Menahan Street Band - Make the Road By Walking - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Known for their great debut MAKE THE ROAD BY WAKING, as the house band for Brooklyn's Dunham Records, and as the backing band for soul singer Charles Bradley on his album NO TIME FOR DREAMING, Menahan Street Band returns with a new album full of Vibe, Mood and Emotion. THE CROSSING takes you on a cinematic instrumental journey through nocturnal landscapes, funky-hip-hop-influenced grooves and dream-like horn and keyboard melodies.

Menahan Street Band, a veritable supergroup of some of today's most prolific songwriters, arrangers, and producers return with this beat-forward, cinematic masterpiece. If you have spent any time hanging out in bars, cafes, or casually tuning into NPR in the last 10 years you should be well versed in MSB's catalog. Their unique brand of instrumental soul has not only been the foundation for some of modern hip-hop's most successful beats, it has also become the perennial soundtrack and veritable vibe-generator for countless parties, art shows, and restaurants throughout NYC and abroad. While this album carries the aesthetic torch that MSB has skillfully woven into the tapestry of their DNA, it also delves deeper into the experimental, exotic sounds that fill many of the coveted Sound Library and Soundtrack LPs of the late sixties and early seventies - an amalgamation of moog synths, electric pianos, drum machines, and a bevy of analog instrumentation, that ebb and flow in rich swells of Morriconian grandeur.

The outstanding album BALLET MUSIC is the third album in a series dedicated to the one of Greece's leading composers, Alkis Baltas. The ballet Panoria was composed during the period 2002-3, following the assignment by the Greek National Opera. The play was first presented in 2004 in five shows by the ballet of the Greek National Opera, with choreography by Charis Mantafounis, who transferred the story to the modern era. The story of the ballet is based freely on the theatrical play Panoria by the Cretan Renaissance writer Georgios Chortatsis (1550-1610). Two haughty Amazons refuse the love of two young men. At the end, the two girls' refusal is transformed into strong love. The nature of the music follows the sometimes lyrical and sometimes comic scenes of the play. Sometimes, in parts of intense rhythmic character, some distant references to Cretan traditional music are made. Musical references are also made to Renaissance music, mostly by the use of the melody of the song InchSo ben, mi, c'ha bon tempoInch of Chortatsis's contemporary, Italian composer Orazio Vecchi. The ballet Monologue for alto saxophone and orchestra was composed in 2009. It is intended to be interpreted by only one dancer, who, during the composition, renders various sentiments and emotions. After the intense orchestral introduction, the solo saxophone plays a broadly expressive melody. With gradually increased movement, the music moves to intense, anguished dancing movement. The saxophone's melody aims to express the internal philosophic mood of the lead dancer. A development part follows, in which the solo saxophone has an intense dancing dialogue with the orchestra. Immediately after, the saxophone's second cadenza is heard, which also has the character of internal meditation. The play finishes with a calm coda and the music fading as the lights of the scene dim. The composition is dedicated