dis 1. 4. raf

Andy Narell / Dis 1. 4. RAF

After several years of collaborations with the great calypsonian Relator, The WDR Big Band, Trinidad All Stars, Sakésho, and three albums of steel band music with guest soloists (Michael Brecker, Paquito D’Rivera, Hugh Masekela, Mike Stern, David Sanchez, Luis Conte, Etienne Charles), Narell is back with a two set jazz album featuring his Paris based quintet - pianist Janysett McPherson and percussionist Inor Sotolongo from Cuba, bassist Thierry Fanfant and drummer Gregory Louis from Guadeloupe. The second set is a duo with Janysett McPherson.

The album opens with the title track ‘Dis 1. 4. Raf,’ which Narell composed for the 2016 Panorama in Trinidad. Dedicated to the memory of his close friend, the great Trinidadian musician Raf Robertson, the song launches into a journey through Afro-Caribbean styles – calypso, soca, biguine, son montuno, rumba – all glued together by Narell’s compositions and the chemistry of a band that has played together for years.