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Jazz Articles about Andy Narell
About Andy Narell
Instrument: Drums, steel
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by Jim Worsley
French guitarist's Philippe Coignet's new ensemble recording is like that of a well-rooted tree with many powerful branches reaching out uniquely, but collectively connecting back to its inner core. EHA (pronounced as a long A-ha) is comprised of a five-part nucleus with several worldly guest stars. In addition to Coignet, the quintet features fellow Frenchman Damien Schmitt on drums, bassist Michel Alibo from Martinique, pianist Leandro Aconcha from Switzerland, and Brazilian saxophonist Cacau de Queiroz. Eleven distinctly original ...
read moreThe Narell Brothers: Steelpan Music Merchants
by Nigel Campbell
Steelpan musician, Andy Narell and his older brother Jeff Narell represent a game change in the status quo of island music and the instruments born in the Caribbean. Originally created as an musical accompaniment to celebrate Trinidad Carnival, the steelpan has evolved over the years to become a modern acoustic instrument family that supplies a range of unique timbres and tonals colours for all the world's music, including jazz and calypso. Andy Narell, with over 18 albums as leader or ...
read moreAn American in Paradise: The sense of Belonging of Andy Narell
by Nigel Campbell
American pannist (steel pan soloist) and composer Andy Narell is an iconoclast who fearlessly challenges the narrow definitions of acceptable pan music. He is global, and his usefulness as an ambassador for Trinidad and Tobago's national instrument is tainted by suspicion long held by panmen (steel pan players) and the steel pan fraternity in general here. It may be an attitude of his own making. Long held beliefs are hard to dispel with logic. Pan pioneer Rudolf “Fish Eye" Ollivierre ...
read moreAndy Narell and Relator: University of Calypso
by Woodrow Wilkins
It almost seems required in many cases, that jazz artists incorporate other styles into their music, whether it is blues, R&B, pop, classical or Latin. Half a century ago, jazz and calypso were fused together for the first time, and now Andy Narell and modern-day calypso legend Relator revisit that relationship with University of Calypso. Narell is perhaps the world's foremost steel pan artist, making a career of working this instrument into the realm of jazz. His studio ...
read moreAndy Narell: Tatoom: Music for Steel Orchestra
by Jeff Winbush
There are times when you have to admire an artistic effort for its sheer audacity if nothing else. Andy Narell's Tatoom is one such statement. Commercial considerations aside, Narell is doing nothing less than to continue growing and developing as a musician. In the process of pushing himself he's pushing the listener as well, which may limit the appeal of the album. Let's face it: jazz isn't always about giving the people what they want. The best jazz gives the ...
read moreAndy Narell: Tatoom: Music for Steel Orchestra
by Woodrow Wilkins
The steel pan, sometimes referred to as the steel drum or oil drum, is almost synonymous with Latin music. However, one artist has taken the instrument into another realm. For almost thirty years, Andy Narell has been a world force, not only playing jazz with the pans but also writing jazz for this instrument. Over the course of his career, he has been a bandleader, partnered with vibraphonist Dave Samuels for the Caribbean Jazz Project, toured and ...
read moreAndy Narell: The Passage
by Franz A. Matzner
Spotlighting the internationality of jazz by offering a wide range of music from all over the world—including such diverse releases as the recent Africa Straight Ahead ; Word of Mouth, a Jaco Pastorius tribute album; and The Caribbean Jazz Project —the only common denominator at Telarc’s Heads Up imprint is outstanding recording quality and the unexpected. Their latest release, The Passage, proves no exception. Capturing the compositional and instrumental skill of steel pan artist Andy Narell, The ...
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