Narrell set for Dominica Jazz ‘n Creole Fest

Andy Narell
Andy Narell

ROSEAU, Dominica – Discover Dominica Authority has announced that Andy Narell has been included as one of the performers for the seventh Dominica’s Jazz ‘n Creole Festival.

The festival takes place on Sunday, May 15.

Narell released his first solo album in 1979 with the inclusion of the steel pan in a jazz band.

He has incorporated the steel pan in varying genres of contemporary music. His most recent album of steel pan music Oui ma Chérie, released in 2014, features Mike Stern, Etienne Charles, Relator, Thomas Dyani, Inor Sotolongo, Gregory Louis and Narell playing the steel pans.

Narell has made 15 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 Sakésho (with Mario Canonge, Michel Alibo, and Jean Philippe Fanfant).

Along the way he has worked with artists as diverse as Tito Puente, David Rudder, Kassav, Tanya St. Val, Angelique Kidjo and Aretha Franklin.

As a bandleader and soloist he has performed at hundreds of concerts and jazz festivals throughout Canada, the U.S., Europe, Asia, the Caribbean, South America and Africa.

Un 2012 Narell began working with Birdsong Steel Orchestra in Trinidad and composed music for the Panorama in 2013 (The Last Word) and 2014 (We Kinda Music). For 2015 he arranged Nyol Manswell’s Pan Magic and returned to original composition in 2016 with Dis 1. 4. Raf.