Andy Narell - The Passage (2004)

24 Oct, 08:08
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Artist: Andy Narell
Title: The Passage
Year Of Release: 2004
Label: Heads Up[HUCD 3086]
Genre: Jazz, Latin Jazz, Fusion
Quality: FLAC (image + .cue,log,scans) | MP3/320 kbps
Total Time: 58:50
Total Size: 389 MB(+3%) | 139 MB(+3%)
WebSite: Album Preview

Tracklist

01 - The Passage
02 - Song For Mia
03 - The Long Way Back
04 - Sea Of Stories
05 - Mabouya
06 - Dee Mwa Wee
07 - Coffee Street

personnel :

Andy Narell - steel drums
Paquito D'Rivera - alto saxophone
Michael Brecker - tenor saxophone
Hugh Masekela - flugelhorn
Mathieu Borgne - drums, percussion
Laurent Lalsingue - tenor, double second

Anyone who thinks the steel drums are limited to calypso and other native West Indian styles has obviously never heard Andy Narell or his collaborators on this disc, the French band Calypsociation. Narell's compositions take the music headlong into jazz, and the richness of the steel pan sound ripples and sways throughout. For added flavor and texture, guests Michael Brecker, Paquito D'Rivera, and Hugh Masekela bring their horns, but they're the icing on a swinging cake (full praise to the percussionists who make the whole ensemble swing). The music is deliciously complex without ever sounding it. It works just as well on slower pieces like "Song for Mia," where the drums create a latticework of melody that remains gorgeously balanced. Granted, at times it veers perilously close to smooth jazz, but then it always steers faultlessly as far as melody is concerned. The extended pieces, like the title cut and "Coffee Street," sail through moods, and "Dee Mwa Wee" offers slightly darker hues in its lovely minor key, with Masekela's flugelhorn bubbling gently over the top. You have to hand it to Narell; his imagination and skill have made the steel pans into a mainstream instrument. ~ Chris Nickson

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