Andy Narell - The Long Time Band (1995)

Tracklist

01. Bacchanal
02. Jenny's Room
03. De Long Time Band
04. You the Man
05. Play One For Keith
06. Groove Town
07. Dance Class
08. Canboulay
09. De Long Time Band - conclusion

"Multicultural" is a word that musicians tossed around a lot in the 1990s, but claiming to have a multicultural outlook and actually showing that you have one are two different things. With The Long Time Band, Andy Narell provides an example of honest-to-God multiculturalism. Think about it: you've got a Jewish-American musician who is using an Afro-Caribbean instrument from Trinidad (the steel pan) to play a style of music that came out of the African-American community (jazz). But, as The Long Time Band demonstrates, jazz is hardly the only form of music that interests Narell. Though this is essentially a jazz CD, it's a jazz CD that contains elements of other African-American forms (funk, R&B, and blues) and also draws on everything from Afro-Cuban salsa and Afro-Caribbean calypso to African pop. Narell doesn't play "in the tradition" on this album. Rather, The Long Time Band is an example of a jazzman being fascinated with a variety of cultures and using that fascination to his creative advantage. The Long Time Band is multiculturalism in the finest sense of the word.

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