Hartt Presents Internationally Acclaimed Steelpan Artist Andy Narell, November 21

The Hartt School presents The 2013-2014 Richard P. Garmany Chamber Music Series, featuring Andy Narell and his ensemble, on Thursday, November 21, at 7:30 PM, in Millard Auditorium, University of Hartford, 200 Bloomfield Avenue, West Hartford, CT. Admission is $35, with discounts for students, seniors, and groups of 10 or more. A special pre-concert dinner at the 1877 Club precedes this concert. Patrons may purchase tickets for the concert, only, or for both the dinner and concert. Please call the University Box Office at 860.768.4228 or 800.274.8587 or visit www.hartford.edu/hartt for tickets and information.

Paris-based Narell is acknowledged as the world's leading exponent of the steel drum, or "pans." His extraordinary career has included collaborations with artists as diverse as Tito Puente, Bela Fleck, and Aretha Franklin, and his work has been celebrated on frequent NPR appearances and in two full-length film documentaries. In addition, his jazz-inflected, Caribbean influenced music has been heard on more than a dozen best-selling recordings. For this rare East Coast appearance, Narell is joined by an all-star ensemble of sidemen, all of whom who are distinguished artists in their own right. Visit www.andynarell.net to learn more about Andy Narell.

About Andy Narell

With his first solo album in 1979, Andy Narell took the steelpan out of the steelband and brought it into the jazz band, and with every recording and concert since, he has explored the possibilities and expanded the role of the pan in contemporary music. 2011 marked the release of Narell's DVD package ALIVE, which includes two full-length documentaries about his work. Andy and the Jumbies takes us from the panyards of Trinidad to the streets of New York, and follows his projects with Trinidad All Stars Steel Orchestra and the great calypsonian Relator, also featuring interviews with David Rudder, Ray Holman, Peter Minshall, and Kim Johnson. Calypso Fever documents Andy's collaboration with the WDR Big Band, merging the Andy Narell Steelband with the WDR to create a new 40-piece orchestra.

Narell has made more than a dozen 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 Chucho Valdes, Bela Fleck, Marcus Miller, Maraca y Otro Vision, Willie Colon, Bebo Valdes, Flora Purim and Airto, Vince Mendoza, The WDR Big Band (Köln), The Metropole Orchestra (Holland), Andre Ceccarelli, Spyro Gyra, Dr. Billy Taylor, Nancy Wilson, Irakere, Tito Puente, Orquestra Aragon, David Rudder, Black Stalin, Andre Tanker,Angelique Kidjo, Etienne Mbappé, Mokhtar Samba, Karim Ziad, Ray Lema, Kora Jazz Trio, Kassav, Vusi Mahlasela, Philippe Lavil, Toto, Aretha Franklin, and the Kronos String Quartet. He has performed on movie scores by James Horner, Maurice Jarre, Elmer Bernstein, Hans Zimmer, Michel Colombier, and Thomas Newman, and his compositions have been featured in the film The Firm, and on TV shows like Designing Women and Going to Extremes, as well as commercials for Apple Computers, Sony, Porsche, and Southwest Bell.

As a bandleader and soloist he has played hundreds of concerts and jazz festivals throughout the USA, Canada, Europe, Japan, the Caribbean, South America, and Africa.

In 1999, Andy became the first foreigner to compose for Trinidad's Panorama steel band competition, guiding the 100-player Skiffle Bunch Steel Orchestra to the finals of both the 1999 and 2000 Panoramas. In 2007, he collaborated with Trinidad All Stars for a concert of his steelband music at the Trinidad and Tobago Steelpan and Jazz Festival. 2010 saw the realization of a project bringing together the Andy Narell Steelband with Michael Abene and the WDR Big Band, with special guest Relator, with a sold out concert at the Köln Philharmonic in Germany.

He has been an artist in residence at North Texas St. University, Wichita St. University, University of West Virginia, University of Akron, University of Illinois, Northern Illinois University, Miami University (Ohio), University of Southern Mississippi, Eastern Kentucky University, Northwestern University, Texas Tech University, University of Delaware, University of Missouri, Texas Christian University, Calypsociaition (Paris), and many other schools.

Apart from his own recordings, he has worked as producer on many albums, including Billy Childs (4), Ray Obiedo (3), Kit Walker (2), Our Boys Steel Orchestra (2), Steve Erquiaga, The Bobs, Keith Terry and Crosspulse, Alex DeGrassi, Irene Farrera, Xoli Nkosi, and Prince Kupi.

The Hartt School is the comprehensive performing arts conservatory of the University of Hartford that offers innovative degree programs in music, dance, and theatre. Founded in 1920, Hartt has been an integral part of the University of Hartford since its charter merged the then Hartt School of Music, the Hartford Art School, and Hillyer College to create the University in 1957. 2010 markEd Hartt's 90th year of providing world class performing arts education to students in Greater-Hartford and around the world. With more than 400 concerts, recitals, plays, master classes, dance performances, and musical theatre productions a year, performance is central to Hartt's curriculum. For more information about The Hartt School, visit www.hartford.edu/hartt.

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