Riot Artists
Andy Narell
About
Andy Narell recorded his first album as a leader in 1979 and has never looked back. He’s spent the past 39 years exploring the possibilities of the steel pan in contemporary music, and is equally known as a jazz improviser and steel band composer. His work is the subject of two documentary films – ‘Andy and the Jumbies’ and ‘Calypso Fever.’ In 2017 Narell was inducted into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame.
Artist Links: Website | Facebook |
Areas of Representation: Worldwide except Southern Africa
Biography
Andy Narell recorded his first album as a leader in 1979 and has never looked back. He’s spent the past 39 years exploring the possibilities of the steel pan in contemporary music, and is equally known as a jazz improviser and steel band composer. His work is the subject of two documentary films – ‘Andy and the Jumbies’ and ‘Calypso Fever.’ In 2017 Narell was inducted into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame.
Narell has made 16 albums as leader, one as co-leader with Relator (University of Calypso), two as co-leader of the Caribbean Jazz Project (with Paquito D’Rivera and Dave Samuels), and two as co-leader of Sakesho (with Mario Canonge, Michel Alibo, and Jean Philippe Fanfant). Along the way he has worked with an incredible diversity of artists, such as Bela Fleck, Marcus Miller, Chucho Valdes, Maraca y Otro Vision, Bebo Valdes, Irakere, Tito Puente, Orquestra Aragon, Pedrito Martinez, Flora Purim and Airto, Chico Pinheiro, Vince Mendoza, The WDR Big Band (Koln), The Metropole Orchestra (Holland), The HR Big Band (Frankfurt), Sixun, Andre Ceccarelli, Bireli Lagrene, Spyro Gyra, Dr. Billy Taylor, Nancy Wilson, Etienne Charles, Mike Marshall and Darol Anger, Montreux, David Rudder, Black Stalin, Lord Superior, Andre Tanker, Kassav, Tanya St. Val, Jon Lucien, Anthony Joseph, Fra Fra Sound, Angelique Kidjo, Etienne Mbappe, Mokhtar Samba, Karim Ziad, Ray Lema, Kora Jazz Band, Jimmy Dludlu, Blick Bassy, Fatoumata Diawara, Vusi Mahlasela, Musik Y Afrika, Abderrahim Benthami, Meddy Gerville, Kepa Junkera, Philippe Lavil, Toto, Aretha Franklin, Keith Terry and Crosspulse, and the Kronos String Quartet. He has performed on movie scores by James Horner, Maurice Jarre, Elmer Bernstein, Hans Zimmer, Michel Colombier, Thomas Newman, and Carmine Coppola, and his compositions are featured in the film ‘PAN – Our Music Odyssey,’ as well as ‘The Firm,’ TV shows like Designing Women and Going to Extremes, and commercials for Apple Computers, Sony, Porsche, and Southwest Bell.
As a bandleader and soloist he has played hundreds of concerts and jazz festivals all over the world.
In 1999 Andy became the first foreigner to compose for Trinidad’s Panorama steel band competition, guiding the 100 player Skiffle Bunch Steel Orchestra to the finals of both the 1999 and 2000 Panoramas. In 2007 he collaborated with Trinidad All Stars for a concert of his steel band music at the Trinidad and Tobago Steelpan and Jazz Festival, and returned to Panorama to compose music for birdsong steel orchestra from 2013 to 2016.
He has been an artist in residence at Univ. of North Texas, Wichita St. Univ., Univ. of West Virginia, Univ. of Akron, Univ. of Illinois, Northern Illinois Univ., Miami Univ.(Ohio), Univ. of Southern Mississippi, Eastern Kentucky Univ., Univ. of Iowa, Northwestern Univ., Texas Tech Univ., Univ. of Delaware, Univ. of Missouri, Univ. of Arizona, Cal St. Univ. Long Beach, Humboldt St. Univ., Arizona St. Univ., Stanford Univ., Univ. of Washington, Calypsociation (France), Birdsong Academy (Trinidad), Laborie Steel Pan (Saint Lucia), Angel Harps (Grenada), Pan Village (Japan), Women in Steel(NYC), Seattle Women’s Steel Pan Project, and many other schools.
Tour Dates
Future Tour Dates
Tour History
2019
| Jul 20, 2019 | Venue Info | |
| Tokyo, JAPAN | Cotton Club | |
| Jul 19, 2019 | Venue Info | |
| Tokyo, JAPAN | Cotton Club | |
| Jul 18, 2019 | Venue Info | |
| Tokyo, JAPAN | Cotton Club | |
2017
| Aug 3, 2017 | Venue Info | |
| Tokyo, JAPAN | Cotton Club - Japan | |
| 6:30PM and 9:00PM | ||
| Aug 2, 2017 | Venue Info | |
| Tokyo, JAPAN | Cotton Club - Japan | |
| 6:30PM and 9:00PM | ||
| Aug 1, 2017 | Venue Info | |
| Tokyo, JAPAN | Cotton Club - Japan | |
| 6:30PM and 9:00PM | ||
Videos
News
- Photos: Kyiv musicians bring soul to Niagara
Ukraine world-music quartet DakhaBrakha entertains FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre audience
Wed., March 1, 2023
DakhaBrakha, an ensemble from Kyiv, Ukraine, brought their eclectic style of world music to the stage at FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre in St. Catharines Wednesday night.
Original Article
- DakhaBrakha Wins globalFEST’s Artist Award
globalFEST presents a series of annual awards that celebrate those that excel in the underrecognized but crucial global music field in the USA.
The awards are presented to artists, professionals, and organizations who have been instrumental in making significant, long-standing contributions to the field through risk-taking; addressing cultural diversity and diplomacy; activism; helping to keep, transmit, ... - DakhaBrakha’s Ukraine Update: Dec 2022
Excerpt from interview in the Greek journal Hellas: Posts English
When the war started were you in Ukraine? What is happening in the country right now?“When the war started we were all in Ukraine. At that particular moment we had started our tour of Ukraine. In fact, we had to travel to another city in the ...
- Songlines 2022 Fusion Award Winner: Justin Adams & Mauro Durante: Still Moving on Ponderosa Music
Justin Adams has long been an adventurous serial collaborator, but his album with Mauro Durante – leader of Italy’s premier pizzica band Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino, who won the Songlines Music Award for Best Group in 2018 – ranks among his finest achievements. The meeting point for the musicians was a fascination with trance rhythms and ...
Press
Download – 2017 Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame article
“Andy Narell has made so many cool albums of jazzy steel pan (aka steel drum) music through
the years he is practically a genre unto himself at this point. A musician of tremendous skill and consummate good taste, Narell takes the pans places they’ve never been before, so far beyond the limited palette of calypso it barely seems like the same instrument.” — MIXONLINE
“Andy Narell is to the steel pan as Jimmy Smith was to the Hammond B3—a pioneer who took the instrument out of the basement, and put it into the jazz mainstream…” — ALL ABOUT JAZZ – LA
“…Tatoom is about Narell and his prowess behind a set of steel pans. This is a fascinating album—not your average modern jazz CD; well worth a listen.” — JAZZ IMPROV
“Narell has come to the home of pan to tell his own story, in music, as he would a jazz solo. He’s about to bend our ears, and the rules, whatever they are. Without gimmicks…. Narell’s message is well- received. Powerful music simply administered.” — Dalton Narine — TRINIDAD GUARDIAN
“Narell hardly touches the pans when he plays; his arms and hands seem totally relaxed, letting the sticks fall onto the steel, not driving them. He knows exactly where the sweet spots on the notes lie, and can stroke the music out, no need to beat up the pans. His neck bends, his shoulders dance, as he draws music from the taut-stretched steel.” — Mike Goodwin — CARIBBEAN BEAT
“In more ways than one, American steel pan virtuoso Andy Narell has truly infiltrated the sound of the pan into North America…. Narell’s unlikely path as a young New York City-born steel pan virtuoso has finally brought him to a new starting point, a vision made real. What he now has within his control is a rare and, more importantly, a needed thing: the power to transmit a positive force through music.” — Mike Fallerino — JAZZIZ MAGAZINE
“The cumulative effect of Narell’s journey is an affecting showcase for the many moods of this still mysterious instrument…” — JAZZTIMES MAGAZINE
“Andy Narell’s simplicity on stage is in contrast to the sophistication of his music, which is educated, spiritual and heart-felt. The American steel pan player showed once again that he is a jazzman of substance….” Edward Tsumele — THE SOWETAN (South Africa)
