PAUL DONOVAN is chilled by the contemporary resonance of Harper Lee’s coming of age tale amidst racism and white supremacy in this excellent production
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‘Steel pan had a stigma and was considered an instrument from the ghetto’
Chris Searle interviews master of the jazz steel pan LEON FOSTER-THOMAS on the release of his album Calasanitus (Krossover Jazz Records)
[Rupert Burley]
GEOFF BOTTOMS recommends the unashamedly light-hearted escapism on offer in this stage version of the 1963 film
Full of mysterious religious references and radical sound design, the Scottish duo’s new offering is candidate for album of the year, suggests SIMON DUFF
MARY CONWAY revels in a powerful reminder that human lives are not defined by physical perfection
PAUL DONOVAN recommends the fine performances in this account of the pre-war meeting between the US president and the British king
TECLYN AROD relishes an intimate celebration of jazz improvisation that mixes local and national musicians
MUSICAL snobbery has often consigned the beauty and melodism of steel pan as a lower form of musical instrument, and pan jazz virtuoso Leon Foster-Thomas, born in San Fernando, Trinidad, the centre of the oil workers’ trade union, has faced such racist and class bigotry all his musical life.
“Steel pan had a stigma and was considered an instrument from the ghetto. People associated with pan weren’t considered model citizens and women weren’t allowed to play pan.
“I’ve never really thought about it, but if I had to put it into words, I consider steel pan a symbol of my roots, my deep, deep African roots.”
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