New Age Instrumental Review: Will Ackerman, Fiona Joy, Lawrence Blatt, Jeff Oster-FLOW

Release Date: October 6, 2017

Label: LMB Music

Website

Sit back and let the music FLOW. That statement could not be supported in a more creative way than on this recording. Four accomplished musicians got together to create something very special.

Will Ackerman, Fiona Joy, Lawrence Blatt and Jeff Oster, all well know names in the new age music industry, combined their skills and experience to produce 11 tracks of outstanding instrumental music. There are several other contributors as well to make this entire effort a reality.

I think what I enjoyed the most about listening to FLOW was how that title fit so well. This is eclectic and very tastefully done. Because of the blend of musicians contributing to this project you get a little bit of all of them, and the end result becomes greater than the sum of its parts. A team effort if you will, is what makes this music so different from track to track.

If it’s Will Ackerman or Tom Eaton’s guitar and the production values they bring to the table or Jeff Oster’s gorgeous trumpet or flugelhorn calling out for an answer, this music beckons you to partake in the experience.  And Tony Levin, the most incredible and diverse bass player on the planet, is on the recording. He has become the resident bass player at Imaginary Road Studios, and god knows how he does it with all his other projects and live appearances on his schedule. All of the people involved seem to be in an endless cycle of creativity that has blessed us all for several years now.

The beauty of FLOW is the fact that individuals that have perfected their own sound and created their own legacy and styles have compromised that individuality to become one unit.  This is a unit that has a spiritual connection and purpose that is undeniable.

If you listen, feel and absorb the FLOW, you will come to your own understanding of what was accomplished on this album. Let the river of sounds and textures take you away for a while, I can guarantee you will be back for a second trip down the stream.

Note: You can have the rare opportunity to see all of these artists together at Carnegie Hall on October 6^th! Tickets Here.

5/5 Stars

Keith “MuzikMan” Hannaleck

September 12, 2017

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Tracks: 
01. Arrival
02. Whisper Me This
03. Flow
04. Free Ascent
05. Waiting for Sunshine
06. Waters Gather
07. And the Sky Was
08. A Night In Nocelle
09. Tenth Life
10. Rest Now My Friend
11. For Rosita & Giovanni
 

Audio Fidelity Inks Licensing Deal With Will Ackerman's West River Records

Ackerman's Grammy winning "Returning" coming on 180g vinyl for the 1st time!

Camarillo, CA - Marshall Blonstein, president of Audio Fidelity is pleased to announce an agreement with Will Ackerman and his West River Records. The agreement calls for Audio Fidelity, in conjunction with West River Records, to release the first 180g vinyl pressing of Ackerman's 2005 Grammy award winning recording, "Returning: Pieces for Guitar 1970-2004." Ackerman is universally recognized as the preeminent pioneer in the new age music movement, and the founder of Windham Hill Records.

In 2004, after years of growth and introspection, Ackerman re-recorded an album of his best-known songs. A greatest hits collection of all new performances.  The playing and recording of these New Age instrumentals are sharper now than on those original Windham Hill classics and Ackerman's most popular compositions have rarely sounded as poignant.

Blonstein felt one of the elements of working with Will Ackerman that would have great appeal to Audio Fidelity's music fans were simple words Will spoke at the time of the recording about why he wanted to make the album. "Today I'm recording in my own Imaginary Road Studios in Windham County, Vermont on utterly state of the art digital equipment. It all brings me closer to what I hear as I sit alone and play; touching the sound as it literally moves through my body as well as my ears. I guess I am trying to find a sound that lets you hear what I hear."

Will's goal was to take a series of 11 favorite songs and record them for posterity in a way that reflects the emotional nuances, precision, and maturing beauty they've picked up along the road. He includes the graceful and lushly melodic "The Bricklayer's Beautiful Daughter," the sweet and melancholy "Anne's Song", and two peaceful early gems from 1970, "Pictures" and "Barbara's Song." Some were written as celebrations ("Unconditional"), others as elegies ("The Impending Death of the Virgin Spirit"), but all are intricate snapshots of a vastly influential musical life that keeps inventive to this day.

ALBUM TRACKS:

SIDE 1
Bricklayer's Beautiful Daughter
Anne's Song
The Impending Death of the Virgin Spirit
Pictures
Hawk Circle

Side 2
Barbara's Song
Unconditional
Visiting
Processional
In a Region of Clouds
Last Day at the Beach

Will Ackerman official website: http://www.williamackerman.com/

For more information: www.audiofidelity.net

Press inquiries: Glass Onyon PR, PH: 828-350-8158, glassonyonpr@gmail.com

Pianist and Composer Heidi Breyer Releases A Breathtaking New Album “Letters From Far Away” Featuring Legendary Will Ackerman

“The music is at once technically breathtaking and emotionally intimate. A rare and wonderful combination.” - Will Ackerman

Frenchtown, NJ - Pianist and composer Heidi Breyer has released a breathtaking new album of unparalleled beauty titled “Letters From Far Away.” The new release is a double solo and piano instrumental album and Heidi’s debut production alongside legendary Will Ackerman (Founder Windham Hill Records) and Tom Eaton. The album was recorded, mixed and mastered at Imaginary Road Studios in Vermont and Studio Sound in LA.

Says Heidi, “ 'Letters From Far Away' is my musical interpretation of a handful of experiences in the story of one couple, each from different countries, who met in 1960 and after 5 years apart, against all odds, walked the rest of their lives together. It is also about love in all it's forms, how love is the common denominator that transcends time and links the generations over the course of decades. It is the one thing that connects us all.”

Winner of ZMR Best Instrumental piano Album 2012, Nominated ZMR Best Holiday Album 2011, Winner of ZMR Best Instrumental Piano Album 2010 and Best New Artist 2010, Heidi Breyer has four albums to her credit – Winter Light 2009, Another Place and Time 2010, Beyond The Turning 2012, Letters From Far Away 2015. She has performed on stages worldwide and opened the first ever live ZMR Awards show performing with Premik Russell-Tubbs (Sting), Jill Haley and Michael Ronstadt. Her music has been featured on many compilations including the Grammy Nominated Album for Best Spoken Word, “The Storm King” an Auto Biographical Narration by the late Pete Seeger, Produced by Jeff Haynes, also The Gathering (West River Records), Many Miles Music (Seattle based label) and Sounds of The Circle by Suzanne Doucet. British born and conservatory educated at Trinity College of Music in London, Heidi Breyer now resides in the artistic community of Frenchtown, NJ, an inspiring setting where she composes her music, prepares for her multi-media concerts, teaches and manages the business of world-renowned Russian painter, Alexander Volkov.

“Heidi Breyer continues to amaze with her evolution as a composer and as a performer. The range of styles represented in Letters From Far Away is considerable, but like the outer planets in our solar system, these are held together by the gravity and persuasion of Breyer's Artistic Voice.” - Will Ackerman, Grammy winning Guitarist, Producer, Imaginary Road Studios and founder of Windham Hill Records.

And now, in 2015, Heidi has released her most stunning achievement to date, the new album “Letters From Far Away”! Says Heidi, “I wrote the entire collection with the intention of releasing my first piano solo project. But in the very first session the opportunity for some major counter-melody from other specific instruments was revealing itself to me. The main instrumental voices that I was imagining were cello, violin, guitar and English Horn, mostly because I have worked with these sounds before and have an understanding of their capacity for expression within my music. Clarinet was non-negotiable on Small Cafe. Every time I hear that instrument it propels me back in time and for that piece as with all others, it was the only option. Then saxophone, french horn and bass guitar...all came very naturally...

“Will Ackerman has amazing perceptual awareness. He has mentored me for several years now, both in regard to my music and helping me to further discover and push my own development as an artist. He knows when to step back and when to guide. As this project progressed he was clearly observing my need for specifics...not just instrumentally but also melodically, harmonically and rhythmically and yet he also knew when to bring forth his knowledge and experience for the better. Along with Tom Eaton's own depth of production experience, I think we made a pretty good team! All the session players I work with are in their own right top-shelf artists. Many of them are on all of my albums. They really listened, understood and interpreted accurately and delivered, in my opinion, flawlessly. The list of players I worked with (and hope to again) include but are not limited to Eugene Friesen, Jill Haley, Charlie Bisharat, Gus Sebring, Mark Schulman, Will Ackerman.”

Here's what's being said about Heidi Breyer's “Letters From Far Away”:

“ 'Letters From Far Away' is a love story that began more than five decades ago across the briny Atlantic. For the world, it was a time of new beginnings. For the lovers it was the birth of something so inexplicable that neither poets with their rhymes, nor philosophers with their thoughts could define it. Until now. It would take extraordinary music to explain it. Enter pianist Heidi Breyer. She takes on the monumental task of telling a story that does not appear in known fairytales, but in the chronicles of the heart. Using her incredible composition skills, she offers not one, but two eleven-track disks of solo piano and its companion instrumental pieces. She takes on the role of bard, storyteller, musician, and singer – a modern day Scheherazade. The contemporary music is twenty-two glimpses into the history of lovers that came from two different worlds and whose devotion was strong enough and endured long enough to build a single world of love. Let us meet the lovers.” - RJ Lannen, Zone Music Reporter

“A new release by Heidi Breyer is always worth waiting for, but this time she has out done herself and her deeply meaningful creation of Letters from far Away, will be regarded by her fans and the followers of piano based music, as real raising of the musical bar, her many listeners, of which I urge you to be one of, will be deeply moved for an eternity by this incredible release.” - Steve Sheppard, OWMR

“Heidi Breyer's 'Letters From Far Away' is an amazing collection of lovely piano based music. I particularly loved the idea of having a double CD set- One with Solo Piano versions and the other with subtle arrangements. Being a musician I could see the tremendous amount of attention to detail that has gone into the writing and performance. As a pure listener, I loved the option to chose which CD to listen to based on my mood. Overall a fantastic musical experience and I wish Heidi all the best for this wonderful work.” - Ricky Kej, Grammy Winner Producer, 2015 of New Age Album of the year, (Winds of Samsara)

“Heidi has provided us with a treasure trove of beautiful recorded music, as well as an upcoming fifth CD to look forward to. Heidi Breyer is a truly remarkable instrumentalist and composer whose expressive and melodic range is impressive, as is her emotionally evocative touch on the keyboard. Letters From Far Away is musical storytelling at its best and illuminates the talents of a rising star in the piano world. - Michael Diamond, Music and Media Focus.”

“Heidi's music is the perfect synthesis of academia and passion. This is music informed by years of study and a rich life. The music is at once technically breathtaking and emotionally intimate. A rare and wonderful combination.” - Will Ackerman

In closing Heidi has this to impart, “Music is an elixir for life, love, catharsism and general well being. Always has been and always will be... My music is written to nourish and combat the impact of today's crazy, restless world, but it is not music for meditation relaxation...I do not strive to help empty the mind through musical meditation. There is a lot of great New Age Music that already does this successfully. I present an alternative perspective, deliver a brief but thoughtful departure to another life imagined through the music, and bring the listener back through the same escape route to reality, feeling a refreshed and grounded in their real lives. I believe the New Age music genre is breaking through to a new era at the very moment it is needed. We know that certain types of music are a part of most peoples daily balancing act. But in addition, we are observing that our human psyche is evolving and we are using our core (our soul, our intuition) to guide us more and more and not just our 5 known senses (that tell us the immediate things)...I believe our instinctive leaning toward New Age music contributes to that 'beacon'. It is music for our lifestyles. It is one of the facets of the balancing act that we will become more and more reliant upon, almost medicinally. I for one, know that I am someone who can help in that regard. So the message is...check out New Age Music. Check out all of my music and see how it can truly help you.”

To purchase:
For Albums - http://heidibreyer.com/?page_id=237
For Songs and Albums - http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/heidibreyer2

For more information: http://heidibreyer.com

Press inquiries: Glass Onyon PR, PH: 828-350-8158, glassonyonpr@gmail.com