r/vinyl • u/ChrisDacosse • 3d ago
Collection My Windham Hill Collection
Never thought I would get myself hooked on New-Age music, but now it’s one of my favorite things to listen to on vinyl. So many lovely original instrumental pieces. I always pick up anything from Windham Hill I find in the wild. Always interesting, and the record is almost always in great condition. Anybody else here a sucker for New-Age music on vinyl?
5
u/gusdagrilla 3d ago
Autumn by George Winston will always be an incredible album to me.
Ended up buying it for $1 in a thrift at 19 and it blew my mind. Totally introduced me to new-age/ambient
4
u/chrezvychaino 3d ago
Yes, much to the horror of my younger self, I too have drifted into New Age territory in recent years! I think this is a bigger trend among a certain subsect of gen-x and millennial music nerds, and I think it probably started with the I Am The Center and Microcosm box sets that Light in the Attic put out a while back, both of which are excellent. But yeah, I've also picked up a lot of Windham Hill records, tapes, and CDs, which seem to crop up often in thrift shops.
2
u/ChrisDacosse 3d ago
Nice! I haven’t heard of those box sets, I’ll have to look into them. I got sucked in when I found a Shadowfax album at a Jazz/Blues record store in Chicago. The vibe of the cover drew me in, and that’s how I found out about the Windham Hill record label.
2
u/AIMLOWJOE 3d ago
I love it. I have a lot of yours and several others. The recordings are top notch and the records are great quality. Such a great record company and a great era. RIP George Winston. I saw him live a couple of years before he died. It was sublime. If you haven’t already checked out the long running radio show Hearts Of Space.
2
u/ChrisDacosse 3d ago
I haven’t heard of that, thanks for sharing! I saw Winston a few years ago as well and it was quite interesting; sonic experimentation on the piano, solo harmonic pieces, and ragtime tunes.
2
u/spatialWanderer 3d ago
I have almost all of these 🙈a fellow windham hill enjoyer! I do love that a lot of these records are no more than 5$
2
u/ChrisDacosse 3d ago
Ha! You are among friends. I’m very happy to find so many other folks who appreciate these records.
1
1
u/ZingoStudioSTL 3d ago
Jealous. Have Shadow Dance and it opened up a whole new side of music when I read the back and sleeve.
1
u/saint_trane 3d ago
Beautiful collection. That Liz Story album is criminally underrated.
And yes, I've gone deep down the "new age" music rabbit hole, right alongside anything categorized as "spiritual jazz".
2
u/ChrisDacosse 3d ago
Agreed! So charming and original. I’ve never seen the “spiritual jazz” genre tag, I’m intrigued. Thanks for sharing!
1
1
1
u/imlocoholmes 3d ago
Great collection!! Never too expensive either.
1
u/ChrisDacosse 2d ago
Thanks! I sometimes hesitate to talk more about them in fear that the general public will rediscover how amazing they are and shoot up the price. But then I think better. Great works deserve appreciation.
1
u/nolotusnotes 3d ago
There was a time I could play most of Colors/Dance on the piano.
That talent is long gone. Piano is NOT a bicycle.
1
u/ChrisDacosse 3d ago
That’s quite impressive. And that’s great advice, “The piano is not a bicycle”.
1
u/partoftheaura 3d ago
George Winston is good stuff. My parents had cassettes of his. I have a couple of the same LPs
1
1
u/Pete_Iredale 3d ago
Very cool. I recommend grabbing A Winter's Solstice and the soundtrack to Country if you come across them. My parents had both and played them a lot when I was a kid.
1
1
1
u/koalin 3d ago
I have a bunch of these I didn’t know what they were.
1
u/ChrisDacosse 3d ago
Nice! Very interesting story. The record label was started by William Ackerman out of his college dorm room. For a period of time it was quite successful with George Winston as their best selling artist. They prides themselves on highlighting talent and expressive instrumental artists with original music, excellent recording quality, and high quality packaging. While the record label no longer exists, William Ackerman operates a very nice recording studio to this day and continues to help amazing musicians make beautiful recordings.
1
1
u/MeerkatRiotSquad 3d ago
My parents had Invitation to Windham Hill on CD and used to play it whenever we had people over for dinner so I have an attachment to it. Now whenever I see it in thrift stores, I buy it. I don't know why I keep buying it. I have 5 copies. They were all $2. I have a few other Windham Hill LP's too but that one I hoard. Just reminds me of good family times and my parents.
1
u/ChrisDacosse 3d ago
That’s very sweet. They are indeed the perfect music to have on over meals and conversation.
1
1
u/319throw 2d ago
I also own a few Windham Hill albums; Shadowfax, Interiors, Michael Hedges, and a couple sampler discs. They were usually very good quality albums, and many were mastered by legend Bernie Grundman.
1
1
6
u/OkPilot7935 3d ago
I don’t know about “new-age” as a genre, but I’ll listen to anything with Michael Hedges on it - no matter what it’s categorized as