Jah Breeze & Steel

Jah Breeze & Steel have been performing, composing, and arranging together for about six years. This duo enjoys breaking the stereotypes of steel drums by not only educating the audience about the origin of the instrument, but also by including in their repertoire music that is not typically played on steel pans, such as songs by Bach, Beethoven, Gershwin, Brubeck, Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Michael Jackson, and Earth Wind & Fire, as well their own original compositions inspired by their appreciation for all types of music.

Jah Breeze is an internationally renowned musician, who was trained in African drumming by master drummer Babatunde Olatunji. He later returned to his Caribbean roots, applying his African drumming skills to the steel pans that he had learned as a child in Guyana, South America. He continues to teach and share his skills and culture to youth throughout the Seattle area. Jah Breeze has been curating reggae events for twenty years, as well as managing media relations for many music festivals in Jamaica, California, Washington state, Michigan, and more. This has led him to his current pursuit in audio engineering. As a composer/arranger, he is influenced by music of the African Diaspora, including reggae, jazz, funk, hip hop, blues, and many more, as well as other genres such as folk, grunge, and European classical.

Kathryn Hightower, AKA "Steel," was trained as a youth in classical music, achieving great success throughout her childhood on the clarinet. She was also trained in dance from the young age of 4 years old, and earned her BA in Dance from the University of Washington. Her combined skills as a dancer and classically-trained musician give her the versatility necessary for a steel pan player. Her experience with classical music and contemporary dance add a kinesthetic rhythmic aspect that is vital to Jah Breeze & Steel, as the duo never plays with a backbeat of any sort. The rhythms are all internal and shared between the two players.