Windham Hill Memories

In 1985, Darol Anger and Mike Marshall temporarily left the band Montreux to work on a separate project, focusing on their bluegrass roots. The result was "Chiaroscuro", which was named for their love of the Italian culture. The album cover. Here are two reviews from Amazon.com about this album: 8 of 8 people found the following review helpful 5.0 out of 5 stars   Keep Copies Everywhere   April 8, 2004 By   Marc Rub y Format: Audio CD "It's a bit of an embarrassment to admit that the thing that has gotten in the way of reviewing this album is that I keep forgetting to review and wind up just listening. All of the musicians at the heart of this album are remarkable. Darol Anger on violin, Mike Marshall on guitar, Michael Manring and Todd Phillips on Bass, Andy Narell on Steel Drums, Barbara Higbie on synth, and even George Marsh on triangle. Some of the best light jazz players of their time (1985), it is immediately apparent that they res...

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, pian...

In 1982, Darol Anger and Barbara Higbie released an album as a duo called Tideline . This was before Montreux was a complete, existing band and it was the first LP they released. Here is the album cover: How can I describe this album: beautiful in the sense of peace and nature, or in this case, Higbie's beautiful piano playing and Anger's epic violin playing (or vice versa). You have to listen to this track to know what I'm talking about: The album is available in multiple formats, as of today, including vinyl, CD, cassette and digitally (if you're lucky) and here are two of three reviews from Amazon.com:  By   Musicfan Format: Audio CD "Bay Area pianist Barbara Higbie and violinist Darol Anger created a lasting work of wit, talent, and beauty in their album "Tidline," recorded in the early 1980s on the Windham Hill label. This sparkling collection of original compositions for violin and piano is a standout. Although t...

It's a new month, so let's begin this month with a band from San Francisco, California called Montreux. Now Montreux, in which their name came from the jazz festival in Switzerland, was an American fusion band, specializing in the blend of jazz and bluegrass, with jam elements. The band was active from 1982 to 1990 and they recorded on (you guessed it) Windham Hill Records. The Band Members: Darol Anger - Violins Barbara Higbie - pianos, synthesizers and voice Mike Marshall - mandolins and guitars Michael Manring - Fretless bass, synthesizers and voice Todd Philips - Bass Andy Narell - steel drums Tom Miller - percussion Will Kennedy - percussion The 1970s-1982: Darol Anger and Barbara Higbie met each other in Paris, France in the 1970s and wrote and performed music together. Shortly after, Anger met David Balakrishnan through David Grisman and with Mike Marshall, and in 1980 they all formed the band Saheeb, which lasted until 1983. Anger met Will Ackerman in 1...