Formerly known as The Pantastic 4, Callaloo is the best world fusion steelpan group performing original compositions in Chicago. Scott Johnson, composer/arranger, began writing music for Callaloo that was built on strong, sophisticated Latin/Caribbean rhythms and recently began exploring and incorporating other styles, that, when fused, have proven to deliver a powerful musical experience.

The percussion based group employs an amalgam of instruments – steelpan, marimba, ethnic percussion, drum set, nylon string guitar, electric and acoustic bass – while combining composed, orchestrated parts with improvisation. The percussionists switch instruments from song to song adding to the visual element of their performance.

Callaloo has endeavored to elevate the steelpan from its novelty status by using it as the primary melodic voice in a variety of settings. In dedicating themselves to achieving the highest standards of composing, performance, improvising, and recording, Callaloo has chosen to label themselves as artistic, inspirational entertainment.

To hear samples, check out their CDBaby page here.

Like something out of 1950s science fiction, the cover says everything it needs to about the disc’s contents. Showcasing an absurd kookiness that no doubt represents the personality of Fitzgibbons, the album catches you off-guard from minute one, transcending its surface disposition to reveal a catchy, technical work. Featuring mostly steelpan instrumentation, the album begins with the dreamy and sarcastic “Here For Now,” which sounds like all it needs is the narrative talents of Bill Murray’s Steve Zissou character from the “Life Aquatic: With Steve Zissou” film to complete its retro ocean-discovery documentary feel.

Having composed all music and performed all parts for the album, Fitzgibbons displays great percussive prowess on each instrument, delivering a nuanced performance throughout. With a litany of syncopated, unison punches, odd-meter time signatures, and hypnotic grooves, each track has its own focus that brings the album together as a whole. “Kwasi Bruni,” an African phrase used to describe European males, begins slow, soon moving into a 6/8 African groove, which seemed to effectively convey the title’s message of culture shock. As that track moves on, keep a lookout for the hip ending jam section, featuring the guitar pans.

The mood-enducing “Rainmaker” has a warm, calypso feel, reminiscent of Andy Narell’s last album, “Oui Ma Cherie!” The difference, of course, is the continuation of the zany vibe, mixed with lots of 9th chords scattered throughout, adding a jazzy feel.

While all tracks are performed skillfully, it would be the title track, “The Travelers,” that best achieves Fitzgibbons’ primary goal. For the life of me, I can’t really say what that goal is, but I think that’s kind of the point. Coming off like a mix between the musical modes found in 1960’s James Bond films and bad 50s sci-fi, this track is pure fun. It represents a sense of humor and creative artistry not found in most instrumental music. It usually takes a vocalist to convey the charm and wit displayed here.

As a whole, if there’s one thing I can say for Fitzgibbon’s debut effort, it’s that he’s bold. Infusing so many styles, ideas, and emotions into one album, using the steelpan as the primary instrumentation, and creating such a silly album cover, make this a record worth checking out. If for nothing else, just to be able to step into someone else’s head wondering, “what was he thinking?” all the while maintaining a mischievous grin.

To listen to samples, click here.

The Steelpans of Trinidad & Tobago have rarely, if ever, been associated with New Orleans music-until recently. Steelpanist and vocalist Gregory Boyd, a hidden pearl in the Crescent City Scene, has devoted himself to this unique instrument with its sweet, resonate sound rich in percussive possibilities.

With various groups including Charmaine Neville, Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen. Chief Smiley Ricks and the Indians of the Nation and others, (Cyril Neville, Charles Neville, Michael Ray, Dr John) he’s gratifyingly integrated steelpan into Jazz, Soul and New Orleans funk and in the process he’s highlighted New Orleans’ own Afro Caribbean connections.

A surprisingly adept lyricist, Boyd crafts songs that are catchy while resisting clichés. He often sings with the torn and frayed urgency of a soul influenced modern rocker and occasionally this sounds strained, but on the poignant love ballad “Rich In A Troubled Time”-by far the most striking track, he sings with an understated, soul bearing immediacy, his lilt suggesting the more tender efforts of Peter Tosh and Ben Harper.

Overall the disc serves as a glimpse of a powerful emerging talent, promising good things to come from Boyd and his pans.

To listen to samples, visit here.

This is Clemson’s first CD release featuring their school steel band.

The Gigging Steel Band is a select group of 6 players and is a professional ensemble available for hire. The Gigging Steel Band is active in the fall and spring semesters and performs on campus and in the community. The Gigging Band was founded in 2003 and featured on Michael Feldman’s Whad’Ya Know radio show for an estimated 1.5 million listeners during a live national broadcast in 2004.
 
The Clemson Steel Band has recorded 3 CDs: Steelin’ the Spotlight, One Small Step for Pan, and Pan Overboard.
 
The Clemson Steel Band performed with steelpan virtuoso Liam Teague in April 2016 and has also performed with Tom Miller, Chris Tanner, Chris Wabich, and Arthur Lipner among others.

Ken was born on the island of Trinidad, the birthplace of the steelpan, and performed with Casablanca, Syncopators, Starlift and Phase II before relocating to the coral islands of Bermuda.

Opening for names like Roberta Flack, Jose Feliciano, Angela Bofil, Earl Klugh, The Manhattans, Gerald Albright and Najee, Ken played professionally on the nightclub circuit in Bermuda for fifteen years. He has also enjoyed entertaining extensively on cruise ships sailing out of American waters to foreign ports of call and has performed in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and throughout the United States, where he now resides.

He currently plays special events on the private party circuit. Latin, Soca, Reggae and smooth jazz are the prominent sounds of his vast repertoire.

Listening to Ken Greene’s music, you can close your eyes and feel that tropical breeze, hear the soft sounds of the waves and smell the sweet subtle scent of exotic blossoms, altogether an enjoyable journey through the imagination.

To hear samples, check out their CDBaby page here.

Ken was born on the island of Trinidad, the birthplace of the steelpan, and performed with Casablanca, Syncopators, Starlift and Phase II before relocating to the coral islands of Bermuda.

Opening for names like Roberta Flack, Jose Feliciano, Angela Bofil, Earl Klugh, The Manhattans, Gerald Albright and Najee, Ken played professionally on the nightclub circuit in Bermuda for fifteen years. He has also enjoyed entertaining extensively on cruise ships sailing out of American waters to foreign ports of call and has performed in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and throughout the United States, where he now resides.

He currently plays special events on the private party circuit. Latin, Soca, Reggae and smooth jazz are the prominent sounds of his vast repertoire.

Listening to Ken Greene’s music, you can close your eyes and feel that tropical breeze, hear the soft sounds of the waves and smell the sweet subtle scent of exotic blossoms, altogether an enjoyable journey through the imagination.

To hear samples, check out their CDBaby page here.

The pan café quartet was put together for the sake of this album. Our experiment for a new sound sees the use of drum machines as well as conventional and unconventional instruments focused together to make this wonderful original sound. We four musicians, all masters in our own right, give a very strong performance on this album, so much so that Jazz UK magazine gave the opinion that this is the most original jazz album of the year. Obviously, the pan café quartet centers on the steelpan, but make no mistake every member of this quartet plays an exceptional role.

Members include: Jzules Maharaj – piano, Kevin Dunford – bass, Alex Wheeler – drum programmer, Vine – all pans

About the Artist

Composer and steelpan virtuoso Andy Akiho, whose work has been called “mold-breaking” by the New York Times, presents NO one To kNOW one, his first disc of seductive, tuneful, and genre-bending compositions.

Akiho’s music has been featured in a wide variety of venues such as le Poisson Rouge, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Merkin Hall, Mass MOCA, The Tank, John Zorn’s The Stone, and the St. James Theater in Port of Spain, Trinidad. In addition, he has presented his compositions in festivals ranging from the Bang on a Can Marathon, to the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, to the world’s premier steelpan event, Panorama. Indeed, Akiho has been touted in the New Haven Register as, “the composer/performer who drives pan music to new dimensions.” Drawing inspiration from his father’s Japanese heritage, his childhood in South Carolina, his intensive steelpan studies in Trinidad, his graduate studies at Yale, and his deep involvement in the New York new music scene, Akiho is not easy to pigeonhole.

In NO one To kNOW one, it is clear that Akiho and his multi-faceted ensemble are serious about crashing through stylistic barriers in the service of cutting-edge art. Willie Ruff, the Director of the Duke Ellington Fellowship at Yale, and no stranger to landmark recordings (his performing credits include Miles Ahead and Songs of Leonard Cohen) has said, “These young musicians are creating some of the most exciting and original music I’ve heard in a long time. I think we’re seeing history being made by these composer-performers.”

About the Tracks

That much is apparent from the outset of this disc, as the offbeat groove of “Hadairo” launches the set with ominous harmonies and fresh timbres, highlighted by the kaleidoscopic violin improvisations of Domenic Salerni. For the funky waltz tune “Kiiro,” Akiho expands his ensemble of steelpan, strings, harp, and drums to include woodwinds, piano, and keyboard percussion, creating a massive sound that is as enrapturing as it is unique. Akiho scales back the group on the next few tracks, allowing the revelatory sound of his steelpan to take center stage. “Murasaki” is a wistful reggae-influenced ballad that features Maura Valenti on harp, while the ferocious cello playing of Mariel Roberts and the rhythm section of Sam Adams on bass and Kenneth Salters come to the fore on the driving “Aka.” “Karakurenai” explores the timbral possibilities of a prepared steel pan, while “Daidai Iro” contains perhaps the sunniest melody on a disc full of great tunes. At this point, NO one To kNOW one takes a turn into much darker territory. “to wALk Or ruN in wEst harlem” evokes the suspense of a harrowing personal experience Akiho had walking home late one night. One can literally hear the footsteps falling faster as the piece rolls on. “the rAy’s end” makes use of an unexpected ensemble—trumpet, violin, and steel pan—to virtuosic effect. The title track “NO one To kNOW one” was described by the Denver Post as “immediately appealing” and “action-packed,” filled with “alluring, exotic sound colors, which were in turn complemented and energized by layers of insistent, percussive rhythms.” Here, singer Fay Wang gives the text (by Akiho himself) a reading that is both sultry and otherworldly. Finally, in “21,” Akiho duets with Mariel Roberts in a work that beguiles and confounds as it wends its way through myriad textures and sonic worlds.

Performers include: Andy Akiho, Samuel Adams, Kenneth Salters, Mariel Roberts, Domenic Salerni, Maura Valenti, Nicole Camacho, Alexandra Detyniecki, Inhyung Hwang, Sarah Kuchta, Ian Rosenbaum, John Corkill, Tiffany Kuo, Suresh Singaratnam, Raul Garcia, Ruby Chen, Fay Wang, Candy Chiu.

To hear samples, check out his label’s page here.

Clyde “Lightning” George was born in the same place, at the same time, as the steelpan. Both shared humble beginnings in the hills of Laventille overlooking Port Of Spain, the capital city of Trinidad. By the age of 9, Lightning was a regular at the neighborhood panyard. It was here that Bertie Marshall, the inventor of the double tenor pan and leader of the legendary Highlanders Steel Orchestra, gave Clyde his sobriquet “Lightning” because he saw that he was so quick to learn the music. These 2 pan pioneers continued to bring this joyful instrument from its unlikely, island origins to the Carnegie Halls of the World.

As this CD demonstrates, Lightning has spent his life between the jazz clubs of Chicago and the panyards of Trinidad. As Dave Hoekstra, music critic of the Chicago Sun Times, wrote “Lightning effortlessly weaves a gentle calypso beat between the hard-bitten notes of the jazzmen. Calypso and jazz are an unusual blend, but then Lightning is a free bird and one of a handful of panmen who uses 3 or 4 sticks while playing, which adds to his quickness.”

The Steelin’ Jazz Trio came together in the Chicago jazz scene. They have traveled with Lightning to his homeland of Trinidad. Together, this trio creates an original style and brings a fresh sound to the wonderful classics in both musical worlds of Calypso and jazz. The Steelin’ Jazz Trio consists of Clyde “Lightning” George, Aras Biskis and Brian O’Hern.

To hear samples, check out their CDBaby page here

Clyde “Lightning” George has enjoyed jazz jams at Chicago Clubs since 1980, after moving to Chicago from Trinidad.
The jam sessions presented on this CD are led by John Bany.
John, also known as Granpabass and the Chicago Jam King, first met Clyde in 1981. It was the first time John had a steelpan in one of his jams and he loved it. Since then, John and Clyde have enjoyed hundreds of jams together. John says “Clyde understands the music and the jam protocol. He always brings a spark to every jam he joins.”

George Bean, on trumpet in all selections on this CD, has been jamming with Clyde since the ’80s along with John. When Clyde steps away from his pans during a session, you will likely see George stand behind the pans blowing his horn into the notes of the pan “I love to hear the tones reverberating back from the pan notes. The pan is an exciting, new jazz instrument and Clyde is a great player” George Bean said.

The jazz artists heard on this CD are legends themselves:
John Bany, George Bean, John Young, and Don Stille.

To hear samples, check out their CDBaby page here.