Live in South Africa

Here's steel-pan player Andy Narell performing with a stellar band from South Africa. He wrote 11 of the 12 songs on this two-CD set, and they all display his distinctive compositional style of globally mapped contemporary jazz. For that, the band sounds easily as good, if not better, than any Narell has assembled, including the Caribbean Jazz Project, and his early 1980s band with guitarist Steve Erquiaga. The first CD features the Narell with a couple of notable solos from the sidemen, particularly on "Jenny's Room," but it is on the second disc, with its longer tunes, that the rest of the band is allowed more solo space. They don't disappoint. It's also on the latter disc--on "Chakalaka" and "Mpule" particularly--where the Johannesburg township groove that permeates the music of Hugh Masekela, Abdullah Ibrahim, and so many others from South Africa is in Narell's grasp. Guitarist Louis Mhlanga is a revelation on "Chakalaka" and "Little Secrets," and every time the spotlight is turned on pianist Andile Yenana, he stands out with thoughtful solos. --Mark Ruffin