Andy Narell

With his first solo album in 1979 Andy Narell took the steelpan out of the steelband and brought it into the jazz band, and with every album and concert since, he has explored the possibilities and expanded the role of the pan in contemporary music.

Andy Narell's second release as a leader (following a long-out-of-print effort for Inner City) was reissued as a 1989 CD. Narell virtually introduced the steel drums to jazz, and this diverse recording (which ranges from Brazilian jazz to touches of rock, post-bop jazz and even a "Celtic Folk Song") was a strong force in making him a well-known name in the jazz world. Narell also plays some keyboards and drums on the date and is joined on the worthwhile effort by guitarist Steve Erquiaga, electric bassist Rich Girard and drummer/percussionist Kenneth Nash.

More often than not, the steel pans are used for playing the traditional sounds of Trinidad. Andy Narell has successfully utilized them in a variety of non-traditional ways. On the ambitious and highly eclectic fusion release Slow Motion, elements of everything from Afro-Cuban salsa to Brazilian samba to African music are fair game for the adventurous, even visionary improviser (who is also heard on electric keyboards).

A groundbreaking force in steel panning who has pretty much single-handedly forged a jazz-inflected genre all his own, Andy Narell again showed the world the vast potential of his chosen instrument on his 2006 album, Tatoom.

Andy Narell is the Jimmy Smith of the steel drums, an innovative player who has been responsible for introducing his instrument to jazz. On this CD Narell shows off the surprising versatility of his instrument, not only playing spirited Latin jams and calypsos but also heartfelt ballads and more complex works. The lively yet diverse date is a strong example of Andy Narell's talents.

Steel drummer Andy Narell contributed five of the six originals on this excellent set – all but the title cut, which is sung by its composer David Rudder. Joined by his regular band of the period (guitarist Steve Erquiaga, bassist Keith Jones, drummer William Kennedy and percussionist Kenneth Nash), Narell once again shows how surprisingly flexible steel drums can be in jazz, pop, rock, and of course calypso settings. Any album that includes the title "Brontosaurus Ballet" is certainly worth exploring.

Narell studied music at the University of California, Berkeley, and played piano with the University of California Jazz Ensembles under the direction of Dr. David W. Tucker. He was graduated in 1973. He has performed with the Caribbean Jazz Project, Montreux, Sakesho, and Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. He additionally composed and arranged music for Trinidad's national steelband competition Panorama. Narell also performed in South Africa in 1999 in front of a crowd of 80,000 people.

Relator (real name Willard Harris) is one of Trinidad's finest calypsonians. He won the Calypso Monarch competition in 1980, an honor to which every calypsonian aspires, and is still considered one of the masters of the art form today. Relator is known for his amazing rhymes, and the dazzling phrasing he employs to sing his way through even the trickiest lyrics. Andy and Relator have been playing together for years, and decided to embark on the University of Calypso project in the spirit of the calypso pioneers of the 1950s. The collaboration was a real treat for both musicians. Andy assembled a group of Latin jazz all stars in New York, and invited maestro Paquito D'Rivera to join the ensemble.

Anyone who thinks the steel drums are limited to calypso and other native West Indian styles has obviously never heard Andy Narell or his collaborators on this disc, the French band Calypsociation. Narell's compositions take the music headlong into jazz, and the richness of the steel pan sound ripples and sways throughout. For added flavor and texture, guests Michael Brecker, Paquito D'Rivera, and Hugh Masekela bring their horns, but they're the icing on a swinging cake (full praise to the percussionists who make the whole ensemble swing). The music is deliciously complex without ever sounding it. It works just as well on slower pieces like "Song for Mia," where the drums create a latticework of melody that remains gorgeously balanced. Granted, at times it veers perilously close to smooth jazz, but then it always steers faultlessly as far as melody is concerned.