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His third album Tropicality (2013)
is like the both predecessors a confession to smooth jazz. With a
balanced mix of covers and self written compositions Elan shows his
qualification as team worker. He is joined by bassist/producer Nicholas
Brancker, guitarists Peter White, U-Nam,
Nick Colionne, Fabiano Da Silva, Serghio Jansen, percussionists
Luis Conte,
Lenny Castro, keyboardist/producer Jeff Lorber,
guitarist/producer Paul Brown, drummers Terri Lyne Carrington, Ricky
Lawson and Tony Moore, trumpeter Lin Rountree,
and bassist Alex Al .
Trotman has chosen as starting tune Stevie Wonder's monster hit
Master Blaster. The energetic original is recalculated in Elan's
version to the melody sequence enriched with a horn arrangement.
The Caribbean flavored Tradewinds presents guitarist Peter
White in his best role, the entertainer. With such excellent musicians
like Jeff Lorber, Alex Al and Tony Moore the song Bridgetown to
Beantown becomes a pleasure. A little Caribbean and a big dose of
contemporary jazz makes it very comfortable. Trotman especially shines
on flute and keeps the level with the matadors.
The warmhearted Always with You is a typical production of
Peter White and DC. "Anything that’s really weird, you can attribute to
DC – that’s why I really love working with him. He’ll come up with stuff
that I never would have thought of. The stuff that I come up with is
usually melodic", comments Peter shrouding the real name of this
musician in mystery.
Bob Marley's reggae Wait in Vain has a wonderful rebirth
featuring Trotman equally on flute and tenor sax. A Time and Place
succeeds thanks to Paul Brown's prowess in the usual elegance. I would
await a piece such as Sunset in Paradise on a South African CD.
This is quite surprising. Fusing contemporary jazz with a Caribbean beat
and other music styles absorbed from his world travels, instrumentalist
and vocalist Nicholas Brancker is the originator of this surprise.
The Latin tinged Danca ku mi (Dance with Me) is the ultimate
invitation to the dance floor. Emanuela Nadia Alves vocals are
very attractive. Funkalypso excels with a fantastic horn
arrangement. Terri Lyne Carrington serves an awesome solo on drums and creates more
of the
Caribbean atmosphere. Tropicality is without a doubt for the
romantics. With Island Groove Elan closes the gaps to
Dance floor Pop. The Antonio Carlos Jobim song Wave is a
professional concession for the friends of Latin jazz.
Elan Trotman's album Tropicality is incredibly varied and will
certainly appeal a lot of audience. More can not be expected of
entertainment.
Biography
Album Information |
Hailing
from Barbados now living in Boston saxophonist Elan Trotman is an integral part of the smooth
jazz scene today. His work consisting of Memories - The Debut
(2001), influenced by Caribbean music, Let’s Have A Good Old Time
(2005), a gospel jazz album, A Reggae Christmas (2007),
popular Christmas carols in a jammin' reggae style, This Time Around
(2009) and Love and Sax (2011 ) is multifaceted.
