Sesame Street - Pinball 12 video on YouTube
Growing up in Canada in the 70's, I believe this clip may have been my earliest introduction to the pan! I would be willing to bet that there is someone here who can give a history lesson, and give credit to a deserving pannist who lit this funk up!!! I'm curious to know who, where, when, and how... why is obvious... it's AWESOME!!!
Corey Morgan
Saskatoon, SK, Canada
Replies
this pannist sounds like : Andy Narrell , At First I really thought it was Otthello Mollineuax
Natasha Joseph
Thank you... I have read that the Pointer Sisters did the vocals, and Andy Narell is a perfect fit (skill-wise... from photos I've seen of Andy, he must have been about five years old when he did this ;) Now, I can sleep at night! I must have listened to this about a hundred times yesterday... madman!!!
corey - yes it was me, though I don't play like that anymore, I'm glad to say. I think I was about 19 or 20 years old at the time. and yes, that's the pointer sisters. the video was produced by a company called Imagination Inc. in san francisco that was responsible for some pretty revolutionary ideas about what little kids could watch and absorb. the educational experts at the time were mostly saying that the 2 year old kids watching sesame street were too young to learn the alphabet, numbers, etc.. and that their attention span wasn't long enough to watch the the longer video pieces they were producing. a whole generation of kids proved their theories to be wrong.
here's a little piece of trivia for you - the studio where i recorded that track was in the basement of a famous triangular building in north beach san francisco that is owned by francis ford coppola. i did a lot of sessions there in the seventies, including playing synths on the soundtrack of apocalypse now.
all the best
andy
Not having had the pleasure of meeting you, I have read about how jazz and experimentation influenced you musically, and how that has carried over to your passion for pan and panorama from youth. That is why I am not surprised that you are the soloist in this work. I think it's genius, but you may be drawn to reflect "If I knew then what I know now..." What a great history though... Apocolypse Now? Cool!!!
I love the Bay Area, and am curious about the building... I saw most of the landmarks on a work trip. Do you mean the signature tall office tower that has the triangular sides?
No joke... Thank you for this work. It was one of those things that could make me run from across the house once I heard that bass riff, and I remember feeling connected to the pan version. I would feel ripped off if the clarinet played instead!
Based upon the style of playing, the pannist is probably Andy Narell.
C. Jackman
We once asked Andy Narell this question, hoping he'd know who played on this track, and sure enough, it was him! It's called "Pinball Countdown" (find it on youtube).
Mike Wendeln
Tallahassee, FL