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Island Jazz Chat is a Jazz in the Islands podcast featuring conversations with Caribbean jazz and panjazz musicians based in the islands and the diaspora. For more, click here.

Andy Narell, globe-trotting and pioneering steelpan jazz musician, composer and arranger chats about his beginnings in the world of steelpan in the 1960s, and the evolution of the sound that he is leading in the 2020s with a new sample library of steelpan instruments created by the legendary master tuner Ellie Mannette. And everything in between. From the West Coast of America to Trinidad to South Africa, to the French Antilles and Japan, the Narell sound and music is a standard for many on how the business of steelpan jazz performance and recording operates. Caribbean and Latin American rhythms, African pulses, post bop references all colour his music, and with a prolific output of recordings, steelpan jazz is part of the global jazz conversation. Wed, 21 Sep 2022

• Programme Date: 21 September 2022
• Programme Length: 01:31:10

If you can't see the embedded podcast player, click here for the podcast. 

American pannist 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 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 welcomed itinerant writer Patrick Leigh Fermor back in the late 1940s to Hell Yard, as described in his travel book The Traveller's Tree—"The ease of his manner was admirable"—implying a sense of awe and acceptance we have nurtured over the years in this region for "tourists." Narell has long ago stopped being a tourist. The cri de coeur of a Trinidad-resident critic sums up the native posture towards Narell:

He is one of us and thus, prone to the same criticisms and praise as the rest of us. He is critical of our music, our Panorama and we react without obsequiousness. And rightly so, for that is the Caribbean posture, effectively practised by the panman forever; never back down from a challenge.

Andy Narell belongs to a pantheon of expatriate creatives who "belong" here in Trinidad and at the same time are aware of their difficulty of so belonging. Important regional authors were temporary immigrants to these shores in the mid- 20th century—Edgar Mittelholzer in 1941-48, George Lamming in 1946-50, Derek Walcott in 1959-76—and their presence and experiences added to the canon of great West Indian literature. Trinidad's capital, Port of Spain, and by extension, the island is a place frequented by those wanderers in search of inspiration and succour. It still is a moving place designed to shape memory and ways of feeling.

George Gershwin's symphonic tone poem, An American in Paris is the impression of a visitor—probably Gershwin himself recounting an earlier visit—moving through the city of lights. Andy Narell is an ideal template of An American in Paradise! The idea of an expatriate musician in a foreign land and his potential influence on the music industry formed a question in the writer's head: "would an American in Trinidad energise a jazz (pan jazz?) renaissance in Trinidad, or would it foster competitive jealousy?" The answer could be gleaned from the Narell narrative.

Narell's initial visit was as a 12 year old child to perform at the 1966 Trinidad Music Festival. That life-changing experience introduced him to the panyards and the pioneers, especially Ellie Mannette, and served as the education of this lifelong student of the steel pan and the steelband movement. His annual pilgrimage to the source has been unceasing since 1985. His encyclopaedic knowledge of panmen, the music and the environment of pan suggests that he has done his work, and his global journeys in the service of spreading the sound of pan and his music are not matched by many.

Trinidad-born Nobel laureate in literature, VS Naipaul posits poetically in A Writer's People: "small places with simple economies bred small people with simple destinies." Narell, the American, sees the world differently. He recounted that when he first did a concert in Trinidad in 1985, it was billed as a shoot-out, a competition. The promoters thought that would pique interest. The implication of race and nationality was an unspoken catalyst. That idea was whispered loudly!

The apprehension by Trinidad and Tobago to fully adopt this ambassador of steel pan jazz has been noticeably clear. French film maker Laurent Lichtenstein, in his portrait of Narell filmed in Trinidad in 2009, Andy and the Jumbies, asserts that his presence and concert "may help him to be accepted as a real Trinidadian." Narell himself has noted to writer Asha Brodie in 2007 that he wasn't everybody's cup of tea: "I guess I also have a reputation for being 'avant-garde' and for not caring about who wins [Panorama], which is why my phone isn't ringing." That isolation could either be the result of xenophobia or artificial rage. "Small people with simple destinies."

His presence has not swayed the minds of dyed-in-the-wool traditionalists. The years-long struggle for the privilege to compose for Panorama was an exercise in the fleshing out of de facto prejudices that disallowed foreigners from composing or even arranging for the competition, much less a tune without lyrics. Triumphant in 1999 in breaching the divide, Narell was once again in Trinidad arranging his composition "The Last Word" for Birdsong Steel Orchestra for the 2013 Panorama competition. This is his third competition, and controversial to the end, judges and commentators noted that the tune doesn't "reflect Trinidad's energy or language!" Champion steelband Despers' arranger Beverley Griffith noted in a conversation with ethnomusicologist Shannon Dudley: "Excitement is one of the key things in today's Panorama; you hear that on every judge's score sheet: 'It could do with a little more excitement.' They wouldn't tell you exactly what it is..." De facto prejudices and de jure standards are continuing challenges to Narell.

A narrow focus on ensemble music for pan can limit the Trinidadian's need to accommodate him. He is more than an arranger. It is not without trying that he succeeded to place the instrument in the context of global music industry via prolific recorded output, sales and performances. According to his bio:

He's one of only a small handful of steel pan players in the world who are playing jazz, and perhaps the only one among that coterie to commit an entire career "live and in the studio" to creating new music for the pan in that context.

The intersection of location and presence can yield surprising results on music output. Narell was categorized by the music industry in the US—sheet music publishers and reviewers of his initial Heads Up recordings—as a Latin Jazz artist, even if not so self-described, thus negating the growing influence that the music of the Caribbean isles had on his growing canon of music. His effortless movement and adaptation of Latin American melodies and rhythms including his work with Caribbean Jazz Project and on the album Behind The Bridge in the mid-to- late 1990s signalled new directions in music.

In 1999, he reaped the benefit of post-apartheid South Africa's adulation of him and his music at the Arts Alive Festival, with 60,000 fans "singing" his lyric-less steel pan melodies. The juxtaposition of an Afro-Caribbean bred instrument in Africa led to recordings there. Later relocation to Paris and meeting with exiled French-Antillean jazzmen there led to the formation of Sakesho and the resultant two CDs. The corpus of Trinidadian steel pan music allows space for this maverick.

Narell, the frequent visitor—in 2013, he performed at the annual Jazz Artists on the Greens in Trinidad in March, Jazz in the South in St Lucia in May, and St Kitts Music Festival in June—if not the fortunate traveller has created music that to the local ear resonates with the sound and energy of calypso and the harmonic and melodic sentiments of the Panorama compositions of calypso legend Lord Kitchener, and steel pan players/arrangers Ray Holman, Len "Boogsie" Sharpe, Robert Greenidge, among others. This town—Port of Spain, paradise—has rubbed off on him. He belongs to Trinidad.

Photo Credit
Ari Rossner

I was recently re-animated about the possibilities of programming 24 hours of steelpan jazz and its variants for online radio, when I had to do a little research into the output of this sub-genre of our Caribbean jazz fusion experiment. Some hard realities; we had a proliferation of CDs during the1990s, both in Trinidad and Tobago and abroad, mainly North America. A smattering of offerings out of the UK and Europe did not hold much sway as we entered the 21st century. As a programming niche, there is a thin line between repitition and redundancy.

There is a sort of renaissance in music recording now from the US, by non-Trinidadians as well as diasporic citizens, but the quality varies with level of music academic qualifications. Two names stick out, Phil Hawkins and Gary Gibson, both offering two and four CDs respectively in the 2000s, leaning to what Andy Narell, among others, has termed "progressive steelpan jazz": jazz-based, harmonically intricate music. To quote a review for one of Gibson's CDs: "Speaking a language of harmonic depth not previously explored within the steelpan community in recorded music, Gibson's compositions provide an excellent springboard for improvisations." Both these West-coast musicians attempt to be innovators of music for steelpan. On the east coast of the US, ex-pats Liam Teague and Leon Foster Thomas are creating variety, Victor Provost recently premiered with bebop stylings, while JAOTG alumnus Jonathan Scales released his third CD of musically complex and outside the box compositions. One critic noted, "the music on Jonathan Scales' [three CDs] defies the conventional parameters of jazz or even "pan-jazz" and pushes composition to unprecedented levels of complexity and sophistication."

Local steelpan recordings seem to revolve around ensemble performance by a whole band, with few offerings by our greats: Boogsie, Professor, Ray. Robbie Greenidge, with his collaborations with Michael Utley of Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefers Band, has about over a half-dozen CDs, now and then veering towards his boss' carefree tropical blend devoid of the native rhythms that inform Caribbean jazz. I look and listen with keen interest at young Kyle Noel's upcoming offerings. This Trinidad southerner, far from the madding crowd has interesting musical and sonic ideas, and it would be an excellent fillip for the inventors of the PHI to get that instrument into his hands.

Hoping and believing that quantity and quality are what drive a music industry, I look, and wait with bated breath for the day when we get our act together here in the Caribbean, to make that statement that we made years ago when Caribbean people challenged the idea that there was music other than rock 'n' roll that was chart-worthy in the US. Belafonte was a catalyst then, but not a sustainer. It is said that Andy Narell is the equivalent catalyst for the steelpan. Only excellent output will sustain. [Listen to the exfm stream of some collected music here.]

Phil Hawkins Livin Right

Jason Baptiste 546

Victor Provost Her Favorite Shade of Yellow

Annise Hadeed Over-Time

Jaco Pastorius Good Morning Annya

Kalabash From Whence We Came

Richard Bailey Sande Grande Plains

Kyle Noel The Black Whole

WDR Big Band Köln Pan Woman

Phil Hawkins The Big Idea

The Breakfast Band Jazzabel

Hugh Huggins Jr. Carenage

Leon "Foster" Thomas No Looking Back

Ken Professor Philmore Hibiscus Drive

Gary Gibson A Little Poem For You

Canefire Little Bell

Garvin Blake Belle Eau Road Blues

Ron Reid's Sunsteel Dis J'ouvert

Othello Molineaux Hannibal's Return

Lennard Jack What's On Your Mind

Andy Narell Stickman

Greenidge/Utley Trini Style

Ralph MacDonald Samba 4-2

Ray Holman Charlotte Street

I received Andy Narell's new DVD in the mail, and I couldn't wait to check it out.

Costing less than $20.00, this DVD is a bargain.

I expected a quality product from Mr Narell, And I wasn't disappointed.

Firstly, I must  be brutally honest.

I was never a big Andy Narell fan. He's good , I knew that, and I've supported his music, but I really didn't know where he was coming from.

I just couldn't relate to him as I could to Professor, or Boogie or Robbie.

Without knowing them personally, I knew that those three, like myself, have all been bitten by mosquitoes in a panyard somewhere in T&T.

We've all seen the sun rise from behind our pans on a J'ouvert morning in T&T.

However, the first few minutes of the narrative "Andy and the Jumbies" from DVD one of the double DVD package changed all that.

I had heard about the pan jumbie since a child.

About the society girl who ran off and caught the jumbie, and ended up waving a flag for a steelband on J'ouvert morning; the worst thing that a member of society could possibly do in those days.

Andy knows about the jumbie, I thought. Only hard core pan people know about the jumbie!

Forget about his incredible skills! His knowledge of the jumbie established his serious pan creds with me!

This DVD package is a fine production.

In his narrative , Andy tells of his life with pan, give us his take on the pan culture, and shows his love and respect for the culture, the people and the country where the pan was born.

Andy Narell doesn't just play the pan, he lives it.

DVD 1 includes commentary by such notables ad David Rudder and Peter Minshall, whose colorful prose adds luster to an  already glided package.

DVD 2 includes the actual concerts, one with Trinidad All Stars , the other featuring Andy's band in collaboration with the WDR big band of Germany, with vocals by Lord Relator.

There are many highlights of this production, including the performances of the legendary calypsonian Lord Relator, both in rehearsals and the actual concert with the WDR band, where he presented a repertoire that paid tribute to the late Lord Kitchener.

I was struck by how the German band seemed to easily adopt the phrasing and rhythm of calypso, and they did a fantastic job collaborating with the calypsonian and the steelband.

The performance featuring Trinidad All Stars at Queens Hall alone is worth the price of the package. I'm no music critic and I'll leave that to the experts, but as far as I'm concerned Andy Narell outdid himself with this production.

 It is a credit to himself ,his band mates and production team, and a major contribution to increasing the profile of the pan worldwide.

Thank you for a fine product, Andy.

Every pan lover owes it to himself to purchase a copy of this DVD. It would be a bargain at twice the price.  

Finally, I must mention that these are my personal thoughts, they were not solicited by anyone. I do not know Andy Narell, I'm just a pan lover.

(However, if this DVD becomes a big seller, and Andy wishes to run a lil something…..hey, I ain't too proud :)