Drums of Steel

As a youth, Othello Molineaux played piano. By age eleven, he had given his heart to the steel drum, then the newest and most innovative of instruments. He learned to tune the old oil drums, and through coaxing refined sounds from the smooth surface, he realized the breadth of expression the cool metal afforded. Molineaux expected to make a living as a piano player. Instead he has become an internationally respected cultural ambassador who has taken the sounds of steel from island day-tripper oddity to a Grammy-nominated force to be reckoned with. “My whole career had nothing to do with me; it had everything to do with the instrument,” says Molineaux, who helped shape the rough evolution of the instrument that Trinidadians refer to as pan. “The steel drum has come a really long way. Now the music has taken movement all over the world,” he says. Molineaux has performed with jazz legends including Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock, and South Florida’s Jaco Pastorius, whom Molineaux describes as “an absolute genius.” The Othello Molineaux Quartet will delight audiences tonight at 8:30 and 10:30 at the Arturo Sandoval Jazz Club. Tickets cost $20. Call 305-865-5775, or visit www.arturosandovaljazzclub.com.
Sun., May 28