Ace Panists Freddie Harris, III & Mustafa Alexander light up the Kemah Pan Jam Festival

Kemah, Texas, USA - Two of New York’s well-known panists - Freddie Harris, III and Mustafa Alexander - made the trip down south to Texas not too long ago as the headline act in the annual Kemah Pan Jam Festival.  Both Freddie and Freddie looked back at their experience and share with pan folks.

“I had a great time at the Kemah Pan Jam Festival with Mustafa,” says Freddie.  “It was a pleasure to see all the universities in Texas come out with the four different steel bands; it is also a great pleasure to see different pan players from all walks of life as well... white, black, Mexican, college students... etc.; it was very diverse.  There were various vendors selling Caribbean artifacts and culture to people who were not aware of Caribbean culture in Texas.”

The well-known steelpan musician continued, “My objective in Texas was to broaden the spectrum of my listening viewers by playing many different genres of music, to show them that the steel drum has no limitations. The crowd was definitely wowed by the music Mustafa Alexander and I provided as headliners. Mustafa definitely did his thing; he played a little jazz, some classics, calypso, and some contemporary pieces which took the crowd by surprise.  Mustafa is definitely one of the upcoming pan men to watch out for. For his first pan jazz festival - I think he did a really great job. Being that we were both coming out of New York city, I figured I would look out for him a little; and make sure that things went well for him.  We looked out for each other...”

“The food was great; everything they do in Texas is definitely ‘big.’  When we first got in - five hours later - we were already playing with the house band for the tailgate party. We played country, rock, blues, and other southern genres of music.  This is where we sat in with the band and Mustafa performed “I Shot the Sherriff.” Being that I’m so accustomed to the country music, and this is my style of music... funk, rhythm and blues, jazz, and country and western - I fell right in the groove and performed the whole second set with the band... They didn’t want me to leave.”

“The crowd was definitely into it. We took that same energy into the next day, which was Saturday - the first day of the actual Pan Jam Festival. I played at 12:45 to 2:30 p.m.  The crowd loved it so much they all came to the second performance where Mustafa played at 7:30 p.m.  It was a beautiful ‘relay’ race; and Mustafa passed me back the baton; where I finished the rest of the show from 8:45–10:00 p.m.  The crowed left with a roar, reminiscing in my rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner,” which by the way, I played 3 performances in a row by request!”

“Sunday was a more laid back day. The concert ended at 6 o’clock and as headliners, Mustafa and I ended the show. We jammed together and traded fours, it was exciting. I performed more gospel songs, being that it was Sunday, a day for praise, which were received extremely well by the audience. The show was a success, and the event planners were definitely pleased with Mustafa and me. They rolled out the red carpet for us, and the hospitality was great; we were treated like ROCK STARS!!!!!!!!  These guys in Texas are definitely handling Pan with care - and I second the pan movement at Kemah Pan Jam Festival!”

Mustafa Alexander himself (who also plays trumpet) is a talented young man, but one of few words - so though he usually lets his ‘sticks’ do the talking, he articulated just a bit, his own thoughts on his participation in the Kemah Pan Jam festival, for the pan community.

“The trip to Kemah, Texas was a big eye opener; the places pan has reached have astonished me, and it feels so good to be a part of the future as a Panist in this Steel pan movement.  Freddy Harris, III was down there, also headlining at this two-day Pan Jam festival and I learned a lot from him. I often think of that trip as ‘Musician 101’ because this was my first gig like that, and I definitely learned a lot about this music business and how to market myself.  So this trip was great. The people treated us very well down there and I’m looking forward to doing it again,” declared Mustafa.