WH-1031 Billy Oskay and Micheal O Domhnaill Nightnoise
Nightnoise is the first Windham Hill album to include Celtic music influence, at a time before Celtic music was considered one of the pillars of New Age (along with synthesizer washes and the more folk-inspired music that Windham Hill is best known for. Regardless, Oskay and O Domhnaill cover new ground here and there is much to like.
Both artists have such a large body of work, and such an impressive story to tell that I have held off writing any reviews on their work hoping to have the time to do justice to their efforts and to tell their story in a way that would enhance your enjoyment of this rich and ambitious album. That’s not going to happen, but I encourage you to do a little searching and you’ll quickly find a lot more to listen to that is well worth your while.
Within the Windham Hill catalog, Nightnoise fits well within the trajectory started by Clockwork with ensemble performances emphasizing song structure and ambience over individual performances. There is enough complexity to the music to sit and listen to it with focus, but the moods shift subtly, and the feeling is always so pleasant that this has become one of my go-to dinner music albums, where it serves as a background to friendly conversation and relaxed entertaining.
Like Montreaux, the album name became the de facto name of the band for future releases.
Nightnoise Track Listing
SIDE ONE
Nightnoise 4:17 B. Oskay
The 19A 3:08 M. O Domhnaill
Bridges 7:43 M. O Domhnaill
False Spring 4:12 D. Bottemiller, B. Oskay
SIDE TWO
City Nights 3:26 B. Oskay
After Five 3:12 M. O Domhnaill
Menucha (A Place with Water) 4:33 B. Oskay
The American Lass 3:05 M. O Domhnaill
The Cricket’s Wicket 6:16 M. O Domhnaill
Credits:
Billy Oskay: Violins; violas; piano on False Spring, City Nights and Menucha; harmonium on Menucha
Micheal O Domhnaill: Guitars, whistles, piano and harmonium on Bridges, After Five and The American Lass, The Cricket’s Wicket; and harmonium on The 19A
Tommy Thompson: Bass on Nightnoise and City Nights
Cricket: itself
Produced by Billy Oskay and Micheal O Domhnaill
Engineered by Billy Oskay with assistance from M. O Domhnaill
Recorded during 1983 a the home of Billy Oskay, Portland, OR
Mixed in February 1984, Recording Associates, Portland, OR
Mix engineered by Billy Oskay and Mike Moore
Mix engineering consultant: Steven Miller
Original mastering by Bernie Grundman Mastering, Hollywood, CA
Cover Photo by Steven Harper
Liner Photo by Michael Moran
Graphic Design by Anne Ackerman Robinson
Special thanks to Windell Oskay, Peggy Feindt, Tom Bocci, Barry Poss, Steven Miller and Mike Moore
Instruments:
1962 Viola, 1964 Violin; Wm. F. Oskay
1977 Guitar: Kenny White
Yamaha C7D Grand Piano, Harmonium and Whistles
Manufactured by Windham Hill Records, A Division of Windham Hill Productions, Inc. Box 9388 Stanford, CA 94305
One of the best things about being a Windham Hill fan is that even though the label has gone away (or at least been exiled to reissue only status by Sony/Legacy), many of the original artists are performing and creating music more vibrantly than ever. Case in point: Liz Story, performing at Yoshi’s Oakland location March 4, 2012.
Liz was radiant at the “Women of Windham Hill” Holiday concert in December at the same location. With an intelligence, depth and beauty matched with technicals that perfectly deliver the music, Liz seems to be at absolute top form, and I’m looking forward to hearing an entire show.
To win 2 free tickets to see Liz Story in concert at Yoshi’s Oakland location on March 4, 2012, reply in the comments here, and Like Windhaming on Facebook. That’s it. The lucky winner will be notified via email the week of the show.
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 25,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 9 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
This year, instead of Frankincense and Myrrh, the Bay Area gets a gift of a mini-tour with Barbara Higbie, Liz Story and Lisa Lynne performing a Windham Hill Winter Solstice celebration across the Bay Area. See below for dates and ticket information. I will be representing Windhaming at the Yoshi’s Oakland date.
In more news, Montreaux has reunited after 20 years and will be performing two concerts in January at Yoshi’s in Oakland and the Napa Valley Opera House. I hope to have more details on this soon.
Thur. Dec 15, 2011 Oakland, CA @ Yoshi’s Jazz Club, 8:00 pm, Barbara Higbie with Liz Story and Lisa Lynne – Windham Hill Winter Solstice Celebration. Info/tickets: www.yoshis.com
Fri. Dec 16, 2011 Napa, CA, @ Napa Valley Opera House, 8:00 pm, Barbara Higbie with Liz Story and Lisa Lynne – Windham Hill Winter Solstice Celebration. Info/tickets:www.nvoh.org
Sat. Dec 17, 2011 San Francisco, CA, House Concert @ SPECIAL EVENT SALON, 7:30 pm, Barbara Higbie with Liz Story and Lisa Lynne – Windham Hill Winter Solstice Celebration. INTIMATE HO– USE CONCERT in a spacious Edwardian house with wraparound gardens in West Portal, Glen Park, City College area of San Francisco. Spaces limited, please reserve early! Reservations: [email protected]
Sat. Jan 14, 2012 Oakland, CA @ Yoshi’s Jazz Club, 8:00 pm / 10:00 pm, MONTREUX Reunion with Darol Anger, Mike Marshall, Michael Manring and Barbara Higbie. (Get tickets early for the first reunion show in 20 years of the legendary band). Info/tickets:www.yoshis.com
Sun. Jan 15, 2012 Napa, CA, @ Napa Valley Opera House, 7:30 pm, MONTREUX Reunion with Darol Anger, Mike Marshall, Michael Manring and Barbara Higbie. Info/tickets: www.nvoh.org
Here’s a wonderful new resource for Windham Hill fans – a YouTube channel dedicated exclusively to Windham Hill, apparently from another Japanese fan. You can easily spend hours listening to both popular and more rare pieces.
A tour de force of finger-picking guitar, and in many ways the album that would set de Grassi’s direction for years, Southern Exposure is an understated delight.
Technically impressive, and hewing to a fast-paced solo guitar sound, Southern Exposure nonetheless shows many moods. From the ringing rhythms of Overland, to the final notes of the humming Subway, De Grassi provides an album that rewards close listening, yet maintains a cheerful veneer of joy. Where Turning: Turning Back was more pensive, and Clockwork played on group dynamics developing in rhythm and melody, Southern Exposure sets a style that De Grassi is still exploring today.
Wonder what William Ackerman has been up to these past few years? While the Windham Hill label as a mark of new music is gone, many of the artists continue to record and perform new music that equals or betters what we fell in love with some 30 years ago.
Here is a video straight from Will’s press kit that was recorded at the time of “Returning”. This gives terrific background insight into Windham Hill, and let’s you hear some excerpts from the excellent “Returning” album. Since then, Will has also released the outstanding “New England Roads” which I consider a must-have for any Ackerman fan. Enjoy.
Check out just a few of the currently performing and recording artists who made their mark with Windham Hill:
Shadowdance confidently strides into the Windham Hill catalog with the showstopping New Electric India, electric guitar and thundering bass resounding. This is a slightly different approach than the bands eponymous label debut which was specifically composed to work within Windham Hill’s established acoustic sound. After the success of the first, the band was clearly given a little more freedom to follow their live sound than they dared on their original Windham Hill release. While Shadowfax has incredible depth texture and flow, Shadowdance brings dynamics and drive to the band’s gorgeous melodic sensibility.
From the opening note of New Electric India through the closing hum of the track Shadowdance, every note carries you through a churning river of sound depositing you at the end both thrilled and relaxed. Indeed, maybe the water analogy comes easily because Shadowdance has been used at the plankton exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium for the last 20 years.
Side Two carries the torch with the Don Cherry-penned track Brown Rice – a standout from the live performances, and closes with the more conventional fusion track A Song for My Brother, a fan favorite.
The sound quality is again extraordinary. Ackerman once again looked to Mobile Fidelity for the mastering and RTI for the pressings. Playing the album on my current vinyl rig was a shocker: the recording is so dynamic and detailed. I’m sure that in part that’s because this album is seared into my memory from countless plays on a Maxell cassette. In 1984-85, I was an exchange student to Yugoslavia, specifically Serbia, and due to space restrictions I could only bring 10 cassettes for my year there. Shadowfax/Shadowdance was the one Windham Hill tape I brought. Truly, for me, this was a “Desert Island Disk.”
Unfortunately, Stuart Nevitt, Chuck Greenberg and Bruce Malament have all passed away.
You can find Joy’s site, and samples from her book here: http://www.joyhornergreenberg.com/jghome.htm She shares fascinating anecdotes and details about the band, as well as personal remembrances, in an easy engaging style; I highly recommend it for any Shadowfax fan.
Joy has generously permitted the reprint of an excerpt here:
Excerpt from the Chuck Greenberg biography “A Pause in the Rain” by Joy Greenberg
The success of Shadowfax enabled the band to go into production on a second album. For material, they didn’t have to look too far. Intuitive businessman that he was, Chuck began thinking about all those old Watercourse Way masters over at Passport Records.
Although Watercourse Way had been out for eight years, the band had never received a dime in royalties. Chuck knew that there were many copies in print, however, and that the demand for them would increase with the release of the new Shadowfax. He also believed that if Shadowfax turned out to be a hit, there might be a renewed interest in the band’s first album, Watercourse Way. However, he wasn’t willing for Passport to be the beneficiary of any newfound success, particularly since he felt that Passport had burned the band for nonpayment of royalties. So, Chuck and the band’s attorney Steven Lowy devised a scheme to buy back all the old master tapes. Chuck knew he’d have to move quickly—before the release of Shadowfax. Once Passport suspected it might be able to gain more mileage out of Watercourse Way, the price for the masters would go up.
It worked—Chuck made them an offer and Passport was only too happy to rid themselves of what they perceived to be a “dead horse.” On the very day that the Billboard review hit the stands raving about Shadowfax, Chuck was collecting the master tapes from the Passport warehouse and blithely walking out the door with them.
Gaining the rights to Watercourse Way turned out to be more significant than even Chuck imagined at the time. In addition to re- releasing it en toto, Windham Hill selected one of its cuts, a lilting Chuck/G.E. duet called “Petite Aubade,” to be on the first of their Winter Solstice series, which went on to achieve Gold Record status. It also made it possible to “borrow” those tunes which the band felt were basically worthy but which had not succeeded as well on Watercourse Way as they had expected. For this reason, the title song from Watercourse Way, along with G.E.’s “Song for My Brother” were selected to be rerecorded for the second Windham Hill Shadowfax album, Shadowdance.
As with Shadowfax, Chuck and G.E. shared song writing duties on Shadowdance, with the exception of a piece by Don Cherry which was a medley of two tunes, “Brown Rice/Karmapa Chenno.” G.E., Phil, and Chuck were big fans of Cherry’s music and had been performing “Brown Rice” live, traditionally as the closing number of their set. It was the only non-Shadowfax composition they ever recorded or performed, and likewise one of the few with lyrics. Nonetheless, it was a testament to the band’s arranging skills. A consistent and perennial show-stopper, “Brown Rice” featured rap-like (before it was in style) nursery rhyme lyrics growled out by G.E. and backed by his searing guitar, with Chuck screaming on tenor sax, building to a crescendo then switching to a wailing lyricon—all pushed forcefully by Phil and Stu’s rhythm section.
Shadowdance became another showcase for Chuck’s burgeoning production genius. Although it cost slightly more than Shadowfax to create, he brought it in on time and under budget. In addition to the seven touring band members, he enlisted Emil Richards in the studio again, with Michael Spiro and Mickey Lehockey to beef up the percussion. The title tune from Shadowdance went on to become a featured number live, often receiving the greatest recognition and applause whenever they performed it and deservedly so. “Shadowdance” combined all the best qualities of Shadowfax: a catchy melody, rhythmic beat and interesting assortment of instruments.
Virtuoso percussionist Emil Richards had filled up the whole room at Group IV Sound with his esoteric collection of instruments from around the world, and the result was astounding. “Shadowdance” became a consistently sought tune by filmmakers, TV and radio shows for background music. After more than a decade, it is still being used by the Monterey Bay Aquarium for what I call its “dancing plankton” exhibit.
The band was also now able to afford a better recording studio when they set out to do Shadowdance, finding in Group IV the perfect place financially, personally, and technologically. A few years earlier, Chuck had performed on a movie soundtrack at Group IV and managed to cut a deal for himself through the owners to use the place at night—traditionally “dead” time––at a bargain rate. Without Angel Ballestier and the rest at Group IV, it would have been impossible to cut such high quality records for the price. So began an illustrious multi-record liaison between band and studio.
Shadowfax members are active on the web, catch up with them on Facebook and MySpace.
Samples
Shadowdance
A Song for My Brother
Track Listings
Side One: 20:51
New Electric India 5:12, Stinson Ξ
Watercourse Way 5:06, Greenberg-Stinson Ο Ξ
Ghost Bird 5:04, Stinson Ξ
Shadowdance 5:20, Greenberg Ο
Side Two 17:14
Brown Rice/Karmapa Chenno 4:18, D. Cherry ◊
Distant Voice 3:46, Stinson-Greenberg Ξ Ο
A Song for my Brother 9:04, Stinson Ξ
Ξ Selections Greenshadow Music (BMI)
Ο Selections Dream Wheel Music (BMI)
All Selections Administered by Windham Hill Music (BMI)
◊ Selection Eternal River Music (BMI)
Credits
SHADOWFAX:
G.E. Stinson: 6&12 string guitars, vocal on Brown Rice
Stuart Nevitt: drums, percussion, kelon vibes on Shadowdance
Jared Stewart: piano, synthesizers
Jamii Szmadzinski: violin, baritone violin, alto psaltry on New Electric India
Additional Instrumentation:
Emil Richards: Paiste gamelon gongs, bass flapamba, metal and bamboo angklung, wood block marimba, marimba on Shadowdance; Chinese water cymbals, kanjgeera on New Electric India. The percussion ensemble on Shadowdance was conducted by Emil Richards.
Michael Spiro: conga, chekere, guiro on Brown Rice; hand percussion on Watercourse Way, Brown Rice.
Mick Lehocky: percussion on Shadowdance and Brown Rice.
This recording was made on Studer 24-track recorders and Trident consoltes with Ampex 456 tape at 30 inches per second. It was mixed to a Studer Mark III half-inch two-track recorder. No noise reduction, compression or limiting was used.
Thanks to Jilll and Don Stegman, Bruce Howard, World Percussion Inc. Phil Manor, Mike Flynn, Christ Andronis, Steven Lowy, Denni Sands and all at Group IV, and Charles Horton at TEAC.
Special thanks to Will Ackerman and Anne Ackerman Robinson for having the faith to make this album possible.
With 1983’s Past Light, Will Ackerman expands on the collaborations that he began to explore in earnest on 1981’s Passage, for an album that melds Ackerman’s meditative style with a larger vision of dynamic group performances.
Past Light is Ackerman’s fifth solo album, and twenty-eighth Windham Hill release. He must have been in the thick of the Windham Hill explosion, and it shows in a number of ways: the incredible stable of artists with whom he collaborates (Mark Isham, Michael Hedges, Darol Anger, Stein/Walder, Greenberg and Szmadzinski from Shadowfax, even Bay Area neighbors Kronos Quartet); the continued development of an aesthetic for group performances of Windham Hill artists, first seen on albums like Alex De Grassi’s Clockwork; and a confidence to keep pushing his vision farther, while hewing to his unique style, born out of Fahey and Kottke, but by now all his own.
While it still has poignant moments, there’s less mournfulness on Past Light than was present on Passage. There is less Erik Satie contemplation and more Robbie Basho exuberance in emotion, though stylistically Ackerman is wholly his own man.
The album opens with “Visiting” which varies enough in pacing and dynamics so that listeners are engaged and relaxed, taken on a journey with many uplifting moments. Where George Winston and Alex De Grassi write songs that are evocative of specific places at a certain time (a stream in January, a trip to Philadelphia) and Michael Hedges songs are paeans to rhythms, harmonics and dynamics, Ackerman’s work always strikes me as being about mood in and of itself. Each piece seems to be about that feeling you get when… (fill in your own very personal blank here.) Less intense and immediate than Passage, but profoundly evocative.
The fact that the moods here are varied, and often include the golden sunshine of Chuck Greenberg’s Lyricon just makes Past Light appealing to a wider audience, and a friendlier play for stalwart fans. Overall, it feels like Will was in a really good spot. Emotionally, the album it feels most like is Ackerman’s 2011 New England Roads (my current favorite of all of his albums, dare I even say it, over In Search of the Turtle’s Navel, and available exclusively at Target).
“One always goes to great lengths at times like these to thank a phalanx of individuals for their contributions to the project as a whole. This will be no exception. Often the musicians who joined me on Past Light were given little more than a basic form in which to work, and it is no false modesty to to say that many of the compositions represented in these recordings are pure collaborations on the part of these friends and myself. To them I am sincerely grateful. I must also thank my co-producer, Steve Miller, for having the talent and vision that enabled me to try new ideas.”
This recording was made on a Studer 24 track recorder at thirty inches per second. No noise reduction or compression was employed. The recordings were mixed digitally on a Sony PCM 1600 system, Kef speakers were used for audio monitoring and referencing on this recording.
Thanks to Harn Soper for loaning “Rain to River” back to me to record and to Dan Snow for the dream that inspired “Night Slip”. Thanks to Ervin Somogyi for the construction of my newest six-string and to Adamas strings.