MP3 Mark Anthony Larmand - Stories Across Time

Mythical stories expressed through passionate musical scores.

12 MP3 Songs in this album (71:27) !
Related styles: CLASSICAL: Film Music, EASY LISTENING: Orchestral



Details:
Mythical stories expressed through passionate musical scores. The use of ambient soundscapes with traditional classical instrumentation, as well as tribal, ethnic and western instruments, creates a unique sonic blend that will captivate the listener and pull their imagination into stories across time.

SOME BACKGROUND ON ME:
I've been playing a guitar since I was 7yrs old. I also picked up bass & keyboards in my early 20s. My main tool for composition is a keyboard, facilitating samples and sequencing, along with live recording.

My professional live experience spans about 25 years. This includes studio work and gigging.
I started out playing good old Rock; like most young guys back in the 70s. I followed that genre for about 5 or 6 years. But after a that I wanted to explore my musicality more in depth, so I studied artists like Earl Klugh, George Benson, Jeff Beck, Spyro Gyra, Stanely Clark, Allan Holdsworth, Chick Corea, John Scofield, and many other top Jazz & Fusion artists of that decade. I've always been a predominately self-taught musician.

In the mid 80s I joined a well known Vancouver Funk/R&B band named "H.B. Concept" (short for "Henry Brown"). For the next 15yrs I was immersed in this genre. The keyboard player and I also hired ourselves out as a unit. Aside from duo gigs at Jazz bars, we played for the top solo artists on the circuit at that time like Ron Haywood (formerly lead vocalist for 'Stripes'), Joni Bye, Lori Paul, Cathy St.Germaine (also from 'Stripes'), and a few other favorites. It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot about those styles. No matter what I've written since those days, those 2 styles specifically have always been in-the-mix for me. Some of my favorite Funk/R&B/Soul artists are Prince, Morris Day, EWF, Sly and the Family Stone, Marvin Gaye, Bobby Caldwell, anything Quincey Jones touched, The Dooby Brothers, and lots of others I can't recall at the moment.

As to whom I feel I most sound like... I can't honestly say. I'm not very good at classifying myself like that. I don't seriously think I sound like any one artist. But I might just be too close to the album to hear the music. ;)

Some of my favorite classical composers are Igor Stravinsky, Benjamin Britton, Wagner, Strauss, Mozart, and Beethoven; among many other.

I also have a diploma in commercial jazz music. My musical influences range from old spaghetti westerns to Cool Jazz to 70s rock, Fusion & R&B/Soul. My personal preference is jazz fusion/smooth jazz, but I write and play just about any style. I have a collection of movie/tv styled scores also. That's always been a favorite pastime of mine.

A BRIEF ON THE MUSIC:
This project took a long time to put together. But my passion for thematic music made it a pleasure, not a chore.

Every song can be viewed as a mini story wrapped in music. Each one will take you away to another time and place, and envelope you with a sense of curiosity and mystery. The titles give away the main theme of each musical 'story', but the listener is still left to use their own imagination to fill in all of the small details that the music might suggest along the way. And it's this process that makes the music so interesting both to write and to listen to. Each person will create their own special story to go with the music. I feel this can really make this kind of musical experience a personal one. At least... that's the 'plan' anyway.

I'd love to hear what the visitors listening to the samples think. Please feel free to leave me your thoughts and comments of this CD. I'd appreciate your input very much. Thank you.