Saturday, January 13, 2007

Jeff Narell Plays T-Rex

Jeff Narell and his Callaloo Band plays T-Rex, 1300 Tenth Street (Cross St. Gilman)
Berkeley, CA 94710 tonight Saturday, January 13. No cover charge. Come melt the icicles with some hot Caribbean/Pan music.
http://www.t-rex-bbq.com/

Callaloo is a Caribbean soup loved throughout the islands and is the national dish of Trinidad and Tobago, the birthplace of the steel pan. With his latest recording, Callaloo, pan master Jeff Narell brings forward 12 slammin’ dance tracks - jazzy around the edges with a cross Caribbean mix of soca, salsa, reggae and samba grooves.

This new release features an entourage of top vocalists from the Caribbean region, Crazy (Trinidad), Rahsul (St Thomas), Carlos Soto (Nicaragua), Claudia Villela (Brazil), Lemo (Trinidad), and Jerry Kennedy (Florida), highlighted by Jeff’s spicy steel pan stylings.

The instrumentalists are equally impressive, featuring Karl Perrazo (Santana percussionist), Gary Brown (Airto bassist) and guitarists Ray Obiedo, Carlos Oliveira, and Avi Bortnick, all artists with solo CD’s.

Callaloo includes Jeff’s original composition Ellie Man, a top tune played by steel orchestras island wide for Trinidad Carnival 2003. A tribute to his mentor, Ellie Mannette, it was sung and recorded in collaboration with Trinidad calypso star Crazy and performed by Ellie’s original steel orchestra, Invaders, at Panorama. Performed by steel orchestras in five countries, Ellie Man captured the crown in Toronto’s Caribana festival.