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-composer Jim McCarty and guitarist-bassist Louis 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 as New 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 mispronunced as “Lewis” by their American listeners.)

Chronological releases

• Aquamarine (1987)
• Moonstone (1988)
• Chakra Dance (1989)
• Medicine Dance (1992)
• Raindreaming (1995)

External links

• [1] - Stairway's Discography (French)
• [2] - Stairway albums
• [3] - An Interview with Jim McCarty
• [4] - The Yardbirds offshoots
• [5] - Jane Relf Appreciation Society chat forum