Andy Narell – Tatoom – Music for Steel Orchestra – Heads Up

by | Jan 26, 2007 | Jazz CD Reviews | 0 comments

Andy Narell – Tatoom – Music for Steel Orchestra – Heads Up HUCD 3122. 1:13:09 ****:

Steelband maven Andy Narell has brought the steel pan into the jazzband since his first solo album in l979. In The Passage in 2004 he brought 25 years of jazz experience to a 30-piece steel orchestra. In this new release he merges his unique jazz writing with a big steel band which is basically himself overdubbed many times. Working with three brilliant soloists: guitarist and labelmate Mike Stern, tenor saxist David Sanchez and percussionist Luis Conte, he merged his creativity with a 22-piece steelband all played by himself.  The complement consists of five tenor pans and four double seconds playing the melodies, four more double seconds and four sets of triple guitars playing the harmonies, two sets of tenor bass, and three sets of six-bass (a single bass instrument which is composed of six 55-gallon drums). 

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 drums shine in some great jazz solos, followed by the steel band doing its own solos. It’s a bit different from standard steelband fare and more into the jazz  mold, with the composer playing his own music to a new level.  My only hesitation here is wanting those 22 steel drums to be surrounding me in a multichannel SACD version – let’s hope that’s in the works!

TrackList:  Izo’s Mood, Tatoom, Baby Steps, Tabanca, Blue Mazooka, Appreciation.

– John Henry

 

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