Cleveland, USA - Andy Narell has a
new recording titled The Passage, which features Narell, the
steelband Calypsociation, and three of the greatest soloists
in jazz - Michael Brecker, Paquito D'Rivera and Hugh
Masekela. The Passage
was recorded and mixed using
cutting-edge technology to capture all the excitement of the
steelband sound, and is being released in two formats: a
CD, and a 5.1 surround-sound SACD.
The story of The Passage starts in two places at the same time: Paris, France, and Port of Spain, Trinidad. The Parisian plot starts when Narell arrived in Paris to discover the existence of Calypsociation.
"I came over here to teach in the spring of 2001," Narell recalls. "I had sent over the chart of 'Coffee Street,' and they played part of it for me - and I could hear after two minutes that I wanted to work with this band."
The fit between Narell and Calypsociation was so tight that the band commissioned him to direct, compose and arrange two ten-minute pieces for the second European Steelband Festival in 2002. That music sounded so sweet, and the experience was so rewarding on all sides, that Narell continued working with Calypsociation - a collaboration that's documented on the CD.
In the 63 years since the steel pan was invented in Trinidad, it has become a symbol of politics, religion, and class-struggle. Every year, just before Carnival, the entire country locks in on the widely popular national pan competition known as Panorama. The top steel bands swell to 100 or more players beating close to 300 pans, and heavyweight composer-arrangers like Len "Boogsie" Sharpe, Ray Holman, and Clive Bradley create ten-minute musical extravaganzas for the occasion.
The thundering, percussive, polyrhythmic roar of these huge bands - each with its pounding bass pans and jazzy melodies moving from section to section - is so exciting it can make you weak in the knees. It's also almost impossible to record.
In live performance, human ears can decode the subtleties of the music, thanks to the spatial spread and depth of a big steel orchestra. And to make the experience even more exhilarating, many panyard listeners actually walk inside the band, finding space to stand between the sections. Unless you've personally plunged into the center of a steel band in full flight, you have never heard the music the way it really sounds.
Narell has been aware of this for years, and he realized that this recording provided the perfect opportunity to try something revolutionary. "Due to technical issues," he explains, "steelband recordings tend to be one-dimensional sounding. It's very hard to capture the power of the bass, the spatial relationships of the sections, and the clarity of all the inner parts. So even digital recordings tend to sound small and tinny compared with the massive power of the real thing. For this recording, we placed the microphones all around the band to capture the excitement of 30 people playing together in a large studio space. Then we overdubbed each of the eight sections of the band on top of the live performance to get a clean stereo pair of each section for presence, balance, and effect sends. This way I've got the elements I need to create a mix that puts you right there in front of the band."
That's just the stereo mix. The 5.1 surround sound SACD will be ground-breaking in more ways than one. Obviously, this is the first steelband record to be released in surround, but Narell has gone a great deal farther. "Since surround sound is such a new format, everybody is experimenting and there are very few established conventions. So rather than take the stereo mix and just add a few things to the back for interest, which is what a lot of surround mixers do, I decided to use the technology to put the listener right into the center of a steelband. It's a thrilling audio experience."
To take things to yet another level, Narell invited three jazz masters to sit in - Michael Brecker, Paquito D'Rivera and Hugh Masekela. "A lot of jazz musicians don't take steelband music seriously," says Narell. "So it was important to me that the soloists should not only be great players, but that they would approach this music with respect, and come to the session with the anticipation that they were about to play with a tight, swinging big band - which is what Calypsociation is. Mike, Paquito and Hugh exceeded my expectations, which were very high. They add a whole new dimension to the record. They play so beautifully, and the sound of their instruments soloing in front of a steelband is a totally exciting experience for me."
"It's not every day you get a world class orchestra to rehearse for two years to make a record," says Narell. "I could have spent a few thousand dollars, and a few days, to record the band, but I decided to make the most of this opportunity. We put hundreds of hours of work into recording and mixing this disc. Frankly, I'm trying to redefine the art of the steelband recording."
Narell is probably best known to American audiences as a musician who pioneered the role of the pan in contemporary music. Narell has made 14 albums. He's recorded and/or performed with Marcus Miller, Chucho Valdés, Bela Fleck, and many, many others. And in 1999, as the first non-Trinidadian ever to arrange for the legendary Panorama competition.
World Music Central
http://www.worldmusiccentral.org/article.php/20040327200704296