By Simon Redley --
Music Republic Magazine
(4 / 5) Miss the summer? Yeah, in the UK, blink and we missed it! No, I mean; do you yearn for the warmer and longer days, now the chill winds, rain, fog, ice and no doubt; soon-to-come snow, is with us?
Rudy Smith has the antidote, with his delightful new jazz album “Glass World”. Where the lead instrument is the steel pan – conjuring up memories of Caribbean sunshine, carnival and all things warm.
He has an incredible dexterity on the instrument, which may sound like it is simply a case of banging on an empty oil drum with some sort of stick, to the uninitiated, but it’s not easy to make the thing blend in to a quartet setting as the main instrument. Across nine tracks for circa 51 minutes. You cannot sustain notes on a steel pan drum, so in a jazz setting, you are kind of up a creek without a proverbial paddle before you even get anywhere near the thing.
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Album Review: “What Pan Did For Me” By Rudy “TwoLeft” Smith
In the nearly 80 years since biscuit tins were converted into the first steelpan instruments, there have been many masters of the art form to emerge. Most have made names for themselves through original compositions, virtuoso performances and classic arrangements for steelband. But few can say that not only have they done all those things, but have captured them all on recordings to share with the world in a compilation CD at the twilight of their careers.
Given the limited options available on the market for books that document the history of steelpan, it’s a rare feat to find not only an album that chronicles the history of steelpan music, but includes a tell-all booklet written by the artist of said album. Enter Rudy “Twoleft” Smith who has been playing, arranging for, and building pan since the 1950s.
The Trinidadian native has had an epic career that has spanned the decades, musical genres and the globe. His latest album, “What pan did for me,” was released by Swedish company, Caprice Records. It features 13 tracks that include his early work with the Merrymakers Steelband, various jazz combos, and steelbands from different parts of the world, including Trinidadian band birdsong Steel Orchestra as Panorama arranger for nine straight years in the 2000s.
The opening track is an Ernesto Nazareth composition called Cavaquinho, which shares the same name of the Portuguese instrument. The playful song was performed in 1956 by Merrymakers Steelband, a group that Smith joined when he was just eight years old. He was 12 at the time of the recording and already a senior member of the group, as he described in the album’s booklet narration.
http://pan-mag.com/album-review-pan-rudy-twoleft-smith/
This forum worse than DONALD TRUMP. He say one thing today and turn around and say the opposite tomorrow. This forum talk about giving the YOUNG TALENT in Trinidad a chance to thrive in PANORAMA ARRANGING. And this forum talk night and day about the need for MUSIC LITERACY in the PAN YOUTH.
And after THE YOUNG LADY went and get all the MUSIC LITERACY you could get in the WORLD and she come back to Trinidad to raise the standard of music in ARRANGING FOR PANORAMA -- they fire THE YOUNG LADY and hire a 74 year-old man (from foreign) to arrange for the band -- calling him a JAZZ MASTER. (And I always thought that PANORAMA was about CALYPSO and STEELBAND.)
So make up allyuh mind and stay with ONE STORY. And doh bother meh head with the YOUTH and the MUSIC LITERACY TING no more.
My Brother Panorama has nothing to do with young and old, it's about who won.
Rudy Smith is just awesome, happy that he's back in the Panorama mix.
Thanks for promoting. Nice rendition.
Brenda H.
Very interesting REVIEW!!!
Ol' Lady = Pan-Jazz Improvisations