With selections by William Ackerman, David Qualey, Bill Quist, Robbie Basho, George Winston, Alex De Grassi, and Daniel Hecht. LP, Vinyl record album

John Beasley on keys, John Patitucci on bass, Terri Lynn Carrington on drums, and Bob Sheppard on saxophone. CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

Isham plays synths, various horns, piano, Steiner EVI, and electronic percussion – accompaned by Peter Van Hooke on snare drum and electronic percussion. LP, Vinyl record album

Includes Keith Jones on bass, Steve Erquiaga on guitar an dLuis Conte on percussion. CD

Features Billy Childs on piano, Tom Warrington on bass, Peter Erskine on drums, and Sheppard on saxes. 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

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Henry Butler on piano, keyboards and vocals, Michael Goods on synthesizer, Chris Severin on bass, Herman Jackson on drums, and Leo Nocentelli on guitar. CD

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A sweet set of Japanese instrumental work from the 80s – and a record that maybe got a bit more global circulation than some of its contemporaries, given a later American release on the Windham Hill label! Yet the sound here is hardly the new age that reference might make you expect – as there's a lot of nice keyboard and other electronics, mixed with light sax, piano, and percussion – all produced by Haruomi Hosono with a nicely understated quality that really lets the instrumental melodies find their way along! Titles include "Cold Beach", "Timeless", "Flamengo", "Giant Steps", "Technobose", "Cold Beach", "Ascending", and "Park". LP, Vinyl record album

David Binney on saxophone, Adam Rogers and David Gilmore on guitars, Fima Ephron on bass, and Ben Perowsky on drums. CD

Pre-Windham Hill jamming from Shadowfax – recorded when the group had a much more pronounced rock bent, and used more heavy guitars than on later albums! The set's still got some elements of the group's earthy acoustic work that broke them big in the 80s, but the main focus is on instrumental rock, of the complicated guitar-based variety – with lots of long exploratory tunes that feature complicated solos and rhythms, and lots of nice time changes. Titles include "Watercourse Way", "Linear Dance", "Shape Of A Word", and "Book Of Hours". LP, Vinyl record album

A book with "new age" in the title – but one that offers up a lot more than just a listing of big 80s albums on the Windham Hill label! Instead, author Tsunao Kadwaki digs deep into a rich well of acoustic, ambient, electronic, and meditative sounds – first beginning in the indie underground of the mid 70s, then tracing global shifts in the music over decades, to a current moment when there's a very rich, renewed interest in sounds like these! The book is in a similar style to other Japanese disc guides – most of the text is in Japanese, but the volume features page after page of listings of rare and unusual records – each with a full color reproduction of the cover, plus artist name, title, label, and date – all in English, unless the artist is Japanese. Kadowaki doesn't just follow labels, artists, or scenes in a uniform fashion – and instead, the book offers up listings for hundreds of different records that will really expand your understanding of these amazing sounds way way past any new age cliches you might expect. Even if you can't read Japanese, the album covers and listings will point you towards a huge amount of records you might not know about – and the whole thing was certainly a revelation to us! 207 pages, softcover, with color images throughout. Book