Here’s an astonishing reissue of exotic jazz from 1984. Still Around by the Rudy Smith Quartet is the first record Rudy Smith made under his own name after the Modern Sound Quartet. Now, if you’re wondering what steel pan music is, you should stop what you’re doing and watch the video mindboggling live video below. Rudy Smith apparently recorded this album while living in Denmark with Ole Mathiessen on piano, Niels Prøstholm on bass and the South African Gilbert Matthews on drums. Steel drums are generally used for traditional Afro-Caribbean pan music, but Rudy makes use of them in a bebop & jazz context. The 6:49 “Ursia” whose exotic melody is carved into my brain as of now, is a redoing of the original piece from The Modern Sound Quartet’s only record from 1971, Otinku, and “Be Bach” should be a Bach rendition whose name escapes me now. Comment if you know the original please!

Rudy Smith Quartet – Ursia
Rudy Smith Quartet – Be Bach