Menahan Street Band's excellent debut, Make The Road By Walking, came out a few days ago. I interviewed Tommy Brenneck, producer and bandleader behind the group for Wax Poetics' new issue #31. 
Besides being one the year's best releases, Tommy also explained the sense of community that underpins the project. PS 20, an elementary school in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, invited the Menahan Street Band to watch their music students perform "Make The Road By Walking", the track which Jay-Z also sampled for "Roc Boys (and the winner is...)". Below is the homevideo footage of Clinton Hill's 4th and 5th grade music students' performance of "Make The Road By Walking". "The whole thing with the school is [like] giving back to the community. We were amazed and everyone involved in the project went. Most schools can’t afford music programs anymore and these kids chose to to pick up instruments and played our song. And they were actually enjoying it too! Their performance was unbelievable! They were amazed and asked us how we wrote these songs, and we were like: all you guys can, and will, do it one day too." -Tommy Brenneck
***For more info on Menahan Street Band, or to purchase Make The Road By Walking (highly recommended!) please visit Daptone's website.
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