Shadowfax keyboards (David C. Lewis)

[JoeToGo]

Shadowfax took a new turn when they got David C. Lewis as their keyboardist on their 1984 album, as his use of the DX7 significantly enhanced their sound.

 

But I never see any musicians talking about either the band or Lewis ... not cool enough, maybe? Or (and this seems more likely) just simply not heard: no hits, no famous names, and possibly dismissed as just another 80s band -- or even as "new age" (which they definitely were not), by dint of being on the Windham Hill label.

 

Not helping is the fact that their best-known album is fairly dull -- as if their switch to a major label diluted the magic. This somehow won their only Grammy.

 

Anyway, here's a stab in to the dark (i.e., the internet) to see if anyone else has any insight regarding their four Windham Hill albums, 1982-1986. Shadowfax were generous about listing the instruments used, but it's not always clear which instruments I'm hearing; Greenberg's lyricon could just as easily be providing some synthy lead as the keyboards -- not to mention the presence of the violinist and guitarist. Anybody else fond of this band?

[Song80s]

I enjoyed many of Shadowfax's album cuts, esp the keyboard work.

 

There is a YT with Chuck Greenberg who explained/discussed the band.

 

Some info there, if you dig around

[sherry]

Seen them live many times here in Chicago. Pretty sure Greenburg passed away years ago. I always enjoyed their uniqueness and live shows. Haven't heard the name Shadowfax in more years than I care to count.

[nursers]

Same - thanks for the reminder about them, am listening to them on Apple Music now

[moj]

'The Dreams of Children' is my favorite recording of theirs. I didn't like their subsequent releases, boring (like you said).

[hardware]

I never heard of them.

Thanks.

 

I hear some 11th House and Mahavishnu converted to 4/4.

 

 

[JoeToGo]

Seen them live many times here in Chicago. Pretty sure Greenburg passed away years ago. I always enjoyed their uniqueness and live shows. Haven't heard the name Shadowfax in more years than I care to count.

He died in 1995, which ended the band.

'The Dreams of Children' is my favorite recording of theirs. I didn't like their subsequent releases, boring (like you said).

I agree that TDOC is essentially their arrival, style-wise. 'Too Far to Whisper' continued that and even augmented it with a world-class violinist/composer, Charlie Bisharat (check YT for his song on that album, 'Road to Hanna'). TFTW also includes one of my favorite S-fax songs, 'Ritual'.

 

The post- 'Folksongs' releases recovered the 'Dreams of Children' vibe, though not perhaps rivalling it.

I hear some 11th House and Mahavishnu converted to 4/4.

Absolutely, as you hear even more on their original 1978 album 'Watercourse Way' (on YT). Not so much keyboards then, and certainly no DX7 (for obvious reasons).

 

FWIW I just added some reviews on Allmusic, since none of these records had reviews there.

[JoeToGo]

I enjoyed many of Shadowfax's album cuts, esp the keyboard work.

 

There is a YT with Chuck Greenberg who explained/discussed the band.

 

Some info there, if you dig around

Thanks, I'll have to check that out

Same - thanks for the reminder about them, am listening to them on Apple Music now

Look forward to your impressions and thoughts when you've absorbed it. I do think almost every album has some throwaway tracks, but that's generally true of most records for me (even 'Ziggy Stardust' has 'It Ain't Easy').

 

Some standouts would have to be 'Shadowdance', 'Brown Rice', 'The Dreams of Children', 'Ritual', 'A Thousand Teardrops' ... and (although I have never liked it), 'Shaman Song' is evidently a big favorite among fans. Instead, I always liked 'The Big Song' (especially when followed by 'The Dreams of Children').

 

 

[GRollins]

Others may speak disparagingly of the label, but I liked some of the Windham Hill recordings. Alex deGrassi is the first that comes to mind, but there were others.

 

Grey

[JoeToGo]

I first learned about Windham Hill when it was strictly an acoustic label, limited to solo and duet performances -- Alex de Grassi being arguably their outstanding artist. SO outstanding, in fact, that his cousin Will Ackerman (CEO of WH at the time) let him break with the solo/duo mold, and make an album with an ensemble of six people (Clockwork).

 

That ensemble included an element practically nobody had ever heard: Chuck Greenberg and his lyricon. Ackerman was so enthralled by its angelic sound that he agreed to let Chuck record his own album, with his own band, without even knowing what that band sounded like.

 

Now, Shadowfax had an acoustic side that hadn't been represented by their 1978 album, so their Windham Hill was a logical (if very one-sided) extension of their sound. There's a recording from the tour for that album, and those songs were a lot more lively in concert (and featured electric guitar rather than acoustic), but the album is very restrained. Of course, their next album crept back toward center -- even re-recording material from their lively 1978 album, albeit in gentler form.

 

By then, CEO Will Ackerman was including ensemble pieces on his own albums, thereby expanding the Windham Hill sound as a whole. Chuck's lyricon was featured there as well; in a way, he was almost the figurehead of that expanded sound.

 

Concerts were organized of "An Evening With Windham Hill Live", which featured only WH artists. This was a logical progression from how the albums themselves had been marketed, in their own separate display case -- as if Windham Hill were a category unto itself. Shadowfax took over the closing spot in these concerts, being the most energetic act.

 

By 1984, Windham Hill was the most successful independent label in the US. Shadowfax was no longer the only ensemble act on Windham Hill; by 1986, most new WH releases were ensemble.

 

Meanwhile, radio stations had created "new age" as a category, and Windham Hill's gentle energy and high-quality sound fit right in -- even though WH had never pursued the New Age label or ethos. This had the effect of associating WH in the public mind with a spurious and transitory fad which had never been the label's goal, but was soon what buyers expected.

 

IMO, this was the beginning of the end -- so maybe that's why Shadowfax left. Windham Hill had always pursued a label identity over artist identity; if you liked a WH record, the rest were similar in tone and energy. By the late 80s, this was backfiring on them, as listeners demanded more of what commercial New Age radio was playing, but then criticizing the more generic results.

 

But in the mid-80s, it was all good. Michael Hedges was wowing minds with his flamboyant pyrotechnics, Michael Manring took over anchoring the Montreux band when he wasn't adding amazing basslines to Ackerman's or Hedges' albums, George Winston had crossed over to pop charts with his quasi-Xmas album December, and Windham Hill had built up a solid catalog of albums, all still very listenable today. Classical music (Bill Quist: Piano Solos of Erik Satie) sat comfortably by steel-string folk guitar (Alex de Grassi: Southern Exposure). People struggled to give it a label; "chamber jazz" may have been best.

 

Arguably, Shadowfax never really belonged on the Windham Hill label. But it worked out well for them, and yielded their best albums. The Montreux band was their nearest comparison, even as they had different influences -- but the Montreux band was made up of several people making records in various configurations, the way Crosby Stills and Nash had in the 70s.

 

Recommended Windham Hill. (*) denotes guest musicians.

 

- William Ackerman: Passage (1981) (guitar/ensemble) (*George Winston)

- Alex de Grassi: Clockwork (1981) (guitar/ensemble) (*Chuck Greenberg)

- Mark Isham: Vapor Drawings (1981) (synthesizers/trumpet)

- Darol Anger/Barbara Higbie: Tideline (1982) (piano/violin)

- William Ackerman: Past Light (1983) (guitar/ensemble) (*Greenberg; Anger; Manring; Hedges)

- Mike Marshall & Darol Anger: Chiaroscuro (ensemble) (1985) (Montreux Band)

- Michael Manring: Unusual Weather (1985) (electric bass/ensemble)

- Michael Hedges: Live From the Double Planet (guitar) (1987)