A selection as part of
Delos
' Caribbean Carnival series, this album deals with pan
jazz
, in which generally smaller groups play less
calypso
and more
, or at least more crossover-type works (such as
Ken Philmore
's compositions played herein). What one might note here, though, is the immediate use of at least a couple of
standards --
Andy Narell
's
"We Kinda Music"
and
Lord Kitchener
"Iron Man."
The other thing that one notices, at least on the
Grover Washington
/Sadao Watanabe selections, is the way in which the soloist takes full precedence over the other players -- this would be the other major aspect of pan
. Overall, it's a slightly slower tempo album than one would generally expect from a steel band, but it's still not a bad catch at all. The main highlight here would most likely be the
compositions -- they have a slightly stronger beat than some of the others, but still have a decent amount of delicacy in them. ~ Adam Greenberg