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“Laval captures the essence of Celtic Tradition, both the heartbreak and the grizzled wisdom, making music out of the banshee wails that are forgotten in time.” -Knoxville Metro Pulse
“Subtlety is so much more important than pure force in making music. Transcendent music can stop me in my tracks as I go off with the music and forget to dance. Only 2 fiddlers on the circuit are able to do that for me: Jamie Laval and Alasdair Frasier.” -Alan Gordon, Saturnian Studies, R-EEG.T, B.S. BCIA Q-EEG, CLTM
“I was among the crowd of amazed fans. Laval’s set was spectacular!” [Yachats Celtic Festival]
-Mike Meyers, concert promoter, Eugene, OR
“There’s a teardrop in every movement of the bow. What stories his violin has to tell through his heartfelt playing! This is a virtuoso who understands the beauty of nuance.” -The Mercury News 6/29/11
“Thank you so much for your outstanding, energetic, and memorable performance at the Museum of History in Raleigh, NC. It was an honor and a pleasure to present you on our Music of the Carolinas series. As one audience member commented, 'It was a packed house - standing room only - so I'm glad we got there early...Jamie was not only an outstanding fiddle player, but a hilarious and informative performer as well.'” -Piedmont Council of Traditional Music [PineCone.org], Jamie Katz, Communications & Programs Manager
“The amount of energy and sound that belts out from just the two musicians [Laval and Broder] is mesmerizing. And while their chemistry is apparent on their recently released album Zephyr In The Confetti Factory, the real magic happens during their live performances. This is roots-based progressive acoustic string music that inspires, intrigues, and above all else, entertains.” -Knoxville Metro Pulse, 9/30/07
“One of the best Celtic duos to play at the Freight and Salvage [Berkeley, CA]. They take the form and stretch it into new styles, weaving in and out of each other in delightful duets.” -East Bay Express, 9/5/07
“One of North America's finest practitioners of traditional Scottish music.” -San Jose Mercury News, CA
“I was mesmerized tonight. Jamie and Ashley embrace the history of this music and then make it their own -- not just reproduce it, but almost reinvent it -- keeping its legacy alive for our time.” -Bryan Pollard, Winston-Salem, NC
“This extraordinary duo [Jamie and Ashley] was one of the highlights of last year's schedule at Barking Legs Theatre. Both are instrumental virtuosos, and their telepathic interchanges start in the realm of Celtic tradition and move upward and outward.”
-Bruce Kaplan, concert presenter, Chattanoga, TN
“A favorite with critics and concert crowds alike wherever he goes.” -High Country News, Boone, NC
“Evocative...Bracingly original and warmly familiar.”
-The Stockton Record, CA
“There are many good players in the world who can play jigs, reels, and strathspeys, but few who can take those themes and develop them, bringing in ideas that are not the least bit traditional. 'Zephyr in the Confetti Factory' occasioanally even brings Bach and Grapelli to mind for its breadth of musical ideas and technical brilliance. It's a masterpiece.” -David Perasso, Victory Music Review
“Jamie Laval deserves a medal for his exceptional musical expressivity, for beyond technique and delivery there is an embedded soul in his playing, giving off the quality of a human voice, speaking directly from the body and rising up from the particles of the earth.”
-CD Baby www.cdbaby.com
“Red hot! Go see Jamie Laval and his trio. It takes a lot to impress me -- and he's done it! Your mouth will drop open and won't close until you get home that night.” -Carlos Alden, KPBX-fm radio, Spokane, WA
“For two years in a row Jamie Laval has created a sensation at the Yachats Celtic Music Festival. His artistry blends Celtic tradition with progressive improvisational pyrotechnics in a manner that has audiences on their feet after the first number.” -David Bridson, festival promoter, Yachats, OR
“Laval could as easily be performing for a small crowd in front of a blazing fireplace as he could on stage in front of hundreds.” -Albany Democrat-Herald
“A new star for the old world…From what we heard in Edinburgh, Jamie Laval is a fiddler of subtlety, complexity and passionate intensity, an engaging entertainer who will undoubtedly create a rapt audience wherever he goes. His performances are replete with dazzling improvisations and neatly stitched together arrangements, and he meshes perfectly with his delightful trio.” -FiddleOn Magazine, Scotland
“One of the highlights [of Northwest Folklife Festival 2005] was your outdoor concert. The wave of love and gratitude from the crowd was very touching to behold.” -Joyce Miller, Grass Valley, CA
“I never thought I'd hear another fiddle player I liked as well as Martin Hayes until I heard you this weekend at the Yachats Celtic Festival; I now have two favorites!” -Maureen Bowman
“My 88-year-old mum would tell you she is as Irish as the day is long. She LOVES your CD. ‘That's an Irish jig if I've ever heard one!’ ” -Mary Kunz, San Luis Obisbo, CA
“The Nettles discovered a major talent on the rise, Jamie Laval, an excellent and innovative Scottish fiddler. It’s fun to watch someone push the limits of what can be done.” (November newsletter, The Nettles, Corvallis, Oregon)
“I heard you play at the first Berkeley contra dance of the year, and it was easily the best contra dance music I’ve ever heard. “ (Arcadia Falcone, Berkely, CA)
“Wow! Your music is beautiful! Your approach, control, and arrangements are refreshing.” (Daniel Carwile, U.S. Grand Master fiddle champion, Lexington, KY)
“Your music lifted my spirits and filled me with smiles.” (Loren Lones, San Diego, CA)
“Jamie played with passion, precision and virtuosity, showing why he was the US Scottish Fiddle Champion in 2002, and why he is going to be a great star in the future.” (Linda Morpurgo, journalist and founder of Lochgoilhead Fiddle Workshop, Scotland)
"I had the incredible pleasure of seeing/hearing you in Roslyn. I was speechless and could not come to talk to you afterward. Your music is out-of-this-world, and your oh-so-of-this-world fiddling inspires and delights me more than these few paltry words can express. Thanks you for your most excellent, awe-inspiring, and happy playing--for you do make it look like play, Jamie." (Carolyn Thurston, Ellensburg, WA)
“I had the honor of being present for your concert in Yachats this past weekend. You have touched my heart, mind and soul. Thank-you for bringing something so beautiful into a world so full of hate and war.” (Laura Pearson, Cottage Grove, OR)
“Your energy and exuberance, your interaction and communication on stage…you and your band were incredible.” (Pat Tognoni, contra dance caller, Fort Collins, CO)
"What amazing energy you generated!" (Ester Centers, Santa Cruz, CA)
"What an absolute delight to get to hear you in concert...the experience was spiritual, sensual...and actually beyond words! A true feast for the ears, eyes, body and soul." (Sue Goldish, Eugene Folklore Society, Oregon)
“The Sept. 27th dance was incredible. Many people up and down the line kept saying, ‘I can’t believe that so much music can come from only two people!’. I could, since I’ve heard you play before. You and Sue [Songer] were simply fantastic, and we all had a great time. I know I danced with double the energy due to your music.” (Kathy Wheeler, contra dance organizer, Eugene, OR)
“Your trio is up there with the best, and different than the rest! I don’t wear any socks, you guys just knock ‘em right off!” (Virginia Maas, contra dance organizer, Bellingham, WA)
“The rapport between you and your fellow musicians is the first thing that strikes me, all of you truly listening and playing off of each other. Your fiddling is strong, clear, and always convincing. Congrats on a fine album!” (Paul Machlis, pianist for Alasdair Fraser’s Skyedance, Ben Lomond, CA)
“I have just come home from one of the most enjoyable evenings in recent memory. It was so magical. I was fortunate to be in the front and was able to see the pure joy on your face as you play. It was delightful. You truly are gifted and I look forward to seeing you again!!” (Kim Tieken, Cashmere, WA)
“I lose myself in those ecstatic fiddle ascensions, leaning back, closing my eyes, and letting it carry me off to the cosmos. No electronic mechanism can convey the energy that the Jamie Laval Trio brings to a concert. They seem to blend their psyches, as well as their sounds, in a way that synergistically enhances the music. This effect is returned to the audience in a stream of palpable energy that is sure to have you on your feet at some point during the performance. It’s a spiritual experience.” (Kathy Johnson, radio host for KSER-fm, Lynnwood/Everett, WA)
“I loved the energy and sensitivity between the three of you and was completely blown away by the level of your fiddle playing.” (Leanne, graphic designer, Ashland, OR)
"...people are still talking about that set at FolkLife. The fiddler from a Celtic band called Bog An Lochan said it was "a religious experience" (!), and another woman said that it was a sensation." (Susan Petrick, Cupertino, CA)
"I was blown away by the performance. That was definitely the best contra set of Folklife." (Kathy Wheeler, Eugene, OR)
“My spouse-man & I need to go shopping for underwear now 'cause you guys "blew our drawers off"!!!!” (Margaret Simon, Seattle, WA)
“Your fiddling caught the dancers on fire. You made a huge impression in Eugene.” (Sue Songer, author of The Portland Collection)
“Jamie and Hans are incredible. I got them onto WETS-fm radio in Johnson City, TN and the people in the studio went wild. They certainly are an amazing pair.” (Bunny Medeiros, event organizer, Damascus, VA)
“It was thrilling to watch you play with passion and true enjoyment of what you were doing. It was like the audience were your friends and you were having a good old jam session! None of the other performers [at the Scots Fiddle Festival 2003] showed this personality.” (Deyrick Brabson, Glasgow, Scotland)
“You and the music are one!” (Scott and Suzanne Wisenburg, Bremerton, WA)
“The man can play the fiddle to set the room on fire. I can’t hear his music without smiling. He plays as though the music comes directly out of him. Gorgeous!” (Babs Lindsay, playwrite, Seattle, WA)
“What a show!!! I knew you were good, but I had no idea. No wonder you’re the champ! You really brought the house down! Thanks again, hot damn you’re good!” (Nancy Goodyear, Seattle)
“You are the best Celtic fiddler I have ever heard.” (Charles Ed Jones, Chairman, Northwest Irish Dancers, Seattle)
"I came close to tears a couple times during the concert. The passion in your soul just comes through. You just shine." (Amy Sabourin, Seattle, WA)
“The audience reception measured that concert [April 6, 2002] as one of the best and most popular concerts I have ever attended.” (Bob Strasser, board member, Icicle Creek Music Center)
“Haunting...your music flowed within me for days and I want MORE. You moved people that night. I left the theater and I said to my friend, ‘Nights like this are so poignant that it is worth all of life just to hear this music; tonight was perfect, the pinnacle.’ Please come back, again and again; I will make a point of following your concerts when I can, and I will buy every CD you make.” (Eric Root, photographer and network data specialist, Leavenworth, WA)
“As Canadian Secretary to The Queen I would like to express our very great appreciation for your splendid performance given on August 18 in honour of Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh.” (M.G. Cloutier, Canadian Secretary to The Queen)