Passage
Though never a fingerstyle technician on a par with the Pierre Bensusans and Martin Simpsons of the world, Windham Hill founder and acoustic guitarist Ackerman has a way with the elegiac and the moodily majestic, rarely so well-conceived as on this 1981 disc that features cameos from Darroll Anger and George Winston. An early example of digital recording,Passageillustrates Ackerman's command of the pedal-tone figure; hypnotic fingerpicked arpeggios with subtly moving basslines patiently draw the listener in. Anger's violin adds a spirited lyric voice to the meditative "Remedios," while Winston's characteristic phrasing adds splashes of color to "Hawk Circle." If Ackerman's 1976 LPIn Search of the Turtle's Navelis, arguably, the album that invented new-age music,Passageis his refinement of the form.--James Rotondi