Customer Reviews

Passage (Hybr)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My roots go back to Trinidad -- my father is Trinidadian -- and while I have visitied the island, I never have during February -- the annual Carnival and Panorama festive season. I have always wanted to visit during that time, not just to participate in the festivities, but more importantly to be a part of the music, to hear for myself what my father has always talked about -- the bands of Panorama! To hear that many drums all playing their parts, and see the musicians rocking to the music, is an incredibly awesome experience.

Having heard Andy's latest outing, I feel that I have been to Trinidad in February!

No, this is not injecting the steel drum into the jazz genre, it is Andy in his element playing the steel pan how it was meant to be played -- melodically and beautifully in a steel orchestra. As a lover of calypso and steel pan music from childhood, thanks to my father, this album gives me nothing but joy.

If your only exposure to steel pan is through Andy or others weaving the instrument into the jazz genre, then you may not appreciate or like this album. However, if you are an islander like me or one who appreciates the cultural experience of the sound and roots of steel pan music, then close your eyes, have a listen, and this will take you home.

. . . those who love steel drum music, and those who don't. I belong to the former group. My favorite practitioner is Andy Narell. I believe I have every one of Narell's discs as leader except an obscure out-of-print recording originally released on the defunct Uptown label which I heard on NPR in 1979, the name of which slips my mind. I also own all of Monty Alexander's Ivory and Steel discs, as well as Oliver Lake's astounding Kinda Up and Othello Molineaux's solo disc, plus Ahmad Jamal's disc featuring the latter artist, Nature: The Essence Part 3. I remember these details so precisely because my first encounter with this magical music, wrapped, as it was, in jazz garments, completely enthralled me, and continues to do so to this day. It was also one of my main and first entry points to creative improvised music. Thus, I feel, as a listener, a tremendous debt of gratitude to Andy Narell. All told, including Sakesho (which is billed as a band, and not an Andy Narell disc), I believe I have 12 discs featuring him as leader. This also doesn't include the first two or three Caribbean Jazz Project discs, on which he was a prominent member, or either of the Dave Love Smooth Africa recordings, on which he was also prominently featured. He plays a key part as well on Steve Erquiga's brilliant outing, Erkiology, and has a strong supporting role on Joe Pass's wonderful disc, Whitestone (all of which I own).

So you can see, I am somewhat of an amateur expert on jazz-oriented steel drum-band music. How does this latest Narell outing stack up? Somewhere in the middle, I'd say. Not as mesmeric and totally engaging as my two favorites, Slow Motion and Light in Your Eyes, probably superior to Fire in the Engine Room and Behind the Bridge, about on a par with Live in South Africa. Thus, it has the energy and drive of the latter disc, but lacks the magic of Narell's best efforts.

I will give him this: he has created perhaps the most engaging large-band steel-drum music on disc to date. Let's face it: It's not that easy to write for and perform with a steel drum orchestra. There's a kind of cultural history that remains somewhat inaccessible to North American ears, what one might consider as being on a par with Trad jazz. In other words, there are shibboleths, protocols, benchmarks that must be met, if one is to be regarded as an authentic steel drum band practitioner. These do little to endear the music to North American jazz ears. That Andy Narell has cracked the code, so to speak, by remaining conversant with and faithful to these protocols while still advancing the music into new and uncharted musical territory deserves the highest praise. Unfortunately, it doesn't often make for absolutely essential jazz listening.

Nevertheless, I'm still going to give this disc a full five stars, not least because of its success vis-?-vis Narell's continuing project to express steel band music in a jazz idiom, perhaps most difficult to do in a steel-band orchestral setting. Yes, it helps to have brilliant guests Michael Brecker, Paquito D'Rivera, and Hugh Masekela on board. But I really and truly do believe the major kudos belongs to Narell, that intrepid explorer and practitioner of native Caribbean musics. You?ll certainly want to check it out if you have even the slightest affinity for this kind of music.

I have listened to samples of his other CD's after purchasing this. He has successfully mixed steel band with jazz. I never get tired of listening to this CD. I hope he would record another very soon. I love it. Don't hesistate to buy this.

The highlights on this album are the first & last tracks, being quintessentially Trinidadian steelpan playing, very much
in the mode of Ellie Manette - music I grew up with. Which is not intended to diminish the tracks in between - which are also a joy to listen to. Accomplished playing and brilliant recording - unlike my old Trinidad RCA Victor vinyls of the 50's.
If you have any interest in pan music this is a must-have.

TO THE POINT...The very first cut on this cd (PASSAGE) is worth the price of the whole cd...and then some! Tears,I tell you, tears of joy and I immediately lost all my arthritis pain as I listened to it. THIS is the Andy Narell cd anyone who digs this style of music should not be without! YES!!!

I did not know Andy Narell, now I have all his CD's in just three weeks. Including Passage on SACD. Magical, soft, tantalizing music, I don't like the way of playing of Michael Brecker too much, but for this SACD I have to withdraw that opinion: it fits and it's great in the companionship of Andy Narell. The sound though, is a little disappointing, it's 5.1 allright, but fairly soft, not too much dynamics as other SACD's. This is due to the instruments, mostly steel pans, but the music itself covers it all. 5 stars if the sound were a little more sprankling, but the music is 5 stars, even 6!

I've much enjoyed a few of Andy Narell's earlier albums and I am a fan of steel band music and appreciate his efforts to promote the instrument. I was looking forward to having a sample of his music on SACD. Unfortunately, I found this album to be disappointing. First, I don't think his music translates well to the steel band orchestra format. It has a lot more punch in combo arrangements. Second, it also doesn't compare well to traditional steel band recordings of Carnival music. Songs like "Iron Man" by Amoco Renegades or "Pan by Storm" by Vat 19 Fonclaire come at you like a stampede. They generate excitement. The sonic storm that a real steel band orchestra makes at Panorama - there is simply nothing like it in the world. And that's what this album doesn't have. So check out the Delos recording, "Panorama - Steel Bands of Trinidad and Tobago" or better yet get on a BWIA flight to Piarco for next Carnival.

This is magnificent work. Very hot, beautiful, luxurious, sensuous, extraordinary compositions and performances by a huge ensemble. Coffee Street is a classic. Narell builds brilliant solos with a latin jazz sensibility against a monster rhythm section. The best steel pan I've heard. (Check out, also, Narell's "Fire in the Engine Room" -- swinging stuff, but takes it down a notch, and is actually less fiery than "Passages," while sustaining the beautiful rhythmic feeling; killer piano, guitar, drums behind the pan.)

I am flipping out a bit at how good an album this is. Seems to me there is no better place to get introduced to the steel pan sound for reals.

IMHO, there is simply no other instrument whose tones are at one and the same time as rich and as ethereal as steel pan, especially in a big, spacious orchestral setting. When you hear the synth version of steel pan, you hardly recognize it as steel pan at all -- it sounds like a bad hangover from an '80s party. When it's the real deal, orchestra-style, you remember it differently -- the dynamic range of these instruments is AWESOME. The bass pan is so smoove you'll swear you were listening to the world's most acoustically-balanced cathedral organ. The awkwardly flat twang of most electric bass work is missing entirely, replaced by an open rumble that leaves every note as clean and distinct as if you were inches from the drum. The trebble has no bite either, and together the low-end and high-end are a blend as delicious to the ear as liqueur on the tongue.

Andy Narell writes incredible compositions -- all seven tracks here are solid as a rock, and you have the bonus of a great session drummer and Paquito d'Rivera.

This bears up under repeated -- even repetitive -- listens. Yes, get it!

It,s the best carribiean cd iv ever heard along with his 04 cd down to his 02 cds so run out & buty them all you,ll be glad you did there just awesome.