- Stairway (band)
Stairway was a seminal English New Age band that flourished in the latter 1980s.
History
1986, after the
Yardbirds ' reunion project,Box of Frogs , drummer-composerJim McCarty and guitarist-bassistLouis Cennamo (McCarty's colleague from a Yardbirds spin-off band, Renaissance) decided to regroup to create music of a healing nature. Both expressed an interest in what is now known asNew Age music , a then-emerging genre characterized by pastoral melodies, gentle shifting textures, echoing ambiances and identification with a growing alternative listening audience.They subsequently signed with Colin Wilcox of New World Cassettes, a U.K.-based independent label that specialized in "healing music". Consequently McCarty and Cennamo went on to record two albums for the company: "Aquamarine" (1987) and "Moonstone" (1988), a mixture of songs and instrumentals. They were joined by keyboardist Clifford White and guest appearances by another Renaissance colleague, vocalist
Jane Relf . These albums were subsequently followed by two albums with the psychologist and spiritual healer, Malcolm Stern: "Chakra Dance" (1989) and "Medicine Dance" (1992), which they promoted through a few live performances, mainly at St. James Church in Picadilly, a video of which is commercially available. Stairway’s New World cassette albums have been re-released on compact disc format. Stairway also resurfaced once more as simply “James McCarty/Louis Cennamo” on Canadian flute player Ron Korb’s Oasis label, releasing "Raindreaming" in 1995.Discography
(Note: In the Stairway albums, Louis Cennamo re-spelled his name as as “Loui”, reportedly his attempt to avert it being mispronounced as “Lewis” by their American listeners.)
Chronological releases
* "Aquamarine" (1987)
* "Moonstone" (1988)
* "Chakra Dance" (1989)
* "Medicine Dance" (1992)
* "Raindreaming" (1995)External links
* [http://www.prologue.be/discographie/stairway.htm] - Stairway's Discography (French)
* [http://www.newworldmusic.com/us/section.php?xSec=114] - Stairway albums
* [http://www.nlightsweb.com/lib/reviews/mccarty.htm] - An Interview with Jim McCarty
* [http://members.tripod.com/cathead9tx/id34.htm] - The Yardbirds offshoots
* [http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/JRAS/?yguid=126156896] - Jane Relf Appreciation Society chat forum
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