Andy Narell

Andy Narell brought the steel drums into jazz as a solo voice, weaving Caribbean and Latin melodies together with R&B, funk, and straight-ahead jazz. Upon earning his degree from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1973, he launched the Hip Pocket label, later linked to Windham Hill, and thereafter maintained a steady recording schedule both leading his own sessions and contributing as a sideman. In 1995 he joined Paquito d'Rivera and Dave Samuals as co-leader of the Caribbean Jazz Project, an ensemble that showcased his virtuosic and colorful playing to full advantage. From that point forward Narell has issued several albums, among them Live in South Africa in 2001, Passage in 2004, and Tatoom in 2007.