Album Notes

MARTIN&MARTIN, Rhythm and Steel's studio album, is a surprise venture embarking on new avenues in the young history of steelpan music. A co-production by two Swiss musicians, i.e. Martin Grah (steelpan musician and musical director of Extempo Steelband) and Martin Richard Lehner (CEO of the Zuerich Konservatorium fuer Klassik und Jazzí), the album revolves around the steelpan, but investing it with a new and modern role depending on its interaction with such other instruments as the trombone, the trumpet, the electric bass, the violin or Cuban percussion.

Martin&Martin is a project developed by Swiss musicians Martin Grah and Martin Richard Lehner. Martin Grah is one of the pioneers in the Swiss steelpan scene and an innovator and steelpan musician who has been committed to obtaining recognition for steelpan music and spreading its reach throughout Switzerland and internationally for approx. 30 years. Martin Richard Lehner is a creative musician, arranger and composer who has no second thoughts about breaking out of his home ground. His activities and skills cover as vast a range as jazz, Latin and pop music for small bands or full-blown orchestras as well as instrumental and vocal music.

MARTIN&MARTIN is an experiment by two dyed-in-the-wool steel musicians thoroughly examining the role of the steelpan and its interaction with other instruments. Martin Lehner takes care of arrangements, plays the trombone and keyboards, programmes, recruits musicians and mixes the sound while Martin Grah plays the steelpan in three different roles and in multi-faceted functions, supported by a variety of international guest musicians from Cuba, Italy, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland.

MARTIN&MARTIN of Rhythm and Steel have demonstrated complete mastery of, and love for, their steelpans since 1987. In standard line-up, Rhythm and Steel is a small steelband also featuring Daniel Canzani on double bass steelpan and Enzo Lopardo on drums. Rhythm and Steel is a byword for quality and multi-faceted steelpan music of Caribbean origin, refined by a great deal of playing experience acquired on study trips to Trinidad & Tobago and Cuba.

MARTIN&MARTIN stands for stylish and state-of-the-art steelpan sound and a wide variety of Latin, Caribbean, LA groove and pop music. Two tunes were composed by Martin Lehner.

www.rhythmandsteel.ch