Jesse Smith
From Baltimore, U.S.A. and presently living in Ireland, Jesse is a fiddle player capable of both gentle, melodic finger-dances in his interpretation of songs and airs and wild bowing and eye-blurring fingerwork in his reel-playing. One of the many tune-composers in the group, Jesse came to the rescue when the extremely difficult job of replacing Daire Bracken came about. Since joining Danú, he has opened up new avenues, with his repertoire of music from his native America and his different perspective on the Irish music tradition.
Saturated in music all his life - his mother Donna Long plays piano with "Cherish the Ladies" - and tutored by fiddle maestro Brendan Mulvihill in America, Jesse has been coming to Ireland from a young age and his knowledge of the music and tradition is vast and quite amazing, especially for someone who does not claim Irish ancestry. Jesse recorded his very own solo album at the age of 17, named "Hurricane".
A master on the fiddle, Jesse contributes strongly to the exciting and energetic music of the group and has been playing with Danú since August 1998.