The solstice officially starts winter on Dec. 21 this year. One way to prepare is by celebrating the 35th anniversary of an album series synonymous with the winter solstice.
Windham Hill’s Winter Solstice on Dec. 14 at Moraine Valley Community College’s Fine and Performing Arts Center’s Dorothy Menker Theater in Palos Hills features music from the multiplatinum-selling “A Winter Solstice” album series along with solo material by the featured performers.
Will Ackerman, who founded Windham Hill Records in 1975, grew up listening to Gregorian chants each Christmas Day.
“I still think (they) are absolutely beautiful,” he said, via phone from his Vermont home.
“That got me thinking about what Christmas music could be and that it didn’t have to be just ‘Jingle Bells.'”
The series began with 1985’s “A Winter’s Solstice” 10-track compilation.
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“It’s something different to have for Christmas and leaves room for us to have our own thoughts,” said Ackerman about the series, which continued after he sold his controlling interest in Windham Hill Records to BMG in May 1992,” he said.
“It brought about a dialogue between people of the family. It was me following my heart. That really has been the thing that carried the label to such a unique place.”
Windham Hill’s Winter Solstice features Ackerman on acoustic steel string guitars; Barbara Higbie on piano, violin, voice and guitar; Todd Boston on acoustic guitar; and Mia Pixley on cello.
“We are all artists in our own right,” said Ackerman, who won the Grammy Award for best new age album for “Returning” in 2005 and also is a member of the groups the Four Guitars and FLOW.
“Barbara Higbie has been a friend at Windham Hill for years. Having sold Windham Hill I took a number of years off. I created a studio in Vermont. Todd was one who came to me to produce him for a release he was going to do.
“I just thought he would be a wonderful addition. He and I have a great rapport. We’re going to be doing some duets. Mia is a new person and she’s just brilliant.”
One of the songs Ackerman said he is looking forward to performing is “What Strangers Are These?”
“It’s a beautiful carol. This is a wonderful piece. I had done it as a solo but now it’s a duet. Sometimes we add more to that.”
Ackerman discovered guitar at age 12 when he heard his next-door neighbor Michael Kilmartin playing an electric Gibson Starbust. Ackerman later picked up acoustic guitar while studying at Stanford University in California.
When Ackerman released his first record, “In Search of the Turtle’s Navel,” in 1976, it was only available at the Plowshare Bookstore in Palo Alto, California, where he ran into Kilmartin and gave his former neighbor a copy.
“I hadn’t seen Michael in a long time. I had just pressed 300 copies of this record. He called me literally that night and said, ‘Will, this is a really good record. Can I have 10 of them?’ He called me up about a week later and said, ‘Will, here’s a little secret. I’m a radio promotion guy for Fantasy Records.’
“That was during the time of Creedence Clearwater Revival. He was the biggest radio promotion guy in the world at that moment. He said, ‘I sent these 10 records out to 10 record stations. Every one of them are playing it and eight of them are listing it as heavy airplay.'”
Ackerman went from owning Windham Hill Builders to establishing Windham Hill Records, which next released 1978’s “Turning: Turning Back” by his cousin Alex de Grassi, who had been working with Ackerman as a carpenter, and introduced pianist George Winston to the world with 1980’s “Autumn.”
Windham Hill’s Winter Solstice in the Southland offers a way to celebrate not only the start of a new season but also original and traditional acoustic music.
“It’s going to be a respite from the music that everyone knows is Christmas,” said Ackerman, who also produces records via his Imaginary Road Studios in Vermont.
“The thing that makes it work for people is it leaves room for them to interpret these songs in their own ways. That’s why instrumental music serves such a purpose.”
Windham Hill’s Winter Solstice
When: 7:30 p.m. Dec. 14
Where: Moraine Valley Community College’s Fine and Performing Arts Center’s Dorothy Menker Theater, 9000 W. College Parkway, Palos Hills
Tickets: $30 general public; $25 senior citizens; free children and students (ticket required to reserve seat)
Information: 708-974-5500; www.morainevalley.edu/fpac
Jessi Virtusio is a freelancer for the Daily Southtown.
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