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Ambrose Moloney’s reel

By Tommy Whelan

Also known as Ambrose Maloney’s, Ambrose Moloney’s Favourite, The Tailor’s Fancy.

There are 36 recordings of this tune.

This tune has been recorded together with

Ambrose Moloney’s appears in 3 other tune collections.

Ambrose Moloney’s has been added to 10 tune sets.

Ambrose Moloney's has been added to 119 tunebooks.

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Four settings

1
X: 1
T: Ambrose Moloney's
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Gmaj
|:B2 BG ABGE|DGBG A3 c|BdBG ABde|gedB eA A2|
BdBG ABGE|DGBG AGAc|BG G2 A2 Bd|gedc BG G2:|
dgbg ageg|gedB GABd|eaag ageg|dgbg ageg|
dgbg ageg|gedB GABd|eaag egfa|gedc BG G2:|
# Added by Kenny .
2
X: 2
T: Ambrose Moloney's
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Gmaj
|:B3G ABGE|DGBG ~A3c|BG~G2 A2ef|gedg eA~A2|
(3Bcd BG ABGE|DGBG ~A3c|BG~G2 A2ef|1 gedc BGGA:|2 gedc BG~G2||
|:dg~g2 agef|gedB GA (3Bcd|eaab agef|g2bg abge|
dg~g2 agef|gedB GA (3Bcd|e2ag egfa|1 gedc BG~G2:|2 gedc BGGA||
3
X: 3
T: Ambrose Moloney's
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Gmaj
~B3 G ABGE|DGBG A3 c|B ~G3 Adef|gedg eAAc|
~B3 G ABGE|DGBG AGAc|B ~G3 Adef|1 gedc BGGA:|2 gedc BGGB||
dgbg agea|gedB GABd|e ~a3 agef|~g2 bg afge|
dgbg agea|gedB GABd|eaag egfa|1 gedc BGGB:|2 gedc BGGA:|
# Added by Mars .
4
X: 4
T: Ambrose Moloney's
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Gmaj
~B3G ABGE|~D2BA BdAd|BG~G2 (3Bcd eg|gedB eA A2|
GDBG ~A2GE|~D2BA BdAd|BGG2 Bdeg|gedc BG G2||
dgbg ageg|gedB GA (3Bcd|~a3b ageB|dgbg ageB|
dgbg ageg|gedB GABd|~a3g e2fa|gedc BG G2||
"last bar" gedB G2 G2||
# Added by Nico .

Twelve comments

Ambrose Moloney

Got this reel from a ceili band recording years ago. Ambrose Moloney , I seem to remember , was a Galway musician. I think he was a brother of Stephen Moloney[?] of the Ballinakill Ceili Band.[?] Memory is very shaky on all of this - any definite information would be appreciated.

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Ambrose Moloney

According to Sean Moloney’s recent album’s notes, Ambrose Moloney is a flute player and a son of Stephen Moloney. That means he is Eddie’s brother and Sean’s uncle.

Shaskeen

On Shaskeen’s “Mouse Behind the Dresser” album, the sleeve notes confirm what slainte said for those wondering.

This tune goes great into Jackson’s reel as demonstrated by a flute solo on the above Shaskeen album.

Cathal Hayden has this as “The Tailor’s Fancy”.

The tailor in question might refer to Stephen Moloney. He was Ambrose Moloney’s father, and a tailor by trade. I’m not sure if any of his sons took over the family bussiness.

Tailors

just to add to the thread (sic), Stephen Moloney’s father (James) was also a tailor, and his father before him (Stephen senior). They left Ireland to England and lived for a time between Leeds and Halifax in the 1870s/1880s. Sean told me that James Moloney learned or played the flute at a working men’s club in Leeds and was also an operatic singer before he went to America and later returned to buy a small farm and establish the family tailoring business in Ballinakil. So there was both fluting and tailoring across the generations.

Wow, I didn’t know there’s some connection between the Moloneys and Leeds. I was inspired to play the flute hearing Sean Moloney playing the instrument. That was one year before I started studying for MA in Leeds. Thanks for the info.

Ambrose Moloney’s, X:4

This is transcribed from Eddie Moloney - Master Musician, disc 1, track 22, where it’s labelled as Tommy Whelan’s #4. As with most of Eddie’s playing, there’s a bunch of notes jumped the octave (especially low Es and Ds), or sort of in between octaves. I added the way he ends the tune as well.

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