I think some of the first CDs that I bought in the early 1980s must have been from Windham Hill. I thought I had some of their records in LP format, particularly William Ackerman’s Passage LP. But I might have lost them in the Great Album Divide when I got divorced in the late 1980s. A bit later, when I was writing for the “Back Pages” (Entertainment) section of Cal State Fullerton’s Daily Titan, I was sent down to the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano to cover different artists/bands that played there and I was lucky enough to watch and then informally interview Windham Hill pianist, George Winston. I wish I still had my notes from the interview (assuming that I made notes). He seemed like the nicest guy, hanging out with his fellow musicians. I don’t remember exactly what I wrote (which never made it to print… ) but I’m sure it was something a bit snarky like his music was like jazzy elevator music. Yeah, I’m kind’a glad that my “review” didn’t show up in the newspaper. 

This Kickstarter video for this documentary just popped up in my feeds and I thought it would be good to pass on to you. They have one more month before their kickstarter campaign ends (August 2nd 2024), having already reached their funding goal. Here’s the link  to their Kickstarter if you still want to participate.

I think my poorly crafted comment about George Winston’s music being “jazzy elevator music” reflected my less developed vocabulary and immaturity as a writer/reporter more than an actual reflection of the man’s music. Lord knows in the many decades since I started purchasing Windham Hill CDs, especially after my divorce in the late 1980s, I’ve put on headphones and spent many hours listening to their comforting beautiful recordings. In fact there are numerous Windham tracks that I listen to nightly to quiet my constantly babbling brain when I’m going to sleep. If you’ve enjoyed Windham Hill’s atmospheric auditory adventures, give the video a look-see. If you don’t know anything about this music, check out the video and then some of the links to the music below. Enjoy. 

Sources:

Tags: 1980s, music documentary, new age instrumental music, video Mondays, windham hill

Creative Commons License

JosephBruceBustillos.com (website) by Joseph Bruce Bustillos is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License