New World Beat mixes sounds and rhythms from Africa to the Americas to create new music for the new multi-cultural world in which we now live.
More than a group, New World Beat is a state of mind: a musical journey of world cultures, respecting and promoting awareness of their influences. This fresh new sound will entertain and move you, heart, mind, and soul.
New World Beat is the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist, producer and composer Ricky Andrews. Andrews has dedicated his entire career to the exploration of Latin American and World music. An accomplished improviser in the jazz idiom, his main instrument is the vibraphone ("vibes"), on which he has developed a unique and modern sound.
Foregoing the vibrato and two mallet stylings of earlier generations of players, Ricky uses the four mallet technique, following in the footsteps of his main influence, vibraphone master Gary Burton.
Perhaps more important to both his sound and compositional style is Andrews' other great influence, guitarist (and Burton protege) Pat Metheny. For the most part, Andrews foregoes the straight ahead acoustic sound of the vibes, instead using an electro-acoustic vibraphone run through signal effects processing to achieve his unique sound.
Compositionally, Andrews' has paralleled Metheny in writing extended arrangements that explore a variety of modalities, time signatures and rhythmic feels. Like Metheny, Andrews studied jazz composition at the University of Miami with famed jazz composer and educator Ron Miller. Later associations with Brazilian guitarist Toninho Horta and bassist Nico Assumpcao, not to mention a love of the music of Brazilian legend Milton Nascimento, were also influential.
Ricky has performed extensively in Europe, North Africa and Brazil, as well as North America. As a keyboardist, vibraphonist and percussionist, he has performed Jazz, Brazilian, Salsa and African music in clubs, music festivals, television and radio. He has worked with world class musicians from all over the world, including fusion guitarist Ray Gomez, Paco de Lucia band members Jorge Pardo, Carlos Benevent, and Ruben Dantas, Jazz Flamenco innovator Jose Antonio Galicia, Spanish jazz singer Pedro Ruy Blas, New York jazz drummer Tony Moreno, Brazilian singer-guitarist Cesar Santana, jazz harmonica player Randy Singer and others.
