The Northern Illinois University (NIU) Steelband has dedicated its annual Spring concert to Trinidadian pan icon Cliff Alexis who recently retired after 30 years of co-directing the NIU steelband.
The concert which takes place on April 30, will be streamed live on the Internet.
Later in May, Alexis will be further honoured by NIU as he receives an honorary degree of Doctor of Human Letters in celebration of his many accomplishments and service to the university.
According to Bradley Bond, Dean of the Graduate School and associate vice president of Graduate Studies, the honour is bestowed on those “who have excelled in their disciplines and whose accomplishments have impacted society.”
His impressive accomplishments at NIU are a bookend of the grand scope of Cliff Alexis’s career as an educator in the United States that has spanned nearly 50 years.
Prior to his arrival to NIU in 1985, Alexis already boasted a long career of international stature. He was born in Port-of-Spain in 1937 and grew up in the Clifton Hill neighbourhood. Alexis began visiting panyards, playing with Hit Paraders among others.
Despite never having formal music training, by 1964, Alexis had earned a reputation as talented pan player and music arranger and he was selected as a member of the National Steelband Orchestra of T&T.
In 1965, Alexis moved to New York where he joined the BWIA Sunjets as a player/arranger and began performing in the greater New York City area.
In 1972, Alexis settled down in St Paul, Minnesota. Here, he was able to quickly parley his skills as a panman into a job at St Paul Central High School teaching steelpan, a position he held until 1985.
Alexis was a natural teacher and the steelband programme in St Paul was a success, earning accolades from administration and state-wide education and arts organisations in Minnesota.
Alexis was recognised with the Minnesota Black Musician of the Year award in 1983 and 1984.
At the time, Alexis was an experienced pan player but he was not an experienced builder/tuner. As such, he apprenticed to his friend Patrick Arnold and later undertook advanced studies in music and acoustics as well as courses in piano tuning at the University of Minnesota.
Through his continued work in St Paul, Alexis became a renowned tuner and builder of steelpans among the education and academic circles which further landed him on the short list of tuner/builders used by the US Navy Steel Band during the mid-1970s where his quality instruments came to the attention of Al O’Connor at NIU.
O’Connor would later comment: “It was obvious to me that the guy was a musical genius, no matter what amount of formal musical training he may have had.”
O’Connor decided he needed Alexis at his steelpan programme at NIU and worked hard to make that happen.
Upon his arrival at NIU in 1985, Alexis declared “Yellow Bird out de window!” as he immediately took the reins of co-director of the NIU steelband. He worked to make the NIU programme each year feature the latest pan composition coming out of Trinidad.
Alexis tutored students in steelband arranging, playing technique, composition, as well as the craft of building, tuning, and creating steelpans. In addition, Alexis was the resident tuner/builder for the NIU steelband and established a steelpan factory where he taught apprentices and provided steelpan instrument for sale throughout the United States mainly to other universities.
The impact of Cliff Alexis’s work at NIU cannot be understated. One need only look to his wealth of former students to see the incredible reach of Alexis’s influence.
Alexis had a hand in training a great number of the steelpan educators who, after studying under his tutelage at NIU, are now teaching in T&T at both UWI and UTT. These professors, lecturers and tutors include Jeannine Remy, Sat Sharma, Harold Headley, Barry Mannette, and Khion De Las at UWI, and Mia Gormandy, Seion Gomes and Akua Leith at UTT.
Born from the traditions of steelpan in Trinidad, Alexis is a true progressive.
As NIU professor Liam Teague notes, he was quick to pay homage to the traditions and history of steelband while also fostering steelband’s future.
“Alexis has been steadfast in his advocacy for honouring the contributions of the forefathers of the steelpan, while also making it a priority to simultaneously cast a light on the younger generation of steelpan musicians.,” said Teague.
“He is uncompromising in his progressive vision.”
The honorary degree was totally unexpected and came as a real surprise to Alexis.
He was gobsmacked and in disbelief that he was even being considered for an honorary doctorate.
For Alexis, it meant that his lifelong dedication to educating the people around him, especially his students, about the boundless possibilities of steelband has been given the stamp of approval and is recognised as academically sound.
Alexis noted to former student Jeannine Remy: “I even have to wear a cap and gown!” and in the next breath, mused, “I could not even imagine this would happen to someone who grew up behind the bridge.”
Even prouder of the achievement than the panman himself are his many students. Barry Mannette who earned a masters degree at NIU, teaches at UWI and in the public schools and runs the Exocub program at Exodus Steel Orchestra was quick to point to Alexis’s broad influence.
He said: “Cliff’s monumental contribution to the spread of the steelpan throughout the USA and internationally, his paving the way for several Trinidadians and Caribbean people to obtain a tertiary level education, together with his willingness to pass on his knowledge, wisdom and expertise, has made him undoubtedly, one of the most significant persons in the steelpan community.”
Khion De Las, who also earned a graduate degree under Alexis, said: “Cliff has a passion that transcends, yet influences, and grows my passion for the steelpan.”
As an educator, Alexis has a knack for connecting with students from a variety of backgrounds from around the globe, including the Caribbean, USA, Europe, and Asia. His unique ability to combine traditional methods of teaching steelpan with contemporary practices resonated with a broad array of students.
Mia Gormandy notes that Alexis played a pivotal role in her education.
She said: “When my parents took me to NIU at just 16, Cliff assured them that I would be safe and would be given an academic environment in which to stay focused.
“During my time at NIU, not only did Cliff keep his promise to my parents, but he also became a father figure to me and made adjusting to DeKalb life much easier.
Stories of his childhood and the hardships he had to endure motivated and inspired my colleagues and I to be the best we can be.”
The April 30 NIU Steelband concert will take a retrospective look at Alexis’s career and feature several of his classic steelband compositions and arrangements.
Confusion Reggae is one of Alexis’s most popular arrangements and will be featured at the concert.
According to Alexis, he was practising chords on his tenor one day when a student asked what it was and he responded, “It’s a bunch of confusion.”
From confusion came beauty, the piece is very popular and has been performed by steelbands across the United States including University of Cincinnati, Western Illinois University, and New York University as well as secondary school bands and Sonic Steel in Denmark.
The programme will also feature Alexis’s original samba Summer Song as well as his beloved arrangement of the Brazilian wedding song Setembro from Quincy Jones’s album Back on the Block.
Leaving on a high note, Alexis will provide his latest arrangement for the NIU Steelband of Rumble in the Jungle sung by Chuck Gordon and composed by Mark Loquan & Amrit Samaroo that was featured by Supernovas for 2017 Panorama.
• Andrew Martin is an ethnomusicologist, percussionist, pan player, and Professor of Music at Inver Hills College in St Paul, Minnesota. Ray Funk is a retired Alaskan judge and a Fulbright scholar who is passionately devoted to calypso, pan and mas.
About the concert
The NIU Steelband spring concert will be webcast live and free, starting at 5 pm Trinidad time and can be accessed at http://www.niu.edu/music/come-hear-us/webcast.shtml.
In addition to the concert, festivities will also include several other events including an NIU fundraiser, and a pre-concert talk/lecture starting at 3.30pm Trinidad time by Dr Andrew Martin who will present a detailed account of Cliff Alexis’s life in steelpan.