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 jazz, 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 calypso standards --
Andy Narell's "We Kinda Music" and
Lord Kitchener's "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 jazz. 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 Ken Philmore compositions -- they have a slightly stronger beat than some of the others, but still have a decent amount of delicacy in them. ~ Adam Greenberg