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 the 1990s, 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 repetition 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.

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Phil Hawkins
Livin Right

Jason Baptiste
546

Victor Provost
Her Favorite Shade of Yellow

Annise Hadeed
Over-Time

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Jaco Pastorius
Good Morning Annya

Kalabash
From Whence We Came

Richard Bailey
Sande Grande Plains

Kyle Noel
The Black Whole

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WDR Big Band Köln
Pan Woman

Phil Hawkins
The Big Idea

The Breakfast Band
Jazzabel

Hugh Huggins Jr.
Carenage

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Leon "Foster" Thomas
No Looking Back

Ken Professor Philmore
Hibiscus Drive

Gary Gibson
A Little Poem For You

Canefire
Little Bell

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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

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Andy Narell
Stickman

Greenidge/Utley
Trini Style

Ralph MacDonald
Samba 4-2

Ray Holman
Charlotte Street

De Riddim of Tings! A 2012 Overview

A tiny number of ideas can go a long way, as we've seen. And the Internet makes that more and more likely. What's happening is that we might, in fact, be at a time in our history where we're being domesticated by these great big societal things, such as Facebook and the Internet. We're being domesticated by them, because fewer and fewer and fewer of us have to be innovators to get by. And so, in the cold calculus of evolution by natural selection, at no greater time in history than ever before, copiers are probably doing better than innovators. Because innovation is extraordinarily hard. My worry is that we could be moving in that direction, towards becoming more and more sort of docile copiers.
"Infinite Stupidity: A Talk With Mark Pagel." Retrieved 15 December, 2011.

To say that riddim is king in soca 2012 would be partly true. All the breakout hits in the first week of parties and significantly on the radio have been riddim-based. But history has shown that the big winners of Carnival 2011 and before have been those unique soca compositions not shared with other artistes: Wotless (Kes The Band) and Advantage (Machel Montano), to name a couple. That's not to say that Benjai, hot off his "Give Away" riddim driven Ah Trini did not have an extended bumper 2011 with Wine to the Side on the "Honeycomb" riddim shared with Machel Montano and Lil Bitts. Riddim is it, and if you look sharp, a handful of riddims could dominate a TT Carnival season.

Jesse Ryan: A New Jazz "Superstar"

Jesse Ryan © 2010, Jade Slinger

Jesse Ryan is humble to a fault, but his talent, even at his young age and admittedly juvenile academic level is profound, enticing the ears of those who listen with the phrasing and improvisatory ideas of an old soul. I had the pleasure of hearing this student of jazz—a Berklee undergraduate intermittently returning to the college as funds would allow—at La Casa de Ibiza at a Karl Doyle produced event last year and was immediately making comparisons in terms of long-term potential with the young lion colossus, Etienne Charles who single handedly reaffirmed my belief that one must sojourn in the centres of academe abroad to make sense and add sensibility to our native music and it's variations. Jesse's technique is there. His improvising skill is growing. His composition skill is ambitious and set for taking Caribbean jazz out of its niche of ethnic fusion to a mainsteram acceptance based on skill, talent and precedence.

This generation of jazz musicians born after the oil boom years is making a space for itself after the prolific New School generation of Ming, Theron Shaw, Sean Thomas, Clifford Charles, Sean Friday. It is my belief that this thing that Scofield Pilgrim codified as Kaiso Jazz, calypso jazz, call it what you may, was given life by Clive Zanda's generation—"Two Left", Ralph Davies, "Buddy" Williams—and enhanced by the generation of Raf Roberson, the Boothman Brothers, the late Dave Marcellin, Anise Hadeed, "Boogsie". The New School had the chops but frustratingly got the business model wrong, laying a path for the young lions of Etienne, Jesse, Tony Woodroofe Jr, Mikhail Salcedo to play and, critically, to compose and play their originals to a growing audience of discerning listeners who get this thing called jazz.

David Richards: A Musical Director with a difference propels Gerelle Forbes to new heights

I had the pleasure on the evening of Saturday, December 3 to hear a performance by singer Gerelle Forbes in a Christmas concert at Fiesta Plaza, Movie Towne. What popped out to me as a producer of the series SONGBIRDS...live™, was the overall linked theme of the production that lent an air of professionalism and contemporary grace not seen in many performances by young singers these days. Kudos to her and her team, which included, for me, the star of the show, musical director David Richards. Gerelle, a natural performer at ease in front of an audience charmed, if only for as long as she, admittedly, could hold her voice at a level and intensity that speaks to me as a producer. At 60 minutes, the power was reduced noticeably. This one letdown in an otherwise superb production opened my eyes and ears to the possibilities of the female voice in Trinidad and Tobago outside of the narrow range of soca.

Fortunately, for the production, a lynchpin to perfection was musical director David Richard's arrangements of the song choices of the star singer. After a couple contemporary hits by Beyonce and others, the music segued seamlessly into a medley of Christmas-themed songs, even cheerfully transforming the Jackson 5 popularised "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause" into an a cappella barbershop quartet with her background vocalists, Elena Rawlins, Jeuelle Archer, and the magnificent Janine Charles-Farray. It worked, and well. Similarly, as the show seemed to veer into images of Christmas north of the Tropic of Cancer, these four ladies did a medley of parang soca interpolated with Kitch's perennial  "Drink a Rum and a Ponche Crema" that made the audience sing and dance. Acknowledgement of David Richards' input by the star led me to investigate what his motivation was.

ON BEING FIRST: “BOOGSIE” AND THE EVOLUTION OF PAN

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Liner notes for Len "Boogsie" Sharpe's new CD, A Tribute To the Mighty Sparrow: Len ”Boogsie” Sharpe on the PHI

Len “Boogsie” Sharpe has reached a point in his career where accolades are superficial. He is that temperamental genius who can compose in his head without the enhanced skill of an academy-trained musician, the scores for up to eight mini-symphonies for large steelpan orchestras in one short Carnival season. In Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean diaspora and the world, "Boogsie" is an icon of steelpan, that self-sufficient and brilliant musician who can do it all. In that sometimes erratic mind of his, “Boogsie” can cajole melodies and improvisations from any steelpan family member, making the familiar new, and the new, unforgettable. His new instrument, the PHI is an evolution of the acoustic steelpan into the digital age, and in the hands of this master, we can bear witness to some firsts.

Shades of Vaughnette: A Review

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Vaughnette Bigford, forever in my mind, a SONGBIRD, delivered a magnum opus with her sold-out production "Shades of Vaughnette: The concert experience" at the Naparima Bowl in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago that can serve as a template for singers and performers here in these islands. Her song list touched Nat 'King' Cole and Bob Marley, and ranged from torch songs and jazz standards made popular by Nancy Wilson (An Older Man Is Like An Elegant Wine), Abbey Lincoln (Long as You're Living) to international hits originally sung by Miriam Makeba (Soweto Blues) and Tania Maria (Yatra Ta), and included enough local compositions by Andre Tanker, 'Nappy' Meyers and Ras Shorty I to make this reviewer happy. But I err on the side of caution when I sit in an audience of fans, happily, whose body language suggests that we need to listen to a lot more music from any and all genres.

Audiences are hard to please, and the suspension of belief that an entertainer takes when confronting an audience that generally gravitates towards a handful of songs and memories of songs of others, makes song choice difficult. Very accessible music like Randy Crawford's "One Day I'll Fly Away" is a crowd-pleaser, but the more esoteric song choices like "Yatra Ta" by Tania Maria are applauded with respect at musicianship and obligation suggesting at not knowing how to react. I heard an audience member commenting, "when will she sing songs that I know?" To cringe at the indiscipline of the audience is faux elitism. I understand, but I refuse to pander to nostalgia and escapism. Behave and learn. However, to know one's place in an auditorium of folks looking to be entertained after restrictive curfew limitations have been recently lifted is to be part of the joy of sharing in great talent.

Etienne Charles say kaiso! Jazz and the West Indian Word.

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In 3 days during March 2010, Etienne Charles and his group of young American musicians created a new masterpiece, a 70 minute ode to the majesty of Calypso and its music called kaiso. Artfully augmented by prolific Jamaican recording artist and pianist Monty Alexander and Trini-by-blood American percussionist Ralph MacDonald, Etienne produced a testament to the idea that Calypso music and the chantuelle's canon are ripe for the reinterpretation by jazz musicians worldwide. That we had to wait until July 2011 to officially hear this new CD is a tragedy of modern music business in which distribution and attribution are matters that are real, and our patience for new music after 2009's Folklore would not be sated until the product is ready.