Windham

Here is a collection of familiar classical music adagios given new interpretations by Windham Hill artists. Although most of the tracks do have synthesizer harmonies and embellishments, there are some that do not. The Brahms Intermezzo contains its own intermezzo in the form of a jazz piano trio improvisation. Edgar Meyer on double bass and Mike Marshall on mandolin perform a nice, straightforward transcription of the Prelude in C sharp minor from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2, with no synthesized embellishments.

Narell studied music at the University of California, Berkeley, and played piano with the University of California Jazz Ensembles under the direction of Dr. David W. Tucker. He was graduated in 1973. He has performed with the Caribbean Jazz Project, Montreux, Sakesho, and Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. He additionally composed and arranged music for Trinidad's national steelband competition Panorama. Narell also performed in South Africa in 1999 in front of a crowd of 80,000 people.

1999 marked 20 years since the band's unique combination of distinctively Japanese elements – June Kuramoto's classical-flavored koto, Johnny Mori's booming Taiko drum – with funky pop, urban, and jazz sensibilities first hit the instrumental music charts, and 25 years since saxophonist and East L.A. native Dan Kuramoto first formed the ensemble. Their Windham Hill Jazz debut (and 11th release overall) Between Black and White finds them once again blending contemporary root music, mystical Eastern exotica, and melodically rich smooth jazz that further deepens their larger commitment to global unity on the cusp of the new millennium. Hiroshima once again dares to push the envelope and engage diversity from track to track.

Ray Obiedo's excellent debut release was followed by five more over the next 10 years, after which he seemingly disappeared from the music scene. While the decline in jazz recording artist contracts is largely to blame, I had always thought that such a dynamic talent would continue recording and releasing music own his own, but unfortunately you can't even find a website for him. In addition to his writing and producing talents, Ray Obiedo plays both guitars and keyboards on every track; and if that wasn't enough, he also does the horn arrangements!

With his first solo album in 1979 Andy Narell took the steelpan out of the steelband and brought it into the jazz band, and with every album and concert since, he has explored the possibilities and expanded the role of the pan in contemporary music.

Windham Hill's eagerness to become one of smooth jazz's top labels has led them to sign a handful of influential masters of the form. They couldn't have placed a surer bet than on Earl Klugh, whose snappy acoustic style first hit the airwaves in the mid-'70s. While he's experimented a few times in recent years with orchestral projects, his Peculiar Situation finds him for the most part mining familiar and friendly territory. The sharp crisp melody over a thick, rolling bass groove on the title cut (with the occasional synth flourish at the end of the chorus part) characterizes his overall funk approach, while the graceful high-toned melody that leads "Southern Dog" is classic Klugh balladry. One of his more unique traits is how he modulates his strings; the melody line on the title track features a high tone, and his solo improvisation delves into the lower registers.

oo Far To Whisper is the fifth studio album by new-age group Shadowfax, the third for Windham Hill Records. In this album Greenberg brings is Lyricon back to the soundbooth. Along with Charlie Bisharat on his electric violin for one cut, remaining original member, Phil Maggini on his bass, Stewart Nevitt and G.E. Stinson, Too Far to Whisper is more than a whisper of an album.