The Caribbean Jazz Project

Paquito D'Rivera

A true child prodigy, Paquito D'Rivera learned well from his classical conductor father Tito and was performing live in his native Havana by age six. A virtuoso on clarinet as well as sax, his early professional experience found him soloing with the Cuban National Symphony Orchestra and becoming co-founder (along with pianist Chucho Valdez) of the renowned Orquesta Cubana de Musica Moderna, which D'Rivera conducted for two years. Eight of the younger members of the orchestra eventually formed Irakere, a hugely popular Seventies ensemble which blended jazz, rock, classical and traditional Cuban music in innovative and explosive ways.

Defecting to the United States in 1981, he joined Dizzy Gillespie's band and also embarked on a prolific career as a solo artist, releasing more than 15 albums. Since establishing himself as a first call studio musician as well as a trademark name is his own right, D'Rivera has become a cross-cultural ambassador, creating and promoting a style blending the best of bebop, "South of the Border music" and Mozart. Trumpeter Freddie Hubbard once commented that "Paquito is writing some of the most modern Latin music I've heard. He has intricate changes and different voices happening to that Latin beat."

Other highlights of D'Rivera's illustrious career include being a founding member and co-musical director of Gillespie's United Nations Orchestra, which carries on the master's name with performances all over the world; the "Paquito D'Rivera Presents" series from Messidor Records, which features releases of classic Cuban jam sessions; guesting with the London Philharmonic; collaborating with Carmen McRae, McCoy Tyner, Toots Thielemans, Lalo Schiffrin, Stanley Turrentine, Lionel Hampton, Claudio Roditi and Tito Puente; classical appearances with numerous American and Latin American symphonies; a Lifetime Achievement Award from Carnegie Hall for his contributions to Latin music; and appearances in Time, People, and on David Letterman. He has also led clinics at the International Association of Jazz Educators conference in Miami.

Dave Samuels
Since the mid-Seventies, award-winning vibes/marimba master Dave Samuels has been raising the "mallet consciousness" of audiences throughout the world. Using a unique blend of improvisational skills and classical technique, Samuels has long been considered an innovator by bringing the vibes and marimba into contemporary music. He has performed and recorded alongside jazz icons like Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker and Stan Getz as well as such diverse artists as Frank Zappa, Bruce Hornsby and Pink Floyd.

As a charter member of the group Spyro Gyra, Samuels' distinctive sound and approach to the vibes and marimba contributed to one of instrumental music's most popular and influential ensembles. That success has led him in recent years to record a total of four solo projects, including the most recent Natural Selection and Del Sol on GRP.

As well as keeping a busy recording and touring schedule, Samuels is also a devoted educator. He has published numerous method books, videos and ensemble arrangements as well as conducting seminars and master classes all over the world. He is a former board member of the Percussive Arts Society and participates in the International Association of Jazz Educators.

Andy Narell

Andy Narell is known as the premiere purveyor of the steel pan sound. Over the course of six Windham Hill Jazz releases (the latest is Down The Road) and numerous appearances on albums by other artists, the New York native has single-handedly carved out a niche in bringing the steel pan into the modern musical vocabulary as well as exploring the texturing possibilities of the steel orchestra. Narell was introduced to the pan at age seven when his father, a social worker involved with gangs on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, started steel bands as a community center activity. Over the last 30 odd years since then, Andy has developed a close personal tie to the people and the culture of Trinidad. "I spend a lot of time down there," he says. "People know me and my music has become popular. I try to be an emissary for their culture, educating people about how the steel pan began and where it came from." He has performed solo and with his band in Trinidad, as well as with such artists as David Rudder, Charlie's Roots, Len "Boogsie" Sharpe, Robert Greenidge, and with a 100-member steel band at the annual Panorama Festival.

As feisty a fiesta as instrumental music can offer, The Caribbean Jazz Project is a historic musical event combining the all-star talents of Cuban saxophone and clarinet great Paquito D'Rivera, steel pan legend Andy Narell and vibes/marimba master Dave Samuels in a loose, playful setting as exotic as the colorful artwork on the CD cover. Melodic and percussive, explosive in spots while passionate and romantic in others, the collection is about tropical pleasures, seductive atmospheres, and easily the most vibrant and dynamic ensemble interaction of any jazz album this year. The three principals wrap themselves around the spicy, relentless grooves of Dario Eskenazi (piano), Oscar Stagnaro (bass), Luis Conte (percussion) and Mark Walker (drums), creating music that simmers and beats like the heart of an island on fire.

The Project began life as a concert in the Summer of 1993 at the Central Park Zoo in New York. A promoter came to Samuels, asking him to assemble some type of special event, and Samuels (who had recorded with Narell numerous times) called Narell, then the man on the top of his wish list, D'Rivera. Once the rhythm section was assembled, the only provision was that each member of the trio bring charts from his own catalog. The jam was on, and Samuels and Company liked the way they sounded. After a date in Louisville the following February, Narell was asked to contact his people at the International Music Network, and to see about sending out "feelers" to interested venues and/or record labels.

They honed their act with a week of shows at the Blue Note in Toyko and signed on to their first release for Heads Up International, Ltd. Recorded mostly in one or two takes, with few overdubs, this collection of 11 free-spirited tunes captures the intensity of the moment, the humor and the integrity of the music. The Caribbean Jazz Project plans to tour extensively during the Summer and Fall of 1995.

As all are renowned composers, the tune selection was highly democratic. D'Rivera has two solo tunes ("Como Un Bolero," "Afro"), Samuels also two ("Latin Quarter," "Café España"), the team of Samuels-D'Rivera two ("One for Tom," "Paco & Dave"), Narell three ("Three Amigos" "Carousel," "Abracadabra"), with a composition by Alain Mallet ("Valse Triste") and the classic bolero by Armando Guerrero ("Todo Aquel Ayer"). Each member has their own unique take on the chemistry and musical magic created by The Caribbean Jazz Project.

Says D'Rivera: "It's a melting pot of a melting pot, throwing together South of the Border rhythms from Latin America, Brazil, the Caribbean, Cuba, and slowing it up for a waltz or two. We mixed the island sounds that Andy plays into a jazz language. Our main interest was to learn from each other, learn from the other guy what he may know better than you."

"For instance," he continues, "I know the Cuban thing and have worked with lots of Brazilian musicians, but I learned the Caribbean style from Andy, and picked up a lot of grooves from bassist Oscar Stagnaro. And what can I say about Dave? He's so versatile with the mallets, he has so much finesse, and with a swinging motion. For this kind of music, you need a sense of humor. It should be fun."

"Caribbean and Latin music share the same roots, but are very different. The Hispanic sounds are unique from those on the French and English-owned islands. Ours is very uptight, while the Calypso beat is more relaxed, laid back. The whole thing about interacting with the sounds of other cultures is learning to pay respect to the music. You don't need to be from Cuba to play Cuban music. But if you respect it, it sounds deep and sincere."

Samuels has another view of how these three different personalities connect: "We have a real consensus about how we want this group to sound. We want the music to express the rhythms, the dance, the religion and the spontaneity of the moment by painting a picture that's really a composite of all three of us. "

"We were fortunate and had an opportunity to perform this music before going into the studio. It gave us time to live with the music -- to shape and mold it so that by the time we started recording we were more relaxed and confident. That's why we were so successful in capturing the spirit of this music," Samuels says.

For Narell, testing uncharted waters has been the trademark of his career playing a most unusual instrument. "There was a certain immediate connection between us and our sounds," he recalls. "Most of the music I play has had to pave its own road, so I was right at home in the experimental phase. The whole challenge is taking three unusual lead instruments and working out the inherent bugs which come from bringing them together."

"The solutions," he offers, "lie in how you orchestrate the music. We can't all play the melody all the time. When I wrote, I kept in mind how melodies would sound on sax or marimba, focusing on the counterpoint between the three of us, and the dialogue between the rhythm section and the lead instruments.

"We are all big fans of dance and carnival music and we all have serious compositional backgrounds," Narell continues. "It was a challenge learning each others music, but once we mastered it, we felt we had achieved something special."

Everyone in the music business always seems concerned as to just how to label music, and the simple title of The Caribbean Jazz Project seemed to cover all bases in as simple a way as possible. As Samuels explains, "Caribbean defines part of what we do, and jazz defines the other part."

and Los Angeles.

The Caribbean Jazz Project begins a new chapter with merengues,cha chas and more on Island Stories. Certain to be one of the most spectacular Latin jazz releases to come out this year, Island Stories continues the evolution of The Caribbean Jazz Project, a superband featuring Paquito D'Rivera, Dave Samuels and Andy Narell, which gained international acclaim with its 1995 self-titled debut.

Blending the unique sounds of Narell's steel pan, Samuels' vibes and marimba, and the virtuoso musings of D'Rivera on alto sax and clarinet, this ensemble is a world music melting pot featuring the sounds of the Caribbean, Latin America, Brazil and Cuba and mixing it with the tradition of jazz. The Project is rounded out with Dario Eskenzai on piano, Oscar Stagnaro on bass, Mark Walker on drums and Pemell Saturnino on percussion.

Jazz groups can be fragile entities, by the very improvisational nature of the music and the intuitive ebb and flow of musicians' lives. But, sometimes, an ensemble idea takes root and creates a self-perpetuating momentum of its own. With the release of its second album,Island Stories, The Caribbean Jazz Project takes another bold step in an evolution that began with the release of their well-received 1995 debut on Heads Up. Like the first album, the band, led by the legendary Cuban saxist Paquito D'Rivera, vibes/marimba player Dave Samuels, and steel pan player Andy Narell, is all about festive spirits and sophistication, with an ear towards the Caribbean musical landscape. Theirs is a celebratory sound, full of rhythmic fervor and melodic luster, but also mindful of the rich musical tradition the merging of jazz with Caribbean forms. This is a project with a mission.

CJP has more than its fair shares of resources, between the musicians' well-honed gifts for both writing and playing. This album also includes tunes from outside the group, painting a broader portrait of the musical backdrop.

One of the special tracks on Island Stories is a spicy new arrangement of "Andalucia" by Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona, whose work for various media left an important, and familiar, body of work. As D'Rivera says, "He was without any doubt the most representative of all Cuban composers," adding that he was a "music colossus who made extraordinary contributions to the contemporary pianistic world while creating and inspiring orchestras." From a different tip of the Latin corner, the album also features an arrangement of "Libertango," by the great Astor Piazolla. This Argentine bandoneon virtuoso, bandleader and composer contributed greatly to the legacy of Latin-American music, and his stature has only increased since his death in 1991.

Island Stories opens with D'Rivera's roiling "Bluellespie," a Cuban-bop tune which bows to the inspiration of Dizy Gillespie, whose affinity for Cuban music and natural blend of jazz and Cuban music helped bring the two together. On this project, Narell's compositions range from "Calabash," with its intricate balance of melodic material and counter-riffs, to the undulating sway and fetching melodies of "Zigzag" and "Shadow Play."

Samuels contributes three pieces to the album, including "Sadie's Dance" - a dance tune with rhythmic drive and a fascinating, quirky chord pattern. With "Tjaded Motion," Samuels pays witty respects to a mentor,Cal Tjader, the late vibist who was instrumental in fostering the Latin jazz scene. Samuels' solid tune "Grass Roots" closes the album on a typically tasteful note, alternating between medium heat exchanges and high voltage grooving.Dario Eskenazi also contributes a beautiful ballad entitled "The Lost Voice."

Through it all, CJP takes advantage of its distinctive, flexible format, with D'Rivera's soaring voice atop a variety of percussion sounds. Between Samuels on mallet instruments, Narell's deft extensions on the Trinidadian steel pans, and the rhythm section's urgings, this group is a powerful groove machine with a twist. As Samuels comments, "this instrumentation, as far I know, is really the only grouping of its sort on the planet. So we have the opportunity to break new ground, and that's really exciting. We're always talking about incorporating new elements into the music that interests us. There are many possibilities and we feel like we've just scratched the surface."

"We all bring different elements," Narell says. "I've brought in calypso,soca and French Caribbean styles. Paquito, of course, has a really deep background in Afro-Cuban music. Dave is really eclectic and interested in all these different kinds of music. The general like-mindedness you look for is to have people who seriously study how other people play their music, and embrace it. We are all from different countries, but it works because of that mentality."

CJP is a band of artists with solo careers in their own right, but who have found a common platform to which they can bring their ideas. "It's been easy to work with this group," D'Rivera comments. "We respect each other. I like the way they approach their instruments very much. I like listening to their solos. I don't wait for my turn to play. I am like a spectator. Every night, something beautiful comes out. I am basically having fun."

With a self-descriptive name like The Caribbean Jazz Project, the musicians would seem to know precisely where they're coming from, in more ways than one. But they also understand the importance of putting the music above issues of style, and being open to new ideas that pop up. Samuels explains that "all three of us have a consensus about what we consider to be good music. As a group, the three of us come across with a strong sense of identity. That's rare."