Windham Hill Fan Discography and Community
That is two months in a row the album has garnered the broadcasters votes. I’d like to thank everyone that is generating interest about “The Gathering”. I think its a wonderful testament to the musicians on the album and Will Ackerman’s ability in choosing the artists that are on the album.
Wishing you all a wonderful week!
Peace in Music,
Kori
I am honored and amazed at all the wonderful reviews “The Gathering” is receiving. My song “Carpe Diem” was chosen to be on this album along with 22 fantastic musicians. It is a reminder to me of the “Windham Hill Record” days, of how the musicians then truly created a beautiful sound. To be compared to that sound today humbles me. I thank Michael Diamond for his insights. Here is the link to the review:
Michael Diamond Reviews “The Gathering”
Consider giving this album as a gift to your friends, believe me its worth it, and your loved ones will be smiling with you. 😉
If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at [email protected]
Peace in Music,
Kori Linae Carothers
I really should introduce myself, Johny Dark has invited me to help be an admin here. My name is Kori Linae Carothers. I am a pianist produced by Will Ackerman, founder of Windham Hill Records. At this time, I am not here to talk about myself. I am here to tell you about a wonderful opportunity to obtain Windham Hill Merchandise and a few other exciting things from the Windham Hill Records label. It is very likely that we will have all the merchandise that you can think of. From customized hats from somewhere like Imprint, (https://imprint.com/shop/outdoor-leisure/hats) to jumpers, hoodies, and backpacks, we have a wide-array of merchandise that will be going towards a good cause. As most of you know, SONY bought Windham Hill Records My friend Fiona Joy Hawkins ( who is a fabulous pianist from Australia, also produced by Will Ackerman, is on tour here in the USA.) She is raising funds for a charity Spa for the Pink at her concert on September 8th in Thousand Oaks, CA. She has obtained a Pith Military Safari helmet, and is getting those of us produced by Will Ackerman, AND artists from Windham Hill’s heydays to sign it, where it will be auctioned and the funds will go to the charity Spa4ThePInk.
She is in New York right now and visited SONY NY, and met Isadar( he is also a pianist produced by Will Ackerman). While there, Isadar generously donated FOUR out-of print Windham Hill DVDS and a 30 Year Annivesary Windham Hill set of CDs complete with 18 Windham Hill signatures from artists like Liz Story, Phil Aaberg, Will Ackerman, Samite and lots more. These donations will be auctioned at her concert here in Southern California on September 8th.
If you want more information about these items and how to obtain them please visit her blog:
We wanted you to know, that Will Ackerman has been busy. Busy with what? An album called The Gathering. The Gathering is a handpicked collection of songs from 22 artists recently produced by Grammy winning guitarist and founder of Windham Hill Records, Will Ackerman at his Imaginary Road Studios in Vermont.
To listen to samples of The Gathering and read the reviews its been getting, click on the link below:
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.
Happy Thanksgiving from the United States.
http://www.youtube.com/user/WindhamHillLovers
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.
Highly recommended.
http://www.stropes.com/index.php?glbm=20&fa=12&cdid=137Track Listing
Produced by Alex de Grassi and Steven Miller
This album was recorded live to two-track digital, using a Sony PCM 1600
My guitar was built by Ervin Somogyi of Berkeley, CA
Special thanks to Lila for always listening, and to an anonymous voice in the audience for the title “Subway”.
4. Southern Exposure
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:
Alex De Grassi at http://www.degrassi.com
Mark Isham at http://www.isham.com
Barbara Higbie: http://www.barbarahigbie.com/
Scott Cossu: http://scottcossu.com/
Darol Anger: http://www.darolanger.com/
Mike Marshall: http://mikemarshall.net/
George Winston: http://www.georgewinston.com/us/home
Russel Walder: http://www.russelwalder.com/page.html
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.
New York Times Obituary for Chuck Greenberg
Joy Greenberg has written the biography “A Pause in the Rain” about Chuck, and maintains his web site: http://www.chuckgreenberg.com/cgindex.htm
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:
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.
Ξ Selections Greenshadow Music (BMI)
Ο Selections Dream Wheel Music (BMI)
All Selections Administered by Windham Hill Music (BMI)
◊ Selection Eternal River Music (BMI)
Produced by Chuck Greenberg
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.
Special thanks to Will Ackerman and Anne Ackerman Robinson for having the faith to make this album possible.
Other Shadowfax albums on Windham Hill
2. Shadowdance 1983
3. The Dreams of Children 1984
4. Too Far to Whisper 1986