He was born in New York City and moved to California in his teens. He took up the steelpan at a very young age in Queens, New York. His father Murray Narell was a social worker who invited Ellie Mannette to bring steel pan to New York city in an attempt to get kids off the streets, out of gangs, and into steelbands. Narell studied music at the University of California, Berkeley, and played piano with the University of California Jazz Ensembles under the direction of Dr. David W. Tucker. He was graduated in 1973.[2] He has performed with the Caribbean Jazz Project, Montreux, Sakésho, and Béla Fleck and the Flecktones. He additionally composed and arranged music for Trinidad's national steelband competition Panorama.[1] Narell also performed in South Africa in 1999 in front of a crowd of 80,000 people.[1] He has a brother Jeff Narell, who is a pan player with his own style and records. He has two children, Isaac Narell and Mia Narell.