Blue Wolf Reviews

Tag: ackerman

  • Positano Songs

    Positano Songs

    In May, 1953 John Steinbeck wrote “Positano bites deep. It is a dream place that isn’t quite real when you are there and becomes beckoningly real after you have gone.”

    Positano Songs from Will Ackerman captures this sentiment perfectly as Positano is exactly that, a small community cascading down a steep hillside, a town that is something very special with its charm, thousands of stairs leading to hidden destinations, the beautiful Tyrrhenian Sea at its feet and the place where dreams can come true, if only you believe.

    For many years Ackerman suffered a lack of creativity with his music. He began to believe he could find inspiration in Positano, a place he and his wife had spent many years and married in the chapel. He has dedicated two of the songs, the first track Nighttime in the Chapel, written after a night time visit to the small chapel and the beautiful Our Wedding Song to this special time in his life.

    Each song captures something of the delight and charm that is readily to be found anywhere you choose to look with the delightful For Carmine, dedicated to a long-time friend, a gentle blend of guitar and violin, as is For Giovanni, a serene song found further into the sublime collection. 

    This is where it begins is a delicious, romantic piece that enchants, as it lulls the senses into a mellow time and space. Slower paced and almost hesitant is the captivating The Tyrrhenian Sea which captures the gentle movement of the water as it laps at the cliff face, easing gently onto the small beaches to be found here and there, once again adding a special magic.

    Eventually this enchanted moment in time comes to a finale with I Had To Go There, short and simple it is a brief farewell to a sojourn of pure delight.

    There are times when seeking words to describe music is difficult and often one or two can simply describe the work: in this case sumptuous, sublime and captivating will do.

    Reflecting on his lack of inspiration to composed Ackerman said, “By 2015 I hadn’t written any new music in quite some time…it occurred to me that if there were any place in this world where I could probably find inspiration and write again, it would be in Positano, Italy.” Will Ackerman.

    Did Ackerman find that illusive inspiration; he surely did.

  • The Gathering IV

    The Gathering IV

    In 2012 the first Gathering album was released to massive acclaim, winning the coveted ZMR Album of the Year. Two years on, Will Ackerman and Tom Eaton of Imaginary Road Studios choose another twenty-one artists to create The Gathering II (2014). The Gathering III followed in 2017, once again to great acclaim. The latest release The Gathering IV, (2019) consists of seventeen remarkable artists, with seventeen perfect pieces produced at the Imaginary Roads Studios over the past two years, now released to delight the ear and the soul.

    This album is immensely beautiful; a lovely, intimately mellow ambience paramount in all the pieces that have been selected, crafting the impression that this one artist, one emotional collection, one perspective, such is the quality of the recording.

    Lining up on this work are Masako, Jim Gabriel, Louis Colaiannia, Lawrence Blatt, Kathryn Kaye, Marika Takeuchi, Neil Tatar, Gina Lenee, Kelly Andrews, FLOW, Heidi Osgood-Metcalf, Vin Downes, Brenda Warren, Anne Sweeten, Matteo Palmer, Gary Schmidt and Richard Carr which, just by looking at the line-up of talent, is a sure indicator of what a treat is wrapped in the cover of this new release. Each of the pieces selected and the featured artists are award winners.

    Many of the artist will be well known to Ambient music buffs, others perhaps not so well known, but regardless of your background knowledge, this is one incredibly beautiful collection that simply is right there in the moment, perfect for just about everything from background music, to easy listening, or simply just dreaming the time away. Perfection.

    Will Ackerman and Tom Eaton, both stellar musicians in their own right, have over the many years with Wyndham Hill Records and Imaginary Roads Studio’s achieved almost ‘God like’ status within the world of New Aged Ambient music, which when work the standard of The Gathering IV is compiled as a sample of their talent and ability, is very easy to understand.

    A perfect album of perfect music, from a new generation of music makers, which is simply divine and will become, amongst the many favourite works reviewed over the past years, a collection to be enjoyed over and over again.

  • Flow

    Flow

    Invited by Lawrence Blatt, incredible player of acoustic and electric guitars and ukulele, to take part in somewhat of an experimental recording, Fiona Joy, acclaimed pianist and vocalist, along with Jeff Oster, trumpeter and flugelhorn specialist, with the late addition of Will Ackerman, producer, guitarist and percussionist, arrived at the Imaginary Road Studio’s, each with several pieces of music to be worked with: the end result of this wild card is FLOW, an album which will enchant, enervate and completely change the concept of contemporary new age music.

    As the work evolved Ackerman confesses to a period of panic, where he felt his pieces were being altered, changed, into something very different, but as can be heard in the music, the pieces are a wonderful synergy, an alchemic blend of not just sound but of four talent musicians absorbed in the music, the moment, complete, whole and creating something truly beautiful.

    This is music which will reach out across barriers, boarders, age and genre bringing with it peace and perfection, as it blends a little of something and everything in a wonderful synergy.

    Deep in the remote regions of South Australia the album was on the car sound system, when we stopped at a gorge at the entrance to the Arkaroola Ranges; the sound wafted out into the stark, timeless surroundings trekked across by indigenous people for thousands of years.

    As the music drifted out over the landscape it appeared to be more than a mere co-incidence in time and place; washing over the terrain something very special occurred, as if a type peace came to the gorge, an area in torment from lack of rain, desolation all around. Magic in its purest form was involved.

    Will Ackerman is noted for his formation of Windham Hill Records some 40 years ago in a move that was destined to redefine global music. Working with Producer and long-time friend Tom Eaton he is once again raising the bar very high with his music and interpretation under the Imaginary Roads Studios label.

    Graceful and seemingly effortless each of the pieces segues smoothly through the 11 tracks, each of the musicians blending into one pleasing harmony. Each of the tracks has a title which will indicate the style or mood of the song but after the first few notes are struck on Arrival, the music absorbs completely, until the last note has been presented. Read the titles later on; simply enjoy the music as one continuous, very special treat.

    FLOW an acronym of Fiona Joy, Lawrence Blatt, Jeff Oster and Will Ackerman – remember this as they are a group to be followed. If you are fortunate enough to be able to hear them live, do so, otherwise, enjoy the music, the moment and the peace each time you listen to music referred to by Oster as music for EVERY AGE.

  • After The Rain

    After The Rain

    Glorious, gorgeous and a real treat, this new album, After the Rain  from Neil Tatar combines the best of styles to create an album which will be listened to time and time again;  an album which is none other than pure, sensuous, magic from beginning to end.

    Talented and expressive Tatar combines his blues, jazz, roots blend with a wonderful World music influence to create a contemporary style that is truly his own.

    The first listen to this album was while driving through a remote landscape in the Arkaroola Ranges; a majestic, dry and ancient landscape located far inland from the coast of South Australia; an ancient seabed, that allows the imagination to move and flow, to create what may have been as the seas of what was once Gondwanaland, slowly receded to allow the land to be born once again.

    Fitting perfectly into the timeless and majestic landscape that stretches a far as the eye can, the songs were absolute perfection, as if they had been created for that particular time and place.

    Having listened to this gently sensuous work several times since, the beauty and magic holds fresh and true, as can be expected from a musician with his background of composition on both guitar and piano.

    When reading the line-up of artists working with Neil Tatar on this album it is truly a line up from the top selection of musicians well respected and awarded within the contemporary New Age, World music genre.

    Charlie Bisharat weaves his magic on violin over several of the tracks, Gentle Steps, When I Was Young and Welcome Home amongst others. Jeff Oster adds flugelhorn to Reflections as well as Welcome Home. Jeff Haynes adds percussion and vocals on Sunset creating a delicious change of mood. Eugene Friesen, on cello, joins Bisharat and Tatar on Rush Pond. Premik Russel Tubbs joins with Soprano Sax on When I was Young and ewi on the hauntingly hypnotic Nightwalk. Musician and producer Will Ackerman adds his guitar and rain stick to the mix.

    After the Rain, the title track is a true team effort as it has will Ackerman on guitar, Jill Hayley on English Horn, Levin on NS Bass, Haynes on percussion and Noah Wilding on Vocal, where he is joined by Tatars’ wife Lini, to create a track which perfectly depicts the title; a song which allows the listener to visualise the earth at peace after the rain, the gentle ambience there to be seen and enjoyed by all.

    Alto Sax introduces the final, and a most enjoyably different track, in Sidewalk Jam, a snazzy little blues style piece creating the perfect ending to a wonderfully relaxed and alluring collection of songs created to be enjoyed. After The Rain has that something special that reaches out to touch the very heart and soul with gentle softness. This is an album that is something very, very special indeed!