Jazzance 1999 Rendevous in Toronto

Jazzance sets the mood for pan jazz performances this fall in Toronto by some of the world's accomplished steelpan soloists.

Toronto. They came from Trinidad and Tobago, New York, Montreal, Detroit and Ottawa to listen and be entertained by some of the world's best steel drummers. This was the kind of jazz interpretation by steel drums that music lovers will talk about for years.

Rudy Smith and other pan jazz musicians will entertain this fall.

For more information visit our web site www.steelpan.com

FIVE PANNISTS IN FIFTY SIX YEARS!!!
By William Doyle Marshall

By William Doyle Marshall Toronto There is a lot of mis information about kaiso jazz fusion and pan in jazz to the extent that former Queen's Royal College teacher Scofield Pilgrim, one of the pioneers in the genre, does not get the necessary credit. One of his contemporaries Clive "Zanda" Alexander is concerned about this. In an interview here in Toronto, he was miffed that Pilgrim, now in retirement, is ignored by newcomers to the pan jazz scene. "Nobody has even given him a tribute. They really have no gratitude and they forget him," Alexander laments. When Zanda, as he is fondly known by his peers, returned to Trinidad in the fifties, he met Pilgrim introducing calypso jazz to musicians and was pleased with the initiative. While attending architecture school in London, Alexander was doing parallel work over there. So establishing a working relationship with Barbadian born Pilgrim was relatively easy and they formed the Gayap Jazz Workshop.

In retrospect, the kaiso jazz fusion pioneer, who is not being acknowledged also, is disappointed at the slow progress that steelpan artists as a whole have made. Things should have been much further from the time Alexander and his buddy Pilgrim began introducing the technique to Trinidad and Tobago.

"The Steeldrum as a single instrument, as a single voice, in a conventional ensemble could have gone much further," he charges.

Because the steelband comes out of a history of group or a community approach where you play in a band, the tradition of the individual artiste or individual pannist improvising has not happened. With the accent centred mainly around the arranger and the composer arranger, only five important pannist have emerged from a country of a million people that has given birth to the instrument. "I think we should have done better," Alexander laments.

The five pannists Zanda identifies are Earl Rodney, the grandmaster of pan techniques; Len "Boogsie" Sharpe; Robert Greenidge, Anise Hadeed and Teller Molineau. Quite concerned at the small number of pan soloists to come out of the twin island home of steelband, Zanda observes "I am talking about a country of a million people who invented the instrument, who have produced only five improvising pannists. I don't think that's good enough."

There is a great need for establishing institutions to teach music as well Alexander emphasizes. Apart from natural talent, in this twentieth century, pannists have to be able to read music, he contends. They ought to be able to pick things up and run with it. In as much as this is not happening, the fusion pioneer says dejectedly "I don't think we have moved far enough. It took about 56 years to produce those five guys. That's not good enough. That's poor production!"

To avoid producing another five soloists in 56 years Alexander recommends building upon existing infrastructure. For starters he sees the private music teachers, who are now considered as old fashioned, who give piano lessons, as a good foundation. It can help pannists learn harmony. However Zanda is mindful of the attitude by pan players toward learning music theory.

He advocates establishment of a school or conservatory for music in which steelpan becomes a major department. He sees this as an institution of music that will help to bring Trinidad and Tobago into the 21st century.

Alexander visualizes a centre for the performing arts, a teaching institution in Trinidad and Tobago where students will study "our music, study the tradition, study John Buddy Williams, study some of the old-timers, find out what they were doing. Go back into the Shango, go back into the Indian cultural things and study the scales of Indian ragga, the African things, all the multicultural aspects of it in that form."

Despite the slow pace at which things move in the country Zanda is hopeful that something will happen in his life time. He sees some moves at the University of the West Indies through the Extra Mural Department where some aspects of music is being considered. But he insists practitioners like Fitzroy Coleman, Errol Ince and Toby Tobas have to be brought in to help produce top class musicians.

Elliott "Ellie" Manette to receive an American National Endowment Award

In September, Trinidad born, Elliott "Ellie" Manette, an artist-in-residence at the University of West Virginia, will receive an American National Endowment Award. Each year, approximately 12 artists receive this prestigious award for their achievements in the arts. Some 222 artists have been recognized for their contributions.

Manette teaches the art of pan tuning and heads up the pan-tuning project at the University of West Virginia; the course is a component of a steelband studies program that teaches various aspects of the instrument. He is also involved with the research team at the University at El Paso’s percussion studies that combines steelpan music and metals research programs.

Manette’s record as an innovator is superb. This genius is a visionary who saw the potential in the styling and sound of the steelpan and pursued his creative talents from his work with the steel bands of Trinidad and Tobago, Oval Boys and Invaders beginning in 1941. Elllie was the leader of Invaders and although a machinist by profession, pursued teaching steelpan music. In 1950, he flew to Puerto Rico to give steelpan music lessons to the U.S. navy steel band in San Juan.

Invaders and Manette were synonymous with being "free spirits" displaying innovative approaches in the steelpan community. His leadership style was on the leading edge securing tenancy of the Invaders panyard as early as 1941. In 1951, his creation of a tenor pan then describing the instrument as a "barracuda" took the city of Port-of-Spain by surprise. Manette recognized the value of research and development to improve the tonal qualities of the steelpan.

In a 1998 interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), public radio, the father of the steeldrum provided a backdrop of the significance of the firing process in the tuning of the instrument. He indicated that accidentally he discovered the relationship between the firing of the pan and the "brighter and harder" sounds from the pan. The team will research the scientific reasoning underlying the strength of the steel and the firing process and the optimum effect of the carbon content in the steeldrum. "I dreamt all my life how to get science involved in the process, to make the perfect material to make the perfect steeldrum."

Manette does not believe that the art of pan tuning would be automated because it requires both "hand and mind to come together" to make a quality steeldrum. This pan pioneer from Trinidad and Tobago will continue to pursue his work with university colleagues at the University of West Virginia and the University of Texas at El Paso.

Caroline deWitt
Trincan Music 1999

Trinidad and Tobago's N ational Steelband Festival

By Richard Forteau

The year 1959 saw the Steelband Association of Trinidad and Tobago hosting the Steelband Bacchanal Competition at carnival time. This competition was the forerunner of the National Panorama Competition, as we know it today. The name change came about in 1963. A few months after Trinidad and Tobago gained Independence from Britain. The parent organization also had a name change to the National Association of Trinidad and Tobago Steelbandsmen, however, the steel orchestras, which participated in the steelband Bacchanal Competition and romped home victorious, received insignificant prizes, such a case of rum. Sunday, February 17 1963 was the date of the Steelband panorama. The competition was held at the Queens Park Savannah commonly called the "Big Yard." Twenty-one of the twenty-four registered bands competed. Each orchestra was required to perform one selection - calypso. There were no semi-finals and ten bands were chosen for the finals. The prizes offered were as follows:

With kind permission from Patrick Arnold, President, Pan Trinbago and Keith Byer, Vice-president, Pan Trinbago