steelband music
Scores and parts for all of the music from ‘The Passage’ and ‘Tatoom’ are available at www.ramajay.com:The Passage
Sea of Stories
Coffee Street
Song for Mia
The Long Way Back
Dee Mwa Wee
Mabouya
Izo’s Mood
Tatoom
Baby Steps
Tabanca
Blue Mazooka
Appreciation
‘One More Touch,’ the piece featured in the video ‘Live at the Köln Philharmonic’ is also out now.
‘ALIVE’ — the five film DVD release — features my work with Trinidad All Stars, one of the greatest steelbands in the world, as well as my Paris based steelband and our collaboration with the WDR Big Band in Köln, Germany. Since the 1999 Trinidad Panorama, I’ve been writing steelband music steadily, recording it, and getting the scores and parts published through www.ramajay.com. That’s Tom Miller, who will be happy to accomodate those of you who want to play the music. You can write to me as well if you have questions. A lot of schools are playing the music now and I often do guest artist visits. The way it usually works is the band gets the music and works on it during the semester/year, I come in for a few days or longer and work with the band, then play with the band on their concert. You can contact me directly at this site or write to Lauren Vogel Weiss at Percussion Events Registry: perc@ont.com.
The WDR Big Band project was a collaboration that resulted in a 40 piece orchestra (25 piece steelband plus a full big band horn section) performing my music and classic calypsos with Relator singing. We’ve been performing the steelband arrangements of the calypsos with Relator and David Rudder at a number of schools in the USA, and the full big band project is ready to go, horn arrangements and all.
The Andy Narell Steelband, based in Paris, is an ongoing project and we’re always working on new music and are ready to go out and play concerts. For bookings go to my contact page and look for the agent that’s in your part of the world, or send me a note from this site. —AN
Reviews of ‘Tatoom’
“Andy Narell has made so many cool albums of jazzy steel pan (aka steel drum) music through the years he is practically a genre unto himself at this point. A musician of tremendous skill and consummate good taste, Narell takes the pans places they’ve never been before, so far beyond the limited palette of calypso it barely seems like the same instrument.” —MixOnline
“Narell’s playing throughout is skillful and imaginative…Narell has always written lovely melodies and this recording continues that tradition. The payoff for Narell’s meticulous recording logistics is that the nicely layered, warm sounds of this one-hour, thirteen-minute project captivate from start to finish. Bristling with elegance and excitement, there’s never a dull moment.” —Jazz & Blues Report
“Andy Narell is to the steel pan as Jimmy Smith was to the Hammond B3—a pioneer who took the instrument out of the basement, and put it into the jazz mainstream…Music this visceral is so gratifying that it is easy to overlook the incredible musicianship on this deceptively sophisticated disc. It can be enjoyed for multiple listenings before you realized the complexity and dexterity that is required for such intricate music. That is the paradox of great art: the difficult can look so easy.” —All About Jazz-LA
“…Tatoom is about Narell and his prowess behind a set of steel pans. This is a fascinating album—not your average modern jazz CD; well worth a listen.” —Jazz Improv
“With the addition of solos by Stern, Sanchez and Conte, Narell has again taken steelband music to a whole new place where Jazz and Afro-Caribbean music come together, and where the raw energy of the steelband has been captured by the best recording techniques.” —World Music Central
“…another forward-thinking set…a rousing finish to yet another top-notch effort.” —All Music Guide
“Andy Narell makes a important contribution and powerful statement on this CD. You won’t have to leave your house! Just turn on the sun lamp, sip a rum cooler, press play, and you’re right there on vacation in Trinidad. It's a first class trip all the way.”—JazzReview.com
“Given the difficulty of conceiving and executing the vision behind Tatoom, only Narell’s perfectionism could have made it a reality—creating the sound of an entire steel pan orchestra recording in a single studio, when in actuality Narell recorded in a single instrument at a time in multiple locations. The result is a gem.” —JazzReview.com
“Soloing spots by Stern and Sanchez add the jazz element, while percussionist Luis Conte generates a quasi, Afro-Cuban/Caribbean vista in support of Narell’s moveable wall-of-sound. Melodically attractive and awash with soaring, multi-layered passages -- the artist continues to envelop the jazz idiom with disparate nuances and compositionally stirring frameworks.” —eJazzNews.com
“So we have here a big band driven by the burning grooves of his compatriots, plus Narell nailing all the pan-playing on the most beautiful set of steel pans ever assembled, and in all his original music. Guitarist Stern, saxist Sanchez and Conte on congas shine in some great jazz solos, followed by the steel band doing its own solos.” —Audiophile Audition