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Stars In The House New York - One of the advantages of working with When Steel Talks is the ability every now then to have access to and rub shoulders with the steelpan movement's movers and shakers, legends and rising stars. Two of Trinidad All Stars Steel Orchestra's notables Lennox Nelson and Neville Jules, and New York's own double-seconds soloist Garvin Blake who is a star in his own right, all dropped by When Steel Talks this weekend for a pan pow-wow.Mr. Jules is one of the steelpan movement's legendary giants. He is a soft-spoken brilliant man whose intelligence, wit, integrity, articulate, strength and bluntness impacts immediately on you. Moreover, what makes Mr. Jules so great is his humility. His ability to deflect attention from himself and to focus on and give credit to the achievements of others, is phenomenal. It is a quality only shared by the truly great ones who are confident in who they are and their place in history. Indeed, this man is special. As are most people who are true leaders. His vision and inventiveness continue to be evident to this today. As captain of All Stars in the band's early years, Mr. Jules like many steel orchestra captains of that era, was effectively a "Quadruple Threat" that is he was a prolific arranger, player, tuner and innovators [of new pans]. This day Mr. Nelson and Mr. Jules provided an afternoon of data, stories and first hand accounts, and details of the events and things they experienced as youths involved in the steelpan movement. These accounts were truly special as they covered six decades' experiences from the 1940's through the present. Both men give a behind-the-scenes, factual account of the historical and scientific aspects which were the reasoning and motivation behind many of the things done in the early years of the steelpan movement. Mr. Jules and Mr. Nelson bounced of each other as they recalled events and experiences viewed together but from different vantage points. It was indeed the best kind of history lesson available. Live and direct and in the oral tradition of their African ancestors. It was the sharing with and passing on of information to the next generation. They have both been there, seen it, done it and lived it. This writer has been fortunate to have been in the presence of drummer extraordinaire, Max Roach. He, like Jules, is another genius who has that ability to impact on people with thought and presence. Moreover, through their directness, no-nonsense approach and commitment to excellence, they challenge what you think you know, and force you to be better at whatever it is you do. Mr. Jules' ability to remember names, dates and places with vivid details, makes the History channel and National Geographic specials look pale. Indeed, he finds a sarcastic humor in lots of the erroneous details that are in steelpan history books, but which continue to be disseminated as expert sources throughout the global pan world. Both Mr. Jules and Mr. Nelson also share the uncanny ability to teach through story telling. Dropping a reality TV-like history lesson from their personal library of experiences with vivid color, characters' names and deeds. It was indeed a learning adventure and an honor to listen to these two men articulate their experience in the pan movement. These men are resources and pan treasures that the global pan community cannot afford to not take advantage of. [relates stories]
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