Windham Hill Re-issues – From a mighty oak, many acorns spring.
New re-issues, Windham Hill artists performing live, Imaginary Road studios carrying on the tradition – it’s a good time to be a Windham Hill fan
In 2009, I was trying to find liner notes for a Windham Hill album online google responded with an uncharacteristic yawn – nothing there. A quick search for a complete discography of one of the most important American labels of the late 20th century yielded incomplete results.
So much good music being ignored – it reminded me of how the now mighty Blue Note records was treated in the early 80’s before their owners realized the value of a good label. I already owned 40-50 of the 106 vinyl re-issues, and had a desire to learn WordPress and a lot of time on my hands between jobs.
And so was born Windhaming.
It felt like I was a lone voice holding up the value of Windham Hill artists (I wasn’t, but close to it). Did something change, or only our awareness of it?
Artists were touring, but few re-issues were coming out – Valley Entertainment had only two at the time. Will Ackerman had already founded Imaginary Road and artists he was producing were winning awards, but it was well before he issued the very Windham Hill-like compilations known as The Gathering (and The Gathering II).
I update the Facebook page much more frequently than this main site. if you’re not following us on Facebook, now is the time: http://www.facebook.com/Windhaming
Here’s a (certainly incomplete) roundup of some current Windham Hill activity:
Windham Hill Re-issues
The reissues are here! We’ve been beating the Windham Hill drum (okay, gong) for many years and hardly heard an echo. Now, we are in an era with a slate of reissues:
– GrassTops Recordings has put out two Robbie Basho Windham Hill albums (with Visions of the Country transferred to digital by yours truly).
– Valley Entertainment has released 10 titles (mainly later retrospectives),
– Adventure Music has just re-released Mike Marshall and Darol Anger’s Chiaroscuro and Darol Anger and Barbra Higbie’s Tideline, with three more titles scheduled to come.
– Audio Fidelity has just re-issues Michael Hedges’ Aerial Boundaries on vinyl and SACD.
Windham Hill Artists record and tour
So many artists regularly perform and record. Some are much better than others in promoting their concerts, but in the past two years, we’ve seen the following artists live (links to tour pages, where available):
Also recording, touring or otherwise active:
- Mike Marshall
- Darol Anger
- Scott Cossu
- Philip Aaberg
- Mark Isham
- GE Stinson and Phil Maggini of Shadowfax
- Linda Waterfall
- David Qualey
- Russel Walder
- Ira Stein (plays sometimes in the SF Bay Area, but has no real web presence we could find).
- Malcolm Dalglish
- Eugene Friesen
- Wim Mertens
- Tim Story
- Paul McCandless
- Pierce Pettis
- John Gorka
- The Nylons
- Clff Eberhardt
- David Torn
- Daniel Hecht is now an author
Imaginary Road Studios – the new Windham Hill
Will Ackerman, along with Tom Eaton, continues to produce outstanding music that will be familiar to WH fans under the aegis of Imaginary Road studios. So much good new music. http://imaginaryroadstudios.com
So go, get out there and explore. The artists are generally performing much better 30 years on than ever before. Let some new music grow on you till it gives you the same thrills as the old classics. Most of all, enjoy.