BRITAIN MOORE DUO (est. 1986)
Steelpans — Marimba — Vibes —Percussion — Groove — Melody — Fun!
“If this group were a sports car, they’d be a Porsche.” Bob Becker, Nexus
Mat Britain (steel pans/percussion) and Dan Moore (marimba, vibes, and percussion) began their musical journey together in 1984 as students of JC Combs at Wichita State University. Inspired by a one-off performance by Andy Narell and the late Dave Samuels at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, Mat and Dan formed the Britain Moore Duo in 1986 and became the first touring steelpan/marimba duo.
“Working the deep grooves.” Ron Esposito, WVXU Cincinnati
As one of the longest running percussion duos still active today The BMD continues to work the deep grooves recording and performing their unique blend of musical styles that feature everything from jazz, folk, and pop, to Calypso, contemporary percussion, music of the world, and their very personal original compositions and creative arrangements.
Along the way, they’ve influenced several generations of percussionists who’ve performed their music and imitated their singular style.
Percussionist and award-winning composer Ben Wahlund writes that “the BMD was a defining presence in my musical journey. It was amazing to meet such dynamic performers who knew how to share the *joy* of music while holding themselves to high standards of artistry. I will always appreciate that they found their way to North Dakota in the early 90s.”
Composer and arranger Mike Nevin says that “The early days of the Britain Moore Duo affected the direction of my life as a musician. Dan’s compositions and arrangements inspired me to start arranging tunes for percussion ensemble and eventually writing my own original percussion ensemble music which is a major part of what I do currently …they exposed me to different styles that I had never played or even listened to before. Dan’s originals were always fresh and interesting and—dare I say—quirky!” I owe Dan and Mat a lot for their influence on my career as a percussionist and where I am today as a musician.
“Dynamic performers who knew how to share the *joy* of music.” Ben Wahlund
This trail-blazing duo has produced four commercial recordings including The Britain/Moore Duo (LP, 1989); Cricket City (CD, Cassette, 1993); Little World of Rhythm (CD, 2001); and Nutville (CD, streaming, 2014). Their landmark album Cricket City was re-released in 2023 in a special 30th Anniversary Remastered Edition which is available on all major streaming platforms. Their recordings are available from the Cricket City Music & Meda label.
Cricket City and the BMD seemed to capture the imagination of younger percussionists, particularly pan players such as Andy Akiho, Chris Tanner, Ginny Armstrong, Chris Patterson, Tracy Thornton, Mike Nevin, Ben Yancey, Michelle Colton, and many others. When the BMD came on the scene, there were very few recordings of pan players apart from Andy Narell and a few others, but there was nothing like the Britain Moore Duo.
Steel Pan Arist and creator of Pan Rocks! Tracy Thornton said this about the Cricket City album and the BMD. “Back when I was first introduced to the steelpan artform in the early 90s, I remember Cricket City being one of my favorite Steelpan ‘cassettes’ along with Andy Narell’s stuff and the Panorama CDs I was introduced to. I remember loving (and still do) the intimacy and the diversity of the music. As an aspiring young pan player wannabe, I just loved Mat Britain’s Steelpan sound! It was so clear and resonate, unlike any Pan recording I had heard up to that point. And it still holds up to this day! It was so sweet and was a big influence on what I wanted my sound to be like.” Tracy Thornton, Pan Rocks!
Cricket City was designed to showcase the musical range of the BMD, to help them get gigs, and perhaps assist them in charting their course forward in terms of repertoire. At the time they had no idea how far that recording would go. A fan recently wrote “saw you guys at Murray State University (1994) as a High School percussionist. Fell in love with your sound and bought the CD and had it forever. My brother, also a drummer, and I listened to it over and over. The version of Summertime was sublime. I lost the CD decades ago. My brother recently found it again at a little flea market in Murray and bought it immediately. I had to look you guys up again. I am so looking forward to treating my ears with your catalog.”
James Cambell, Professor Emeritus at the University of Kentucky wrote that Cricket City “is a seminal recording that helped bring international acclaim for the Britain Moore Duo and led to a distinguished record of appearances at prominent concert venues throughout the world. I’m so pleased to have enjoyed this wonderful recording in my own collection for over 30 years!”
The initial pressing of 2000 CDs and 500 cassette tapes sold out within a couple of years of touring and by that time the duo was already making plans for their next recording Little World of Rhythm which debuted in 2001 at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention in Nashville.
Their third album Little World of Rhythm (2002) was also well received. One reviewer wrote that on Little World of Rhythm “Dan Moore and Mat Britain have again collaborated on a recording that reflects both creativity and their wit and humor…demonstrates the duo’s spontaneous energy, which they generate from each other.” The album was a departure from the purely acoustic Cricket City, and though it received good reviews, audiences and fans longed for the more intimate acoustic sound of the BMD.
Dan had been experimenting with electronic percussion for several years and had designed an acoustic/electric instrument called the MIDI marimba to help create Little World. The instrument was also a major focus of his second solo album Now, Here, This (2005). Truth-be-told, some of the most popular tracks from Cricket City also utilized an early iteration of the MIDI marimba, such as Crystal Silence, Summertime, and Nearness of you.
“…spontaneous energy, which they generate from each other.”
—Percussive Notes
Some people say that the BMD lives in a fantasy world. On their second and third albums they began to use mythical places such as Cricket City or Little World of Rhythm as titles. The title track of their fourth recording, Horace Silver’s classic, Nutville, continued the tradition, but there is some debate as to whether Nutville is actually a fictitious place or a real one… Nutville marked the return to a somewhat more acoustic vibe for the BMD with the help of drummer Johnny Rabb and Brazilian percussionist Fernando Hashimoto.
The BMD has performed throughout the country having presented countless concerts in every imaginable venue from concert hall stages to parking garages, backyard pool parties, and riverboat cruises. They have presented concerts and clinics in twenty-six U. S. States at colleges, universities, jazz clubs, secondary schools, music festivals, and Days of Percussion.
They’ve joined forces for performances and recordings with influential musicians such as Matt Wilson, Victor Provost, Johnny Rabb, Danny Gottlieb, Dejan Tamše, the late Ed Shaughnessy, Peter Erskine, The Percussion Group Nexus, Fernando Hashimoto, the late Tom Roady, Roy “Futureman” Wooten, and many others. In 2019 the BMD undertook their first European tour with performances and workshops in Slovenia and Poland.
They continue to perform and record as a duo, and have no plans to stop anytime soon. Dr. Jimmy Finnie, emeritus professor of percussion at Indiana State University wrote that “it’s always fun to anticipate what’s next with the Britain Moore Duo. Regardless, I am sure it will be exciting, tasteful, and of high quality!”
But we think Professor Campbell said it best:
“The BMD are the best in their price range.”
Explore music with the BMD Cricket City Music & Media
For booking information, reach out to dan@dan-moore.com
Connect with us:
BMD Bios
Mat Britain is a Nashville based performer, educator, and composer specializing in steel pan (steel drums), percussion, and drumset. He can be heard on everything from movie soundtracks and commercials to quadruple platinum hits by Country mega-star Kenny Chesney. He played steel pan solos on several notable Chesney tracks including When The Sun Goes Down and Shift Work as well as on his albums Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates, Be As You Are (Songs from an Old Blue Chair), and The Road & the Radio.
He has also recorded and/or shared the stage with Nashville luminaries Lee Greenwood, Neal McCoy, Charley Pride, Louise Mandrell, and the Warren Brothers. During his three-year tenure with Lee Greenwood, Mat earned the possibly dubious distinction of being the first percussionist to grace the stage of the Grand Ole Opry with Latin percussion instruments–congas, bongos, and timbales. He has performed with the popular rock band Sister Hazel at the Grand Ole Opry and on their Rock Boat 2024 Cruise.
Mat discovered steel pan as a student at Wichita State University in one of the country’s first university-based steel bands and followed his love of pan from the plains of Kansas to the island of Trinidad. He has traveled numerous times to Trinidad to perform with the Amoco/BP Renegades Steel Band at the prestigious Panorama Festival.
Since 1984 he has worked with marimbist Dan Moore as half of the Britain Moore Duo. In 2012 Mat appeared with the Nashville Symphony at Carnegie Hall for the North American premiere of the Charles Ives Universe Symphony under the baton of Giancarlo Guerrero.
Mat is director of the Vanderbilt University Steel Band Program which comprises college and community steel band members. He directs a summer steelpan workshop at his alma mater Wichita State University of Kansas and also co-directs a steelpan workshop on the Eastern Caribbean Island Nation of St. Lucia with his longtime mentor Andy Narell. He has taught at the Taipei International Summer Percussion Camp in Taiwan, The Birch Creek Music Performance Center in Door County, Wisconsin, and for more than 20 years at the University of Iowa Percussion Immersion week.
Mat is an endorser and clinician for Sabian Cymbals, Gon Bops Percussion, Innovative Percussion mallets and sticks, and XL Protechtor cases.
Dan Moore explores the many creative and expressive capabilities of percussion, making music with inspiring performers throughout the world in an array of diverse musical settings. He has performed in North, Central, and South America, Asia, and Europe as well as in most of the USA including Puerto Rico, Alaska, and Hawaii.
As a vibes, marimba, and percussion artist, Dan has appeared on more than 45 professional recordings as a leader, co-leader, performer, or producer. His most recent recording is his third solo album titled The Long Way Home which features nine intimate tracks ranging from original compositions to musical tributes to his teacher and mentor Dave Samuels (1948-2019), percussion legend Dick Schory, and musical inspirators Chick Corea, Gary Burton, and Herbie Hancock.
Dr. Moore is professor of music at the University of Iowa School of Music where he received the 2018 Iowa Board of Regents Award for Faculty Excellence. As head of Iowa Percussion, he has created an award-winning student-centric program that encompasses contemporary chamber music, concert percussion, electronic music, steel band, improvisation, traditional Chinese drumming, and other ethnic music. Iowa Percussion nurtures the serious study and creative exploration of the percussive arts, and for the last 67 years has been the training ground for many outstanding percussion performers, educators, music therapists, university professors, administrators, business leaders, and other professionals.
In 2018 Dan produced a recording with the Iowa Steel Band featuring the music of Steelpan Legend Andy Narell. The album featured the first studio recording of Vince Mendoza’s landmark composition Green Balletsince its original release in 1992. Andy performed on the recording and mixed the project. Percussive Arts Society reviewer Josh Armstrong wrote, “this is one of the best steel pan albums produced in a while, in regard to sound, and the playing is excellent as well. The playing and production are superb and serve as an excellent example of not only how to record steel pans but more importantly, how to play them.”
The Iowa Steel Band is currently working on a new album with steel pan luminary Victor Provost set to be released in 2026.
Dr. Moore is the Lynn & Roger Van Vreede Director of the Birch Creek Music Performance Center Percussion program in Door County, WI. Each summer he leads a distinguished group of faculty performers in presenting an innovative eight concert performance series and a motivational academy for student percussionists.
Dan Moore is a Yamaha international performing artist, a signature mallet artist for Innovative Percussion, and a performing artist for Sabian Cymbals, Gon Bops Percussion, Remo, and Grover Pro Percussion. His music is published by Row-Loff Productions, Alfred Publishing, Tapspace, and Cricket City Music & Media.
The BMD has performed multiple times in Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin, Kentucky, North Carolina, Michigan, West Virginia, Washington, Montana, and Idaho. If your state isn’t listed here, then let’s talk about making that happen.
Explore music with the BMD Cricket City Music & Media
For booking information, reach out to dan@dan-moore.com
Connect with us: