Windham Hill Memories

If you enjoyed last week's post of  "A Windham Hill Christmas", then you deserve the sequel: "A Windham Hill Christmas Vol. 2 from 2003. According to a review, This compilation gathers more relaxing, sophisticated holiday music as performed by the Windham Hill's artists. The collection finds the right balance between the traditional and contemporary style, both in terms of its sound and its choice of songs. Artists' Performances This was taken from a review from Allmusic.com: "Will Ackerman and David Cullen's "I Wonder as I Wander" sounds gently modern, while Paul McCandless' "In Dulci Jubilo" has a slightly more traditional bent. Tracy Silverman and Thea Suit's strings and flute interpretation of "Away in a Manger" mixes both approaches and is breathtaking in its lovely simplicity. Most of the performances here, including Barbara Higbie's "Patapan", suggest pristine snowscapes or, in the

The holidays are upon us again. And what better way to celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ without Windham Hill Records? There were at least a few or more Windham Hill albums released, including CD compilations, but today I'm going to post this one from 2002. A Windham Christmas is simply a collection of  previously recorded material by various artists, reissued under the RCA label. Despite the mixed reviews this CD has received, If you are or somebody you know is a true fan of the works and the label, I strongly recommend buying this as a stocking stuffer or a gift for that special someone this Christmas. As always, here is the track list:  1. Sussex Carol  2. Angels We Have Heard On High  3. O Holy Night  4. In Dulci Jubilo  5. Christmas is Coming  6. The First Noel  7. It Came Upon a Midnight Clear  8. Silent Night  9. Medley: Christ the Apple Tree; Once in Royal David's City  10. Deck the Halls  11. O Come, O Come Emmanuel 12. What Stra

I hope everyone has something to be thankful for this holiday season. Enjoy eating turkey, watching parades and football games, but don't forget that the real meaning of this day is to give thanks to what we were blessed with. Let's get the holiday started with a Windham Hill album. In return, I am giving you a free mp3 of this song for the holiday season.  The download link is here: http://www.4shared.com/mp3/Av_1dSUt/01Thanksgiving.html? Thanks for checking out my blog and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Listen up! Because this Thursday is Thanksgiving, tomorrow I will post (spoilers) a Thanksgiving post for you guys. Also, starting December 5, I will be Christmas posts for a couple weeks. This means the Will Ackerman stuff will not continue until January 2013. I just wanted to keep you informed ahead of time.

In 1992, Ackerman released his eighth Windham Hill abum called "The Opening of Doors". This album contains duets and trios, some tracks include electric guitar and electric keyboard pieces.  Here is a review of  the album taken from MusD Rovi:  "With his eight Windham Hill abum, guitarist William Ackerman charts new musical territory with a record full of diversity, beauty and musical exploration. Complemeting his strong signature guitar sound is a cast of supporting players that include Paul McCandless on English horn and oboe, Michael Manring on fretless bass, Buckethead on electric guitar, Philip Aaberg on pinao, Tim Story on keyboards, and Michael Spiro on percussion." As always, the track list: 1. The Opening of Doors  2. The 1000 Mile Stare  3. Bahia, Nebraska 4. A Happy Home in Kathmandu 5. Murray's Song 6. A Movie Of a Placid Lake On A Moonless Night in September 7. Last Dance 8. Santos And The Well-Travel

This Album contains tracks, not only composed by Ackerman on guitar, but also contributed by the other Windham Hill artists, including Michael Manring and Philip Aaberg. I listened to the tracks and I must say honestly that I "drifted away in leisure". Here as always, the track listing for the album: 1. The Moment in Which You Must Finally Let Go of the Tether Which Has Held Your Hope Airborne 2. A Region of Clouds 3. If You Look 4. Floyd's Ghost 5. Wondering Again What's Behind the Eyes 6. Dawn Treader 7. The Prospect of Darrow's Barn and the Blossoms of an Apple Spring on Imaginary Road 8. Brother A Teaches 7 9. Innocent Moon 10. The Moment - Reprise 11. If You Look - Version II [*] 12. Darrow's Barn - Version II [*] Tracks 11 and 12 were featured in the 2009 reissue of the album by Valley Entertainment, according to Wikipedia. Other contributors include: Allauding Mathieu on Piano for Track 1 Chuck Greenberg on Lyricon, Yamaha W

Happy Halloween! I will not be posting anything this week due to a "rough day". Next week will be back to normal.

Conferring with the Moon is Will Ackerman's sixth album that he released. This one is from the mid-late 80s and it mostly features duets with some trios this time. I guarantee you that this album is breathtaking. Here is the track list as always:  1. Conferring With the Moon 2. Improv 2  3. Lago de Montanas (Mountain Lake)  4. Big Thing In the Sky (For Jess)  5. Climbing In Geometry  6. The Last Day at the Beach  7. Singing Crocodile  8. Processional  9. Shape of the Land  10. Garage Planet  11. Conferring With the Moon (Solo) Click the link here to listen to 30 second clips: http://music.yahoo.com/william-ackerman/albums/conferring-with-the-moon-pieces-for-guitar--144486 Click here to download the album on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/conferring-with-the-moon/id298432921

Past light is Ackerman's fifth solo album and twenty-eighth Windham Hill release. This one features duets, including one with Michael Hedges. "For his fifth album, Ackerman added new instrumental colors to his guitar work. Especially notable are Michael Manring's bass playing and the one-track "Garden," featuring the Kronos Quartet. The added instrumentation servers only to accentuate Ackerman's typically inventive playing."                                                                                                                          - William Ruhlmann. Here is the track list:  1. Visiting  2. Garden  3. Three Observations of One Ocean  4. Pacific II  5. Synopsis  6. Ventana  7. Threes  8. Synopsis II  9. Rain to River  10. Night Slip Click here to order your own copy of the album:   Listen to clips to the songs here:  http://www.allmusic.com/album/past-light-mw0000192741 Click here to or

For this week's post, I will be reviewing the 1981 Will Ackerman album, "Passage". It's basically a collection of re-recordings of (what I assume to be) previous songs from his first few albums. Some remakes are solo guitar works, some are duets. One of the tracks, for instance features George Winston on keyboards. Track list: 1. Remedios 2. Processional 3. The Impending Death of the Virgin Spirit 4.Pacific I 5. The Bricklayer's Beautiful Daughter 6. Hawk Circle 7. Anne's Song 8. Passage Click here to order your own copy of the album: http://www.amazon.com/Passage-William-Ackerman/dp/B001TW6908/ref=tmm_acd_title_0 "Will Ackerman's music takes me to another time and another place." - Denise Armendariz

This week I will be explaining about Will Ackerman's third album, sixth release of Windham Hill Records, and his final solo album released during the 1970s. This one is called "Childhood and Memory". This album features solo guitar with a few duets. He plays the banjo on the track "Seattle" for instance, and Dave Ross performs with Ackerman (flute and guitar) on "Anne's Song", but for the most part, Ackerman pretty much sticks to his original style. Here is the track list: 1. The Wall and the Wind 2. The Velvet Gentleman 3. Anne's Song 4. Childhood and Memory 5. Sunday Rain 6. Seattle 7. Three Hesitant Themes 8. Murray's Song 9. Gideon 10. Bodie To download, click here:  http://music.yahoo.com/william-ackerman/albums/childhood-and-memory--144485

Let's make this clear. I post links to my blog to have people purchase the mp3s legally so I don't get sued or have my blog shut down. However, if I find my own copy of the LPs  CDs, and cassettes, I will convert them to mp3 format myself and make a .rar or .zip folder to store them in for protection. I will let you know if I find the entire albums and not just songs from the album to make it convenient for new and long-time viewers who stop by my blog. If there is any album that you want me to seek out, let me know in the comments below this post and I will save up to order it. At the moment I don't have a usb or a muti-format compatible turntable so I can't rip vinyl records or cassettes yet. I have to either pirate them from YouTube (if I can find the full album there), order the CD copies or digitally download them via credit card. New post tomorrow!

This weeks post is on the second Will Ackerman album, "It Takes A Year" from 1977. Now this album, for some reason is pretty much like the first album. It even included the Title Track that was supposed to be in the first one too. Here is the track list: 1. The Bricklayer's Beautiful Daughter 2. Balancing 3. The Impending Death of the Virgin Spirit 4. It Takes A Year 5. The Townshend Shuffle 6. A Tribute to the Philosophy of James Estell Bradley 7. The Search for the Turtle's Navel 8. Rain Sequence (From the Townshend Shuffle) 9. The Rediscovery of Big Buck Creek, Arizona This is the sheet music for "The Bricklayer's Beautiful Daughter". Thankfully the album has been re-issued on CD in 1998 and is also available now in mp3 format. If you ever find the vinyl LP by any chance, good for you. It never hurts to have it on multiple formats. To order the CD or download it digitally, click here:  http://www.amazon.com/It-Takes-A-Y

To keep this short, I will tell you that Will Ackerman is an American guitarist and composer of instrumental music. He founded, ran, and recorded music for the Windham Hill record label for many years since the mid 1970s until he sold it to his wife, Anne Ackerman. The reason being is due to the fact the music business was getting too overwhelming for him. If you wish to learn more about his life and career, click here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Ackerman There is a lot about him that I just feel would be too much to explain. Anyway, today I thought I'd start things off with Will Ackerman's debut album "In Search of the Turtle's Navel" . As you can see this is the original version of the album cover. Fun fact: When this album was originally released on vinyl, it was titled "The Search of the Turtle's Navel". However, the cassette format title is unknown, but I know it was later retitiled "In Search of the Turtle'

Windham Hill Records was a subsidiary label originally owned by A&M records (and is now a sub label of Sony Music Entertainment as of 2008) from the mid-late 1970s through the late 1990s. It specialized in Acoustic, New Age, Contemporary/Smooth Jazz, and Folk music. The label was originally founded as an independent one by guitarist and carpenter, William Ackerman and wife Anne Robinson in 1976. The laber started out as an independent label for instrumental music, whereas Ackerman released his own material, later of other guitarists. It then expanded to include electronic and world music as well. That was what made the label known in the music industry as a New Age label. It even had Billboard-charting albums, mainly on the New Age genre charts. Windham Hill Records was best known for it's high quality in sound, groundbreaking music, "unique flagship collections", and tasteful album art of nature. The label's records were distributed by A&M Records from 1979

This is the fan site dedicated to the new age music under the Windham Hill record label. It may include smooth jazz related stuff too. I will be posting the following items on this blog to keep you interested: 1. LP's/CD's. 2. Photos/Images. 3. Music sheets/Information. 4. Videos from YouTube, Veoh, and other video sites. The order of posts will be followed under the list of artists and associated record labels. Be sure to check that out here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windham_Hill_Records Some will be links, others will be the actual content. On the holidays, I will be posting the Christmas samplers so be sure to check that out. The reason I decided to make the blog now is because there aren't many blog sites related to this record label (except for the one about Will Ackerman, the founder and main musician of Windham Hill Records, wearing a POP hat) and I felt that it's time to share my love for the former subsidiary record label. Just because new