Adding a Little 'Panazz' to Symphony Hall

The BankBoston Celebrity Series brought the Panazz players back to light up Symphony Hall again this year. They performed last March for the first time in the Boston area and were back before Thanksgiving with more steel drum action. Opening the concert was Ken "Professor" Philmore, who has performed with the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Tito Puente and Cassandra Wilson in the past. Philmore's pan solos got the crowd in the mood, but his band struggled to keep up with him. Philmore is a pan master and has been playing steel drums since he was four years old, beginning his professional career at fifteen with the Hatters Steel Orchestra.

After the professor solemnly left the stage in his dark suit, the Panazz (pan and jazz squished together) Players took over the hall. They are currently the leading steel band ensemble in Trinidad and Tobago, the birthplace of pan music. In loose white pants and fluorescent tops, they were determined to bring a little of Trinidad and Tobago into the austere building. The fourteen member band includes a fifteen-year-old boy playing the six bass, and one woman who plays the double seconds. All the members share an amazing ability to work with most, if not all, of the instruments on stage, and each band member added their own style during their solos.

The band is noted for its ability to take classical and classic jazz pieces and add their own panazz stamp to them. In the song "Carmen Jones," they took a melody from Bizet's famous opera and gave it a little jazz flavor before really mixing it with pan rhythms and letting the tenor players tear it up. Tenor player Dane Gulston made his presence known from the start of the show and, at center stage for the remainder, he kept the intensity flowing and the tone of the show light as he alternatingly teased and supported the other band members. At one point, he challenged Natasha Joseph, double second player and the lone woman in the group, to a little duel. While she lacked Gulston's dynamic stage presence, she showed him what was up as he, dripping sweat and looking as if he was in pain, tried to stump her with his instrument. Joseph was flawless as she effortlessly repeated his tunes, smiling. As mentioned earlier, most of the band members can play all of the instruments; they would switch repeatedly throughout the performance. Sheldon Webster especially, who is Gulston's partner on the tenors, has mastered all of the drums and played most of them during the course of the show.

Panazz also played a few Christmas tunes in expectation of the upcoming season. They have a Christmas album out of traditional Christmas songs done calypso style. They played an upbeat version of "Silver Bells" and "Gloria in Excelsis" combined with "Merry Christmas Everyone." They also covered "When You Wish Upon a Star," which was added to their repertoire after performing their annual gig at Walt Disney World's Epcot Center, where they do 60 shows in two weeks. During the song, percussionist Cliff Coombs made a mockery of conducting as he danced and skipped around the stage, succeeding in firing up band and audience members alike.

Arturro Tappin, alto saxophone player, joined the group for a few numbers toward the end of the show. Tappin is best known for his unique style, as he combines roots reggae and jazz sounds in his playing. Tappin has been compared to Kenny G in the past, but either his playing has matured since then or whoever made that comment was hard of hearing. While Tappin has mastered the smooth, soft sound that put Kenny G on the tops of all the "Easy Listening" charts--evident when he joined the Panazz Players to do their rendition of an old Roberta Flack tune--but, unlike good old Kenny, Tappin is also able to really blow. Tappin received some of his tutoring from various instructors in Boston's own Berklee College of Music, and has since gone on to release two albums. His enthusiastic and explosive playing meshed well with Panazz's style, and he was able to emphasize the jazzier aspects of Panazz.

The day after the band Sweet Honey in the Rock had livened things up in Symphony Hall, Panazz took over the building and filled it up with their own brand of celebration. The crowd was up and dancing in the aisles for parts of the second half of the show, and for all of the encore. Rarely does Symphony Hall catch that kind of inspiration. Hopefully, BankBoston will have the Panazz Players back next year and make this an annual tradition. Otherwise, Epcot center will be the only place in the U.S. to enjoy Panazz.