LONDON, Sept 27th 2009 – After 6 years of sold out shows at the Lincoln Centre in New York City, PanJazz UK comes to London for the first time at the Historic prestigious Hackney Empire on Sunday 8 November 2009. The inaugural event entitled ‘Calypso Steel and Jazz’ will feature the world-renowned panist Andy Narell and his Latin Jazz band along with living Calypso Legend Relator. Andy has spent more than a quarter century exploring the subtleties and complexities of steel pan and grafting them to the jazz idiom. He’s one of only a small handful of steel pan players in the world who are playing jazz, and perhaps the only one among that coterie to commit an entire career – live and in the studio – to creating new music for the pan in that context.

After a string of critically praised and commercially successful albums on Windham Hill Jazz throughout the ‘80s and early ‘90s,  Andy Narell joined Heads Up with the release of Behind the Bridge in 1998, followed by Fire in the Engine Room in 2000. But in the midst of hammering out his career – recording in the States; playing festivals and other gigs around the U.S., Europe and the Caribbean; composing for the Panorama steel band festival in Trinidad; laying down tracks on albums, film and commercials – he was unaware of a grassroots movement taking shape in South Africa that would have a dramatic impact on his musical and cultural perspective. In his latest CD release of University of Calypso (HUCD3168) on Heads Up International, a division ofConcord Music Group, Narell joins forces with calypso legend Relator to explore the role of jazz invintage calypso. Together, they perform classic compositions by Lord Kitchener, Lord Melody, Mighty Terror, Roaring Lion, Spider, and Relator, supported by a group of world-class Latin-jazz cats who can swing the calypso and blow le jazz hot.
 
Starting his career in 1971, Relator (real name Willard Harris) is one of Trinidad’s finest calypsonians. He’s a brilliant singer-songwriter, with a long series of outstanding compositions to his credit. He is also one of the greatest living masters of extempo, an improvised calypso cutting contest in which, like hip-hop freestyle competitions, two singers attempt to blow each other away lyrically.

In many ways this joint project was inspired by Lord Kitchener’s forays into jazz in the 1950s. Kitchener (real name Aldwyn Roberts; now respectfully nicknamed Grandmaster) was arguably the greatest songwriter in the history of calypso. Born in Trinidad in 1922 (where he passed away in 2000) he was largely responsible for calypso’s evolution into a melodically and harmonically sophisticated music. The fabulous lyricist as well as great commentator and humorist emigrated from Trinidad to London in 1948 upon the Famous Empire Windrush that brought the first wave of West Indian immigrants to the UK. He discovered jazz—and wrote a very hip composition called "Bebop Calypso" praising Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. He stayed in London and Manchester throughout the ‘50s, playing with jazz musicians and making numerous recordings that revolutionized calypso music. Along with Trinidadian musicians like Rupert Nurse, Fitzroy Coleman, and Russ Henderson, Kitchener created a new jazz-influenced big band sound that suited calypso perfectly. He played before regularly packed audiences at venues such as the Churchill and Royal Room before packed audiences including Princes Margaret. When he returned to Trinidad, 17 years later, it was as a hugely successful entertainer with scores of hit records to his credit.

"Oddly enough," Narell points out, "there has been very little interaction between calypsonians and small jazz bands since the ‘50s. Relator and I are drawing a lot of inspiration from the idea of picking up where Kitchener left off 50 years ago."

‘Calypso Jazz and Steel’ will feature music from the University of Calypso album along with some of Andy’s more recent Jazz on Pan work. He will be backed by his Paris based band that includes the famous Mokhtar Samba from Senegal/Morocco on drums, French Percussionist Gerard Carocci on congas/percussion, Jonathan Jurion on piano and Thierry Fanfant on bass, both from Guadeloupe. They will help Narell and Relator bring this marvelous music to a new audience here in London. "I believe this project has great potential to reach people," says Narell. "The music is so accessible, people can latch on to so many different things—the beautiful melodies, the groove for dancing, the stories told in the lyrics, the humor, the jazz elements, how the band plays together and interacts, the soloing—and on top of it all, we’ve got an incredibly dynamic guy out front singing these songs, a real storyteller in the great calypso tradition. 

The event is to be hosted under the banner ‘PanJazz UK’ a joint venture between New York based Abstract Entertainment Inc. and London based Caribbean event management powerhouse Next Level PoisonUK. ”This show is the tip of the iceberg in a world of extremely talented Pan Jazz players both here in the UK and globally” said Wendel Clement Director of Next Level PoisonUK. “We are collaborating with Abstract Entertainment Inc. who pioneered and currently produces Pan Jazz USA at Jazz at Lincoln Center. “Collaborating with Next Level PoisonUK was an easy decision to make, as we share an identical vision for cultivating the art form on a global level.”  Further, “it is important that we continue to facilitate a global stage in which Pan Jazz musicians have a true live unfiltered medium in which to showcase this tremendous talent” stated Ralph Ramsey CEO of Abstract Entertainment Inc”
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Calypso Steel and Jazz is on at the Hackney Empire, 291 Mare Street, London E8 1EJ, on Sunday November 8 2009. Doors open at 6:30pm and Showtime is 7:30pm.