This is the blog site dedicated to the new age music under what was formerlly the Windham Hill Record label.
Sign Language (1987)
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After extensive touring, Montreux wrote and recorded another album called Sign Language in 1987. Windham Hill then recognized the group as the All Star band of the record label, for their style became distinctive and unique. By that time they adopted their band name, and Michael Manring joined the band and stayed as a full-time member. They also picked up Anne-Marie Martins as their agent and manager, who led them to become one of the most successful Windham Hill bands live.
Here is the album cover:
Here is a review on the album:
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
"Montreux is a remakable, if somewhat eclectic group of musicians that were one of the highpoints of the 80's musical scene. Composed of Barbara Higbee, Darol Anger, Mike Marshall, Andy Narell, and Michael Manring, there was no lack of talent. Treading lightly on the boundaries between new age, jazz, country, and sheer inventiveness they drew many fans and accolades over the years, many of them are still actively recording. It isn't easy to pin down their style to any one genre or sound. The presence of Darol Anger on violin provides unexpected blue grass effects in the middle what would otherwise be mainstream new age. Infectious and ingenious rhythmic approaches abound. In the midst of upbeat acoustic stylings, electronic choruses will put in opportune appearances. As with all good albums, repeated listening reveals fine details of musicianship and texture. Whether you like upbeat works like Skywriting or To Be, the melodic style of Sweet Intentions, or more experimantal pieces like Sign Language and Jacob Do Bandalim there is a lot to listen to. None of which is 'typical' fare. If you like pleasant surprised, stop here a while."
As always, the track listing
1. Skywriting
2. Sign Language
3. Sweet Intentions 4. Jacob Do Bandolim
5. In The Shadow of the Blimp
6. To Be
7. Grant Wood
8. Circular Birds
9. Just Walking
To purchase your own copy of the album, click here:
For their second LP, Darol Anger invited Mike Marshall, Todd Philips and Andy Narell to join he and Higbie, as mention two weeks ago, and they soon became the Darol Anger and Barbara Higbie Quintet, later changing it to Montreux. Balakrishnan left the band to study composition and Anger took his position in playing the violin (full time). The band, minus Balakrishnan, performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1984, and their performances were recorded there for the release of their second album. Here is the album cover. Here are two reviews on the CD copy of the album from Amazon.com: 4 of 4 people found the following review helpful 5.0 out of 5 stars Major Windham Hill release from the 1980s April 27, 2003 By Paul A. Scofield Format: Audio CD "This is, according to the liner notes, the entire concert played on July 19th, 1984 at the Montreux Jazz Festival, in Montreux, Switzerland. Musicians are: Darol Anger, violins; Barbara Higbie, piano; Mike M
Happy Christmas Eve everyone! For this year's post, it will be a late one due to the fact that the holidays came by too quickly for me to prepare myself. Tonight I will be reviewing George Winston's 1982 album, December . To learn more about George Winston, click the link here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Winston Now to begin, December is George Winston's fourth solo piano album, released in 1982 as a holiday album, follow up to the album Autumn , and as a tribute to the winter season. In 2001, a 20th Anniversary Edition of the album was released, including two bonus tracks not included on the original release. As of last year (2013), the album was again reissued by Valley Entertainment with Dancing Cat Records, since the original Windham Hill label is now defunct. This most recent reissue has been packaged in a Digipak and features a revised cover art, making the image wider and blending the text onto the art cover rather than above it. For comparison&#
Shutting down this site...APRIL FOOLS! But seriously, I really haven't been very active with this blog lately. However I have been coming up with ideas on how to re-organize the blog as well as going album shopping online and at thrift stores. I will continue to keep you updated on my official return.
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