Garvin Blake
 

PRESS RELEASE

A Class Act:
 Steelpan and Alice Tully Hall

New York - July 6^th 2004

The almost sold-out, 1,096-seat Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center was host to an innovative musical showpiece entitled An Acoustic Revolution: A Steel Pan Jazz concert.  Premiere artists from the global pan community commanded attention for three hours on the Sunday evening affair, featuring the likes of the ADLIB Youth Symphony, who filled the hall with jazz-influenced standards interpreted in steel.  The fifteen-member orchestra moved expertly through a musical vista of pan works as the opening act.  Andy Narell, who is a proven staple in the pan world, took the stage with his band directly after and delivered an infectious session to which the near-capacity audience responded favorably.

There were two awards given out during the evening - a Visionary award to living legend drummer Max Roach - Buddy Williams accepted on his behalf, and a Lifetime Achievement award to improvisational pan jazz solo great Emmanuel Riley, a pioneer and legend in the steelpan world.  New York-based 98.7 Kiss FM’s Lenny Green hosted the pan jazz concert, which was sponsored in part by WBGO Jazz 88.3 FM and WWRL1600 AM.

After the short intermission New York's own star pannist Garvin Blake was center stage, accompanied by his band which comprised accomplished musicians in their own right - including ace arranger and world-renowned keyboardist Frankie McIntosh and the respected and multi-talented Tony Cedras on guitar and accordion.  Blake decided on a traditionally-tinged repertoire which struck the right chords with the audience who sang right along; in fact Blake and company received a standing ovation.  US-based academic and pannist Liam Teague was the final pan artist for the evening and gave the crowd a combination of sax and steel, with Arturo Tappin on the former.  Veteran great Buddy Williams on drums and Gary Haase on bass were part of Teague's complement.

From comments during and after the show - that overall, people were quite pleased - would be an understatement!  With no conflicts of impact, the event went off with the professional deftness expected from one held at such a venue.  What appeared to be sometimes rather abrupt endings unexpected by most of the artists themselves, upon investigation turned out to be their own penchant for understandably enjoying their on-stage presentations, to the extent that they over-ran the strict time limitations communicated to them prior to the event.

Of special note were the sound reinforcement arrangements, as, with the exception of the ADLIB Steel Symphony who took full advantage of Alice Tully’s natural sonic beauty - the acts were all superbly miked with the emphasis on complimenting the performances rather than amplification - no small feat in a hall specially constructed primarily for natural acoustics.

The entire package, as produced under the aegis of Abstract Entertainment, Inc. headed by businessman Ralph k. Ramsey, is just one of the catalog of works for the company.  Based on the acclaim and positive feedback, Ramsey is looking forward to next year's monster production.  The 2005 initiative of the Steel pan jazz show is already on the drawing board, with talks on-going with artists who are hoping to be part of that box office draw line-up.  Go to http://www.panonthenet.com/lincoln/reviews/ for pictures and more information on the event.
 

ADLIB
 

Tony Cedras

Emmanuel 'Jack'  Riley
Honoree
 

Franklyn McIntosh
 

Calvin Jones

 

Max Roach
Honoree

Roland Guerrero
 

Tony "Bugs" Niles
 

Andy Narell

 

Gary Haase
 

Dario Eskenazi

Arturo Tappin
 

Mark Walker

Onaje Gumbs

Gregory Jones