Island Jazz Chat

Andy Narell, globe-trotting and pioneering steelpan jazz musician, composer and arranger chats about his beginnings in the world of steelpan in the 1960s, and the evolution of the sound that he is leading in the 2020s with a new sample library of steelpan instruments created by the legendary master tuner Ellie Mannette. And everything in between. From the West Coast of America to Trinidad to South Africa, to the French Antilles and Japan, the Narell sound and music is a standard for many on how the business of steelpan jazz performance and recording operates. Caribbean and Latin American rhythms, African pulses, post bop references all colour his music, and with a prolific output of recordings, steelpan jazz is part of the global jazz conversation. Wed, 21 Sep 2022

Victor Provost, from St John, USVI, has been variously described as a "rising steelpan master...whose refreshing melodic approach to soloing on the pan is wholly steeped in the jazz tradition," and "living proof of the nuance and versatility of the [steelpan]." In this chat, Victor discusses his beginnings, his influences and the practicality and privilege of "being in the right place at the right time" to develop both a performing and recording career that continues to build receptive audiences. Solo albums, collaborations and featured sideman duties over a two decade professional career are explored. Sun, 28 Aug 2022

Panman, steelpan virtuoso, steeldrum musician. Just don't call Annise 'Halfers' Hadeed a "pannist". He is more than that! This important musician and recording artist from Trinidad and Tobago, now resident in the U.K., has been blazing a trail in the jazz scene there, as well as contributing significantly to the Caribbean presence there as an award winning steelband arranger. He made his recording debut in the 1980s with The Breakfast Band, and recorded, toured and performed widely in the U.K. & Europe, the US, and the Caribbean, as part of a new wave of Caribbean jazz talent, reinforcing the work of pioneer kaisojazz musicians like Clive Zanda and Russell Henderson, and moving the music forward with important collaborations that put the steelpan at the forefront of a new jazz aesthetic.

Guitarist Cameron Pierre has come full circle returning to his native Dominica after a multi-decade recording and performing career in the UK. After establishing an important Caribbean jazz presence there, with six albums produced, he reflects on the journey to this point. Beginning in the reggae scene here in the islands and into the UK, his evolution towards jazz through the 1980s and beyond traces a parallel development of how the Caribbean musical DNA has influenced the society there. Photo by Jonathan Trotman.

Reticent. Diffident. Two words to describe the personality of guitarist Theron Shaw of Trinidad and Tobago. Another pair of apt adjectives would be determined and inventive. In a revealing conversation, we get into what made Shaw the popular choice for the islands' premier jazz guitarist. Three acclaimed albums, years of touring and working at defining for a new generation what the essence of kaisojazz is and can be for that demographic are hallmarks that are explored and revealed.

Trinidadian guitarist Clifford Charles describes his music as "smooth soca jazz." Grounded in the sounds and language of Trinidad, his liking for transforming the music of Carnival, the popular sound of Trinidad, into a contemporary jazz idiom sets him apart from other Caribbean jazz guitarists. With 5 albums under his belt, and counting, since 2004, this fan favourite prepares for a new path in life as he will have the time to make the familiar new again, with a vibe that says Caribbean smooth. Clifford Charles talks about his life, his music, his recording career, the future. Wed, July 20, 2022

Jazz trombonist, Reginald Cyntje is the ultimate Caribbean jazz musician. Born in Dominica, raised in St Thomas, US Virgin Islands, of Curaçaoan heritage, he is the epitome of a Caribbean musician making it in the United States. With the release of his sixth album, Healing, Reginald chats with us on this album and his previous albums' their development and his growth as an artist and a jazz teacher. Mon, 16 Nov 2020

John Arnold is the pioneering musician, recording artist and jazz festival coordinator on the island of Tobago. As a recording artist, he has helmed half a dozen albums that play with the idea of Caribbean jazz as original music, including his latest, Jazz Standards in the Tambrin Sauce, which incorporates the Tobago-native tambrin drum family. This family of frame drums adds a unique colour and sonic identification to the music that begins a new vision to flavour improvised jazz with the sounds and rhythms of the Caribbean. As a jazz festival coordinator, he is responsible for the Tobago Jazz Experience that celebrated a decade of performances just before the pandemic began with some of the biggest stars in the jazz festival pantheon, and positions Tobago as a leader on the sustained Caribbean jazz festival circuit. 14 June 2022. 

Michael Boothman is the personification of excellence in the arts in Trinidad and Tobago. Pioneering, innovative and consistently successful as a performer, composer, arranger and recording artist, Boothman continues his 50-plus year career that showcases a number of firsts and milestones in the development of modern music in Trinidad and Tobago. He discusses his kysofusion innovation, and chats about his career from his teenage combo years through to his label deal with the Clarence Avant helmed Tabu Records for his Heaven album. His new move into label ownership and new production has resulted in an upcoming album in 2021.

Elan Trotman, Boston-based contemporary jazz saxophonist from Barbados discusses the business of jazz with Jazz in the Islands. In 2019, he released his new album Dear Marvin, a saxophone tribute to the late great Marvin Gaye on the Woodward Avenue label. We get the Caribbean-American perspective from this Berklee College of Music alumnus about the significance and possible advantage of label distribution in enhancing the brand via radio and physical sales. This year also marks the sixth anniversary of his Barbados Jazz Excursion, a major destination festival in the islands where contemporary jazz meets the sun, sand and sea