Caribbean Affairs in the USA

Trinidad All Stars Steel Orchestra (continues)

2006 congratulating all the winners in the various categories thereby re-affirming that the decisions of the judges are final and must be graciously accepted. The young playing-members of All Stars were devastated when this year's results were released but the older heads, both playing and non-playing, were ever present to console and project at all times the bigger picture.

What however, people like me and many playing and non-playing members of All Stars have no intention of tolerating is the attempt by some to treat Leon Smooth Edwards as a non-person in the pantheon of great steelband arrangers.

Moreover it seems to be a tendency emanating from the West (ie West PoS). Listen to Al Nunes of Diego Martin: Although I am convinced there are no musical reasons for it, All Stars led the pack from the start and was much the anticipated band. Manned with proficient players, they executed an arrangement with the least musical content in the Panorama, on what I consider the best instruments in the world. Regrettably evident was that what is played is no longer important as how it is played. After reading that, one is left to wonder what on God's earth is Al Nunes, definition of music and what is his purpose for Panorama music in particular?

One notable arranger from the West found himself up in the Grand Stand after his band performed and while there he listened and, more so, viewed All Stars performance of Soca Warriors. He too heard the crowd responses and eruptions during and after All Stars presentation and all he could say to those around him, obviously in a fit of pique, was: dat is musical trash!... I guess his offering, if you really want it bad enough, must have been diamonds in the sky. But poor fellah, no one danced or screamed because there was no connection. In the past, another one of those arrangers from the West went out of his way to acclaim that Smooth Edwards is not an arranger but a gatherer of notes, and then in the same breath was boldface enough to suggest that he is looking for a signature tune for his band like Woman on the Bass or Rebecca. Well, he would have to keep looking for quite sometime, matters not how hard he "Max it up". Not so with Jit and Robbie, the one is famous for his forewarnings to Regenades about what it would by necessity demand of them in terms of discipline and execution to beat All Stars with Smooth at the helm, and the other, it is alleged, recently quipped, they all would gladly do what Smooth does if only they could do it in reference to other arrangers who seek to dismiss Smooth.

Liten, I am neither a professional musician nor musicologist, whatever that is, but I can say the following: When Smooth leaves the verse and chorus of the original piece of music and, as in the Panorama requirement, begins to develop the melodic theme or melodic lines, his strong point or forte is not so much the re-phrasing of the lines, for which Bradley was the noted genius, but rather the mastery of creating fresh, new melodies that harmonise with the original theme and provide the coherent framework to his arrangement. Most times these, new melodies of Smooth prove to be sweeter than the original work.

In other words, there is a certain power and beauty that result from his changes in the supportive chordal pattern which give the impression of a new melody, although the original melody is ever present in sound that can be heard throughout the performance moving from one section of the band to another and back and forth. The audiences scream, shut and dance because he connects. And he is never afraid to repeat to sustain rhythmic appeal.

Sometimes in the course of his harmonizing, he proves able to create a classical-type ambiance and mood as in Rain Melody; a jazzy-jam effect as in Fire Storm; even a melancholic, almost cathartic feel as in, Pay Mih Dues (the best comparison would be Bradley's Pan in Danger for Carib Tokyo); or a straight, constant, celebratory Calypso breakaway which he must have deemed essential to the theme of Soca Warriors, a jovial jam-song comprising a string of simple musical hooks.

The point is that it is all Smooth's way, it is never borrowed, and it is his own way of doing and interpreting. In the end all arrangers use certain time-worn musical tools and devices to create the effect they desire. There is no rocket science to it. When all the ingredients in the mix are there in