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Pan Jazz Picnic

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.]



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Phil Hawkins
Livin Right

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Jason Baptiste
546

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Victor Provost
Her Favorite Shade of Yellow

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Annise Hadeed
Over-Time

 


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Jaco Pastorius
Good Morning Annya

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Kalabash
From Whence We Came

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Richard Bailey
Sande Grande Plains

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Kyle Noel
The Black Whole

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WDR Big Band Köln
Pan Woman

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Phil Hawkins
The Big Idea

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The Breakfast Band
Jazzabel

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Hugh Huggins Jr.
Carenage

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Leon "Foster" Thomas
No Looking Back

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Ken Professor Philmore
Hibiscus Drive

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Gary Gibson
A Little Poem For You

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Canefire
Little Bell

 


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Garvin Blake
Belle Eau Road Blues

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Ron Reid's Sunsteel
Dis J'ouvert

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Othello Molineaux
Hannibal's Return

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Lennard Jack
What's On Your Mind

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Andy Narell
Stickman

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Greenidge/Utley
Trini Style

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Ralph MacDonald
Samba 4-2

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Ray Holman
Charlotte Street
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Pan gone backwards to go forward.

12393751279?profile=originalThe steel pan still fascinates me as an industrial musical instrument that has the potential to be as commonplace as the electric guitar or portable electronic keyboard. Portability, short learning curve relative to traditional music learning experience, and ease of manufacture seem to be the factors that make the two aforementioend so popular. Some recent innovations by local entrepreneurs are intersting: The P.H.I.® by UWI-based engineers and the e-Pan™ by Toronto-based Salmon Cupid. Both are controllers for synthesizers as opposed to organic instruments, but innovation like this should be encouraged as the music instrument manufacturing industry in the US alone was worth at least US$2 billion in total domestic demand. Globally, the numbers can rival our budget, and the sky's the limit. Smarter persons than I would be needed to advise and move the process of exploitation further along.

12393751683?profile=originalSome other innovations of the pan harken back to the original instrument, then a small instrument moulded out of a kerosene drum with a playing surface on a convex shape, and played with the hands. According to the chronnology, the rudimentary pan was played with the hands then the raw stick then padded stick. The European innovaters Felix Rohner and Sabina Schärer (PANArt Hangbau AG), started a "re-evolution", to coin a 3CANAL phrase, back to the future. Their instrument, the Hang was followed by The Halo, as well as the Hank, and its derivatives, the HAPI drum, the TurtlePan and the Zen Tambour. All are American innovations. There exists a community of "handpan" players, enthusiasts and innovators.

What has struck me about these new organic instruments is the size. Compact and portable are two features that seem to factor into the popularity of musical instruments. The size of violin versus a double bass may tell of its popularity as an instrument of learning and practice for a number of students outside the music school or auditorium space. So too, the trumpet, saxophone and many reed and horn instruments. I looked at pannist Mikhail Salcedo playing a G-pan family member instrument at Ibiza once, and was struck by its larger size relative to the conventional tenor pan that he normally plays; 26.5 inches for the G-pan compared with 23 inches in the conventional pan. Granted there was a wider range of pitches in the instruments even if there were some pitch problems on the lower notes. That evolution in pan does not seem to be moving in the direction of recent innovations in musical instrument design.

What's the phrase: "It's not the size of the instrument, but how you use it." Electronics manufacturers are churning out tablets and smart phones with 4 - 7 inch screens to view streaming movies on the go. In the right environment and space, one can view a movie on 65 inch LED screens in 3D. The same can be said of the G-pan family, as an orchestral instruments it may be apt, but the new innovations in design point to these compact "handpans", all of which are being created overseas. There is as yet no mass movement towards this class of instruments, but as the home of the steelpan, our vision should be on a horizon where anyone and everyone can buy and play a pan because it's easy to play, easy to handle, relatively inexpensive and readily available online and elsewhere.

 

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