooley...(+)
"Cooley's Reel" (also "Luttrell's Pass"), one of the
most popular Irish reels of the 20th century, has no
ironclad history. Usually played as a two part reel,
the third turn surfaced recently on a 2 CD compilation
of Sligo fiddler Michael Gorman (1895-1970) which was
assembled by Reg Hall for Topic records.
The alternate title "Luttrell's Pass" refers to the
Battle of Aughrim, fought in Joe Mills' neck of the
woods in the early part of the 17th century. Other
titles include Joe Cooley's Fancy (Tony McMahon
recording), and the Tulla Reel, (Ceol Rince na
hEireann, Vol. 1, #200.)
There are several stories circulating regarding the
origins of this extremely popular session tune.
According to David Taylor (1992) the reel was the
composition of Co. Mayo and New York fiddler John
McGrath (1900–1955), although this assertion does not
seem supported elsewhere. Philippe Varlet maintains it
was the invention of accordion player Joe Mills of the
Aughrim Slopes Céilí Band, who originally entitled it
"Luttrell's/Lutrell Pass," a place-name near the site
of the Battle of Aughrim (July, 1691). Henry Luttrell
was a Jacobite cavalry commander whose forces had been
held in reserve to cover the flank, however, when the
opportune moment came to counterattack, Luttrell
inexplicably had his forces withdraw following a route
now known locally as "Luttrell's Pass". He was accused
of treachery and having been in the pay of the
Williamites and was assassinated in Dublin after the
war.
Charlie Piggott, writing in his book co-authored with
Fintan Vallely, Blooming Meadows (1998), has yet
another version of how the composition came to be,
related to him by Joe's brother Séamus. Its origins
date to the 1940's when the teenaged brothers attended
a house session in the neighboring county of Clare.
There they listened to an old man with a battered
concertina playing in front of an open fire (Séamus
remembers some of the buttons had been replaced by
cigarette ends!), and one tune in particular caught
their attention. On returning home the brothers tried
their best to remember what the old man had played,
staying up through the night working and worrying the
remembered fragments until finally the reel took shape.
Séamus credits Joe with the first part of their
refashioned piece, while himself taking credit for the
turn.
Source: TuneArch
(https://tunearch.org/wiki/Annotation:Cooley%27s_Reel_(
1)).
Although originally written for Traditional Irish
instruments, I created this Interpretation of the Irish
Reel "Cooley's Reel" for Violin, Viola & Classical
Guitar.