Will Ackermann

[Ivan May]

I do listen regularly to a lot of Windham Hill Records (a jazz and new age-focused label from the eighties), and thought I would share the label's founder and acoustic guitarist William Ackerman.

His debut, Turtles Navel, came out in 1977 and was a minor, but acceptable hit. It showcases his acoustic folk guitars and funny song titles.



William went on to sign dozens of artists to Windham Hill Records, including Mark Isham, Michael Hedges, George Winston, and jazz fusion act Shadowfax. His other album, It Takes A Year, is also an intriguing listen.


Will still continues to record and compose to this day. He owns a small studio in Vermont, having moved there from California years ago.

I actually have quite too many Windham Hill Records albums in my collection. But, if you like Al DiMeola, Chet Atkins, Eric Gale or Tommy Emmanuel, you will love the acoustic guitar of William Ackerman.

[bill5]

Back when New Age really was New Age and not a catch-all for any mindless ambient soundscape drivel that came down the pike. 👍

[Anderton]

There was some new age music that had merit, and Will Ackerman definitely fell in that category. Ed Gerhard also did some fine albums. I got to meet George Winston once, and was pleasantly surprised to find he was a likeable, courteous, totally down-to-earth guy who loved what he did.

 

As it so happens, I was involved in a lot of new age productions in the 80s for Narada and Sona Gaia records. One of the best was doing mix consulting on David Arkenstone's Valley in the Clouds, which ended up being a huge hit (IIRC it was in Billboard's new age top 20 for 2 years). The label gave me his demo and said "what do you think." It was mostly a DX7 mixed down to cassette, but I felt there was some real music there. They ended up signing him, but apparently they needed some of my "rock and roll" attitude  I worked with David Vartanian, who also engineered for Jerry Harrison and Tom Tom Club. A great engineer.

 

I tried like hell to get points on that album, but had to settle for a flat fee. It was actually quite good, but I could have retired if I'd had two points   However, it did lead to doing the Forward Motion album with Spencer Brewer, an exceptional piano player. We worked on several albums together, as well as one with Tingstad and Rumbel. Forward Motion got a lot of airplay at the time, especially in California, and was often a selection by AEI for inflight entertainment. It was done entirely in my home studio using MIDI, and mixed down in real time to a borrowed Fostex DAT. Randy Kling in Nashville did the mastering. 

 

Those were different times...maybe I'll do another album like that someday...

[KenElevenShadows]

I have never met George Winston. However, given that he performs in baggy jeans, flannel shirt and no shoes, I would guess he's down to earth.  

 

He's also a giant Professor Longhair fan, so there's that.

 

Too bad you didn't get two points on that record!! That woulda been very nice.

[Nowarezman]

Ackerman's cousin, Alex de Grassi was also on Windham Hill back in the day - ah, spending a rainy Sunday morning with some coffee and Ackerman, de Grassi, and Michael Hedges albums vinyl spinning was heaven circa 1982.

 

nat

 

[Mike Davis]

I loved that music.

[David Emm]

I loved Windham Hill, too. I was learning a lot at a fast clip then. It was Mark Isham's "Vapor Drawings" that first got my attention (great Isham admirer here), but I also took to Ackerman, Shadowfax and others. George Winston's work was too easy-going for me, but the entire label's members played with a welcome, simple elegance. I was having to push back against friends who were sneering at new age as elevator music, but I found it worthwhile. The term "ambient" seems fair and more descriptive as well. You could push it and call some Industrial music 'ambient,' but eh, no. 🤨

 

Sometimes I need to lay back on the clouds rather than keeping pace with something that's too darned lively for me at that moment. Example: "You're too overwrought. I prescribe a spleef and 2 hours of Eno."  

[Anderton]

1 hour ago, David Emm said:

I was having to push back against friends who were sneering at new age as elevator music, but I found it worthwhile.

 

I had a huge collection of new age CDs because I was in that biz and labels/people were always sending me stuff. A lot of it WAS elevator music, once the genre became popular, and people started jumping on the bandwagon. I got rid of those CDs, but also kept alot of them. There was so really good music around, in addition to the boring/precious stuff.

 

I kinda think all genres of music have about the same ratio of great music, okay music, and don't-waste-my-time music. 

[KenElevenShadows]

I still get some friends thinking that Brian Eno, Vidna Obmana, and other stuff is "elevator music". It's more organic and immersive, but I think that for some, they don't make a distinction between that and the whooshy "Hearts of Space" music.

 

At any rate, I definitely liked some of the Windham Hill stuff (Ackerman, Winston, Isham, etc.). I never did take a liking to Shadowfax. 

[o0Ampy0o]

Brian Eno did release a series of ambient albums the first titled “Ambient 1: music for airports.” I had them and Will Ackerman material too. (I listened to Ackerman because I found his playing interesting at that time.) I met a guy through work years later and years ago now and we both happened to like a lot of the same music for the same reasons which included Ackerman and Methany and Pink Floyd’s The Wall. I bring this up because it was a mutual admiration for the same reasons which probably means other people shared this as well. I just cannot come up with a description to define it now for this post.

 

Some of what is lumped into New Age or whatever is appealing to me because it has a spatial expansion level to it. Of course this is a subjective appeal. In those days I was more hyper-wired inside as was my environment and it would soothe and mellow me. Fortunately with Pandora I can have a custom station and it magnetizes similar music so I have discovered new sources. 
 

I would not consider it “elevator music” 

 

Elevator music used to be instrumental covers of well known songs done very generically. Interesting to me is how a trend in doing more and more instrumental covers (not necessarily generic in every case) helped kill off the once popular Smooth Jazz broadcast genre.

 

The attraction of ambient music is that it frees you rather than engages you. It is not conducive to repetition. The more familiar you get with it the less effective it is. This makes it unsuitable for commercial radio and repetition. You cannot have a “hit.” That would ruin it.  A station would be continually presenting new material to explore or presenting an artist sample rather than focusing on repeating certain songs. If it was a known go-to artist the station might choose from a wide selection of an artist’s library instead of the known popular ones.