Windham Hill an audiophile label?

Some great responses.

Listening to all of the releases again has made me appreciate the music anew. Most of the albums sound great, and I've found all but one or two very worthy musically.

I've found that listening on vinyl and turning up the volume makes for some fairly intense listening. My wife, on the other hand, loves Windham Hill, but does treat it like background music.

Some standouts:

Michael Hedges, Aerial Boundaries - One of the great albums of all time. Hedges redefined acoustic guitar. I believe this is up there with Kind of Blue, Dark Side of the Moon and Sgt. Pepper as a must have for any music lover.

Alex de Grassi - Turning: Turning Back and Slow Circle. Terrific solo guitar.

An evening with Windham Hill Live - Various Artsts. Great cross-section of music, well recorded, and upbeat.

Shadowfax - Shadowdance. Fusion - with an eastern touch.

Liz Story - Solid Colors. If all new age piano were like this, it would be redefined as modern classical compositions.

George Winston - Winter Into Spring. I know, Autumn is the favorite, and may be the better album, but I've played it too death, and Winter Into Spring seems to hold up better.

I've also had a few surprises with the catalog - Robbie Basho is awesome and intense. His vocal album Visions of the Country was never re-issued, but is worthy, and unlike anything else on Windham Hill. David Qualey's Soliliquy is a classically-influenced album that still sounds fresh and thoughtful.

In short, if it's been a while since you've played your Windham Hill albums, take them out for a new listen.

Yes, Mark Isham is one of my favorites, particularly Tibet. I also love his work for David Sylvian on Brilliant Trees and Alchemy. Of course, he's also gone on to become a first-rate film composer and scorer.

@Justlisten - I'd love to have more details about the studio at the house in Belmont. Not everything was recorded at the Music Annex. Different Fur, Mobius Recording in San Francisco were used. Shadowfax recorded in LA, two albums were recorded in Seattle, and so forth. Now Will Ackerman has an awesome recording studio called Imaginary Roads in Vermont. He continues to win Grammys as a producer.

Um, no. No whale cries.

It's funny though. Over the years the label has lost the artistic credibility it once had. The songs have been recycled time and again on compilations, but the original albums are long out of print, and so if you weren't into music at the time, you could easily confuse Windham Hill with any of the imitators.

Because I so clearly remember the original vision of the label in the early 80's, I tend to think of Windham Hill more in the vein of ECM or MA recordings - not Narada or the Environments series.

Windham Hill faced a problem of success - they created a genre which could be done badly - and the competition watered down the vision and distracted listeners from the artists. I remember that by the early 90's Narada's less artistically significant catalog was handily outselling Windham Hill.

Also, Will Ackerman, who founded the label, became more removed from the label over time, and not all of the later works had his distinct musical imprint.

Nonetheless, I think the first 50 or so albums truly represent a great moment in American music - and there are several gems in the next 50 as well. That's a lot of good records for one small label.

Hey Orpheus10,

Yes, Shadowfax sure counts in my book. I just posted the details for their first album - I've been replaying it and the detail and atmosphere on that recording is superb. Bassist Phil Maggini has been very active lately posting lots of links to music.

@ Russelrcncom -- you should dig them out again. First, of course, I've found that almost any music I loved once, I'll love again after laying off of it for a long time. Secondly, the music more than holds up, much of it is just as vibrant today as it was 25+ years ago.