Neville Jules Speaks on Pan
RIGHT: Mr. Neville Jules and friends
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TrinbagoPan.com Reporters
Interview Date: May 26, 2007
Posted: June 11, 2007
TRINBAGOPAN: Was 'Smooth' in the band for a long time?
NEVILLE: No, not a very long time because we had a little split. But he came into the band somewhere in the sixties. Some guys had jobs in Hilton and they were calling the band Hilton All Stars. But they were not really being sponsored by Hilton. In order for them to keep the job, they called themselves Hilton All Stars. After a certain time, I figured that had to stop. If somebody wanted to sponsor a band they would not have considered All Stars. A lot of time my money was being spent. Anyway, I told them that we were going to look for a sponsor. We had an offer from the Green Giant Company to come and listen to the band. We used our uniforms we wore at Panorama. My pans were painted different from theirs because they were using colours from Hilton. I had my pans painted in red and white. When we started to play for the people from Green Giant Company, the hotel manager came and he spoke to the guy who was leading the orchestra. He asked him what band it was and the guy told him it was All Stars. He said, "But I am seeing different colour pans and uniforms." The guy said the captain didn't want to give us the pans, blah, blah, blah. The manager said to him, "Well get your own band and you have the job." They talked amongst themselves and they decided how we were going to split and keep the job. That is how that started. When they left, it was a blessing for the band because we had a group of guys from Jackson Place and 'Smooth' was in it. 'Smooth' learned a lot from Jemmott. Today, he is the man. 'Smooth' is something else.
TRINBAGOPAN: What would you like your legacy to be in respect of Trinidad All Stars?
NEVILLE: A guy who loves what he is doing; who loves pan. I did my best. I was a sort of a 'jack of all trades'. Some people would concentrate mostly on arranging or tuning, but I dabbled in some of everything. Once I am happy with what I do and people are enjoying it, I am happy.
TRINBAGOPAN: Do you still enjoy arranging for the band and do you plan to continue?
NEVILLE: I still enjoy arranging for the band. It is a funny thing and I do not know if it was a joke 'Smooth' was making. But he called me not too long ago when I was up in New York and while talking and laughing he said, "Boy that tune was good. Yuh plan to retire?" I had stopped this thing since in 1971 and I didn't have any intentions of going back. But those guys threw bait and they reeled me in like a fish. They said, "Cap, we want to bring out a band in New York and we need your help." I told them I was done with arranging. They told me to just come and they will call me the manager and so on. In the first meeting when I went there, a guy pulled a cassette and said, "Cap, I have about three songs in here that Qualis did and it has all the arrangements for this and that and so on. Just learn it and give the fellas and them it." I looked at him and I said, "All right. I just have to take it from here and put it there." Next thing you know, he is saying, "That is all we have, we want two Calypsos." I gave him two Calypsos. After that was, "What about if you bring back a Bomb?" A favourite Bomb they had liked was 'Anniversary Waltz' where the bass playing the chords and stuff like that. I decided to do 'Somewhere over the Rainbow' and that was it. That was in either 1995 or 1996 until now.
TRINBAGOPAN: You said you went to New York in 1971, are you still there?
NEVILLE: Yes I am still there.
TRINBAGOPAN: Are you still involved with the band there?
NEVILLE: There isn't any band there. Whatever we did there was for a time. The fellas were not going the way I thought they would have gone. I decided I went through too many things in the Steelband and at this age to be still going through a set of problems. They went and they opened another Steelband with a different name but it didn't work out for them either.
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