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From: cuccia@ucbvax.ARPA (Nick Cuccia)
Newsgroups: net.music,net.audio
Subject: Re: Windham Hill?
Message-ID: <2288@ucbvax.ARPA>
Date: Mon, 1-Oct-84 05:40:53 EDT
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.2288
Posted: Mon Oct  1 05:40:53 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 2-Oct-84 05:55:45 EDT
References: <3175@rabbit.UUCP> <635@noscvax.UUCP>
Organization: University of California at Berkeley
Lines: 76

Apologies for the null message.  Here goes the serious stuff,
from an article from the Daily Californian (UC-Berkeley's unofficial
campus newspaper/propaganda/rag/birdcage liner/all of the above)
on 17 Aug 1984.  This was in a semi-review of a recent "An Evening at
Windham Hill in Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco.  

	"Once upon a time," (William) Ackerman said, "we were regarded as
	sort of the high-tech heir to the Tacoma tradidition."  Tacoma
	is the label that established the work of John Fahey and Robbie
	Basho, steel-string guitar pioneers.  "And then we did the 
	(Erik) Satie (album) and George Winston, and they said, 'Well,
	that Satie defies us; we don't know what to make of that.  
	But George Winston must be folk piano because it's on Windham
	Hill and Windham Hill is a folk label. . ."  They were
	content to say, 'Well, it's a solo label, you know.'

	"Then we very carefully added duets, trios, quartets.  If you
	look at the development of the catalogue, the first trio was
	on (Michael) Hedges and the first quartet was on (Scott)
	Cossu and the first quintet was on De Grassi.  But they were
	still saying, 'Well, but it's an acoustic label, isn't it?'
	And so then we brought in the electric instrumentation.
	And they said, 'Well, it's a jazz label.'

	Will Ackerman waxes sprightly here:  "In order to counteract
        that, I'm doing an album of Gregorian chant and I'm doing 
	some hammer dulcimer; and the Billy Oskay/Michael 
	O'Domhnaill album, Nightnoise, is Irish-derivative, and. . .

	"We're talking about a synthesis of many forms of music, 
	rather than being any one single identifiable form."

	This eclecticism and fluidity is refreshing.  An additional
	surprise at the Davies Hall concert was Michael Hedges'
	song, "Face Yourself".  Heretofore, Windham Hill has avoided
	vocal work; Hedges will be the first artist to release an 
	album on the label with voice and guitar, rather in the old
	folk manner.

Sure, it's not great writing, but it says what the label is all about,
which is basically what you make of it.

I have about half of what is on the Windham Hill label and its
associated/subsidiary labels (Hip Pocket, Lost Lake, and Dancing Cat
(George Winston's new label)).  My personal recommendations are:

		George Winston: Autumn, December
		William Ackerman: Turtles' Navel, Passage, 
		    Past Light (Visiting)
		Liz Story: Solid Colors
		Darol Anger/Barbara Higbie: Tideline
		Bill Quist: Piano Solos of Erik Satie
		Shadowfax: Shadowfax, Shadowdance
		Mark Isham: Aerial Boundaries

Windham Hill records are distributed through A&M records, so there
should be few problems with availability.

My favorite thing about the albums (outside of the music) is the
quality control.  Many of the albums are digital mastered on the
Sony PCM-2 system (please correct me if I'm mistaken); inside liners
are thick plastic (not paper), pressings are very high quality, 
graphics are nice, the normal shrink & warp wrap is replaced with an
oversized, reusable plastic cover.  The price is also reasonable
($10 list, about $8 at local (Berkeley) record stores).  Included
in the record is also a pamphlet inviting you to join their mailing
list (cost: a stamp for postage).

Needless to say, I think that Will Ackerman and Co. are doing something
right.



					Nick Cuccia
					ucbvax!cuccia
					cuccia%ucbmiro@Berkeley