Year: 2007
Record Label: Heads Up International
Style: Other
Musicians: Andy Narell (tenor, double seconds, triple guitar, tenor bass and six-bass steel pans, iron), Luis Conte (congas, timbales, percussion), Mark Walker, Jean Philippe Fanfant (drums), Mike Stern (guitar), David Sánchez (tenor saxophone)
Review: Some jazz musicians may incorporate steel pans for effect or atmosphere, but few of them maintain the sound of steel pans as a consistent component of their music.
Not Andy Narell, though.
Like Steve Turre’s continuing dedication to the shells or Bela Fleck’s exhilarating blending of the banjo with jazz, Narell has explored new sonic possibilities in his quest for bringing attention to the potential of steel pans for furthering the vocabulary of jazz.
Narell’s quest continues, By using multiple layers of sound and an exhaustive recording itinerary in search of the perfect steel pan, he achieved the sound that he sought for Tatoom. Narell wasn't satisfied with the voice of a single steel pan. Rather, he wanted to maintain the orchestral pan effect that attained texturally complex fulfillment on Narell’s The Passage, which featured the 30-piece Parisian steel band Calypsociation.
Narell has utilized technological advances to create a steel pan orchestra of one. He has recorded separately each steel pan part of Tatoom in locations as diverse as Los Angeles, Mississippi, Paris, West Virginia, Boston, New York Citiy and San Francisco. The deciding factor for the choices of locations was the availability of just the right steel pan for the parts that Narell wrote for the one-man steel pan section of his orchestra. A lifelong adherent to the magic of the steel pan sound, Narell knew where the best of pan maker Ellie Mannette’s instruments resided…and he went there with a recording engineer. After Narell had layered all of the pan recordings into a master, he called in the drummers, whose parts were laid on top of the pans’. Then Narell recorded the parts of percussionist Luis Conte. Then the final contributions of guitarist Mike Stern and tenor saxophonist David Sanchez completed the painstakingly devised tracks.
Narell has attained yet another recording of beauty that calls attention to the mesmerizing sounds of the steel pans and helps explain his dedication to the instrument. The first track, “Izo’s Mood,” allows Narell to revel in his accomplishment, taking the lead on tenor steel pan and accompanying himself with an array of others in a veritable panorama of the pans’ sonic potential. However, as the ideas accumulate when Narell moves into “Tatoom,” the contributions of drummer Mark Walker and percussionist Luis Conte become evident when they animate the piece with animating drive and textures that complement the pans’ sweetness and tropical suggestiveness.
The remainder of Tatoom includes guest artists Mike Stern and David Sánchez adding parts, one stringed and the other a horn, contrasting with the percussion-based instruments that bring to life the first two tracks. Stern jumps into “Baby Steps” by bending the first note and then enlivening the piece over the pans’ roiling accompaniment. Sánchez, on the other hand, delivers unadorned the melody of “Tabanca,” on which drummer Jean Philippe Fanfant develops the French Caribbean beguine that became the identifying characteristic of Narell’s Sakésho of 2002.
Given the difficulty of conceiving and executing the vision behind Tatoom, only Narell’s perfectionism could have made it a reality—creating the illusion of an entire steel pan orchestra recording in a single studio, when in actuality Narell recorded a single instrument at a time in multiple locations. The result is a gem.
Tracks: Izo’s Mood, Tatoom, Baby Steps, Tabanca, Blue Mazooka, Appreciation
Record Label Website: http://www.headsup.com
Reviewed by:
Don Williamson
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