Album Notes

"Ancient Sound, Modern Dance" is Marlon's 3rd full length release for Fang records. As the title suggests, this music is based on his work in the arena of modern dance. However, it is not a dance class cd. It covers a wide spectrum of moods and styles ranging from experimental and progressive rock to traditional West African and Afro-Cuban grooves as well as jazz, woven together by his signature playing on a various instruments, including percussion, guitars, kalimba, recorder, didjeridoo, & vocals. The lone guest here is master percussionist Deep Singh (original Broadway cast of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Bombay Dreams", Devo) who lends his superb artistry on tabla to 3 tracks.

All the songs are original compositions -2 co-written with Deep- with the exception of a mesmerizing take on the tradtional Hebrew chant "Aveenu Malcainu".

Marlon's musical history includes work with a wide array of artists in many genres. In the mid 80's he spent time as bassist for southern punk legends Anti-Seen before releasing a solo ep "Life After Theatre" and moving to New York where he became a member of the tribal rock group Mecca Bodega, releasing 6 cd's with them including the soundtrack to the HBO original film "Subway Stories", working with directors including Jonathan Demme, Abel Farrara, & Alison McLean. He's also done extensive work with Chris Rael's indo-pop outfit Church of Betty, performance artist Penny Arcade, Australian didjeridoo player Simon 7's Didjworks, NYC ukelele duo Sonic Uke, singer-songwriter Rachel Loshak, transgender punk icon Jayne County and in recent years has recorded and performed with The Roches (Maggie, Terre, & Suzzy) in their various trio/duo forms. He also perfomed with dancer / choreographer Wendy Perron in her original work "Downtown Underground" at the 1997 Lincoln Center Summer Festival.

"Din In Ten" from this release is part of the sound collage for the modern dance piece "Flying Fortune" by Valerie Green's Dance Entropy.

Music from Marlon's 2001 release "Elsewhere" was used in the 9/11 documentary "Ride On Brother" (PBS) and in 2007 he was commissioned to compose music for the Amy Marshall Dance Company for a work choreographed by Ms. Marshall entitled "Metamorphosis" and in 2009 he composed music for Trainor Dance for a work choreographed by Caitlin Trainor entitled "Nature Study".

Traces of all of this work pop up on this recording in keeping with his love for music as a form of expression no matter the genre. This music is a tribute to modern dance as an art form and to the people that he's been priviliged to work with and it is accessable to dancers, choreographers, and people who love music for music's sake.