David Cross Opening Song (the Sultan's Revenge)

This recording is the World Premiere of Charles Koechlin's Jungle Book and received the Orchestral Gramophone Award and was, memorably, accepted by the son of the composer. Charles Koechlin loved Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book and set different parts of the book to music at various points in his career. The first of these - The Three Poems - bear the titles: Seal Lullaby, Night Song in the Jungle and Song of Kala Nag, with texts from The Jungle Book. The music, scored during 1904 - 04, is exotic and evocative. The lullaby mimics the gently lapping of waves as the soprano and chorus spin a soothing tapestry of sound. The Night-Song in the Jungle had a cadence that suggests movement (sung by the soprano, tenor, baritone and chorus) and is a song of well-wishing to the animals of the night. The Song of Kala Nag is a lament of an elephant that has been tamed for his old life in the jungle, sung by the tenor. The poem describes a night in the year when all of the elephants gather to dance together and, rather than being somber, the music is triumphant as the elephant recounts his past freedom and vows to have it again.

Esoteric Antenna are delighted to announce the release of the excellent new album by former King Crimson violinist and Mellotron player David Cross & Sean Quinn, "Cold Sky Blue”. The album is a sonic melting pot taking in Prog, Ambient, Synthpop & even a sprinkling of Dubstep, which is simultaneously timeless & modern. Sean Quinn states; "I was always interested in ambient music & was working on a solo album which includes a collaboration with Roedelius. I started thinking about other artists I admired involved in ambient music.

Esoteric Antenna are delighted to announce the release of the excellent new album by former King Crimson violinist and Mellotron player David Cross & Sean Quinn, "Cold Sky Blue”. The album is a sonic melting pot taking in Prog, Ambient, Synthpop & even a sprinkling of Dubstep, which is simultaneously timeless & modern. Sean Quinn states; "I was always interested in ambient music & was working on a solo album which includes a collaboration with Roedelius. I started thinking about other artists I admired involved in ambient music.

To most people, David Bedford is best known for his work with Kevin Ayers and Roy Harper, but Bedford was already a composer with avant-garde credentials before teaming up with them. The title track, for example, is a piece for ten acoustic guitars, with elephants represented by a moistened thumb dragged across the back of the soundbox; the "Nurse's Song" is actually a setting of the Blake poem, with a bass guitar accompaniment by Mike Oldfield (with whom Bedford had worked in the Whole World). Every track here is scored for unusual ensembles, such as "Sad and Lonely Faces," which has six pianos and four woodwinds, behind Ayers intoning a poem, or "Some Bright Stars for Queen's College," with 80 voices and 27 plastic twirlers. In some ways, it's a product of its time, when boundary-pushing in modern classical music was the norm, not the exception…

Live recording of Dialeto's concert for the release of the album "Bartók in Rock" featuring David Cross on violin. The band also played some King Crimson songs.
Dialeto is an Art-Rock/Prog-rock band formed in Brazil in 1987. The band today is formed by Nelson Coelho on guitar, Gabriel Costa on bass and Fred Barley on drums. Names like King Crimson, Gentle Giant, Jimi Hendrix, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Mahavishnu Orchestra has usually been remembered by reviewers to connect Dialeto’s music to the great masters music.

David Sanborn's third album as a leader has him steering away from the N.Y.C. neo-bop, skunk funk, Seventh Avenue style he helped co-found with the Brecker Brothers band. That it is recorded in Miami speaks volumes about the sunny attitude and less jazz-oriented music he is fomenting. Guitarist/vocalist Hiram Bullock and emerging electric bass guitar star Mark Egan have something to do with this, but the extraordinary drummer Victor Lewis is the one who gives this music an R&B heft while also adding Latin flavors, like boogaloo on growth hormones. Keyboardist Rosalinda DeLeon, percussionist Jumma Santos, and four female vocalists help with the sexy Afro-Caribbean underpinning, while Sanborn plays his trusty St. Louis soul vibrato-drenched alto sax, and also experiments with sopranino sax and the lyricon.

It's never easy to be the sibling of a star when you're active in the same profession – ask Joey Travolta or Frank Stallone, and try to find out what happened to John Murray, one of Bill's brothers. Similarly, David Knopfler, younger brother of Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler, has often remained in his brother's shadow, unfairly remaining a footnote in the famous British band's history and not always gaining much recognition for his solo work – provided people know he's remained active in music at all. The comparison to the abovementioned actors is misleading, however, since they all possess little of their siblings' talent, whereas David Knopfler has proven himself to be a talented musician with considerable songwriting skills of his own and several strong solo releases under his belt.