Almost a continuation of music made a few decades before by the team of Darol Anger and Mike Marshall – but recorded with a depth and sensitivity that goes beyond their greater fame in the 80s instrumental acoustic years! The woodshop in the title is a good reference – as the rich tones of Angers violin and Marshall's mandolin and guitar are captured beautifully here – an American acoustic mode that has traces of jazz and folksier elements, all supported by light rhythm on most numbers. Titles include "Peter Pan", "Borealis", "Who Had Whom", "Slip & Slide", "The Creep", "Hearts Wait", and "The Unbearable Gift". CD

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An overlooked gem from that moment when the acoustic underground of the 70s was sometimes getting lost amidst the new age deluge of the 80s – even though all of the best musicians still their best talents intact! Mike Marshall is one of those musicians – working here on mandolin and guitars alongside violinist Darrol Anger – in a warmly wonderful partnership that forges new roads ahead in instrumental music – pushing past some of the coldness of the post-jazz inventions of the ECM generation, and maybe finding a more American space in the process. Both of the leaders play a bit of keyboards – but hardly much at all – and the group does feature electric bass from Michael Manring – but these non-acoustic elements are really just used as shading around the edges, and still leave plenty of focus on the string performances that really make the record great. Titles include "Dolphins", "Dardanelles", "Bach Bouree", "Beloved Infidel", "Saurian's Farewell", and "Spring Gesture". CD

A beautiful little record from this overlooked Windham Hill team – pianist Barbara Higbie and violinist Darrol Anger – working here in an open live setting that really lives up to the best spirit of the label! Both instruments are used in very fresh ways – moving through that new acoustic underground generation into modes that are more open to new phrasing and concepts, yet without any of the colder, quieter styles you'd hear from ECM records of a similar generation. Instead, there's this subtle sense of brightness, but one that's never too cloying or sentimental – as the players work with a quintet that also includes Mike Marshall on mandolin and guitar, Todd Phillips on bass, and Andy Narell on a bit of steel drums. Titles include "Egrets", "Egypt", "Brann St Sonata", "Pumpkin Time", "Duet", "Tideline", "Near Northern", and "Daughter Of Cups". CD

Piano and violin come together beautifully here – the former by Barbara Higbie, the latter by Darrol Anger – who also plays mandolin and cello as well! There's an acoustic balance here that's more jazz than some of the other Windham Hill albums of the time – especially in the music's sense of rhythm and phrasing – and the rich acoustic tones of both players get wonderfully past some of the new age cliches that are too-often wrongly associated with the label – and remind us that at their best, records like these offer up a key flowering of the acoustic underground of the 70s. Mike Marshall plays guest mandolin on one title – and tracks include "Movie", "Tideline", "Above The Fog", "True Story", "Onyame", and "Gemini". CD

Includes selections from David Qualey, William Ackerman, Ira Stein & Russel Walder, Philip Aaberg, Bill Oskay & Micheal O Domhnaill, Liz Story, Darol Anger & Mike Marshall, Malcolm Dalglish, Shadowfax, and Mark Isham. CD