Michael Hedges

Following the success of Michael Hedges' Grammy-nominated Aerial Boundaries, the guitarist took on a new challenge and released Watching My Life Go By, his first recording to feature the musician taking on vocal as well as instrumental duties.

Breakfast in the Field introduced virtuoso guitarist Michael Hedges to the new age and instrumental music community in stunning fashion.

Essential: a masterpiece of Fusion music
Michael Hedges, luckly, doesn’t have these kind of problems . Rather, to think that they have been being spent 20 years for that night of 2nd of December 1997 when he died in a crash car, 43 years old…

This is the finest album from Michael Hedges, the man who is responsible for the greatest revolution in solo acoustic guitar playing since Leo Kottke. There are moments on Aerial Boundaries where it seems literally impossible that so much music is coming from one man and his guitar. Attacking his instrument, snapping strings, banging on the fingerboard with his right hand, Hedges plays supremely beautiful music with the technique of a deranged lunatic. It has been said that genius is at least one part madness – although a questionable assertion in general terms – when applied to Hedges and his music, the analogy holds. The songs on Aerial Boundaries are all beautiful and haunting in their own right; and it is this emphasis on composition over technique that makes this such an important recording.

In the '80s, Windham Hill Records had a reputation for being a new age label. Windham Hill was the home of major new age artists like Liz Story and George Winston; arguably, the company was to new age what Fania was to salsa, Blue Note was to jazz, and Def Jam was to rap; in other words, it wasn't the only player but was definitely a major player. However, not every instrumentalist who recorded for Windham Hill in the '80s provided new age. Post-bop/fusion keyboardist Billy Childs was never new age, and electric bassist Michael Manring was equally jazz-oriented. Unusual Weather, his first Windham Hill release, isn't straight-ahead bop – Manring isn't pretending to be Ray Brown or Paul Chambers. It is, however, a fusion/pop-jazz effort that often underscores Manring's appreciation of the late Jaco Pastorius.

The music on A Quiet Revolution is sorted by general style, not chronologically. Discs 1 and 2, Elements and Peace, focus more on the label's pastoral textures, and disc 3 (Artistry) explores more ambitious or ensemble pieces. Disc 4 (Excursions) might be viewed by some long-time fans as "Wayward Hill," with its assortment of latter-day vocal stylings and traces of smooth jazz.

Volume 1 & 2 Various Artist collection from German BMG Ariola. 39 different cover version of Bob Dylan Songs.