William Ackerman

Last updated

William Ackerman
Also known asWill Ackerman
Born (1949-11-16) November 16, 1949 (age 74)
Palo Alto, California
Genres New-age, jazz, pop [1]
Occupation(s)Musician, record producer
Instrument(s)Guitar
Years active1976–present
Labels Windham Hill, Imaginary Road, Lifescapes
Website williamackerman.com

William Ackerman (born November 16, 1949) is an American guitarist and record producer who founded Windham Hill Records. [1]

Contents

Career

Early years

Ackerman was born in Germany. His adoptive father was a professor of English at Stanford University. [2] He grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and attended Northfield Mount Hermon School in western Massachusetts. He returned to Palo Alto to study English and History at Stanford University.

His life took a turn when he discovered he had a fondness for carpentry. He was five credits short of graduating when he left Stanford to work as an apprentice to a Norwegian boat builder. In 1972, he founded Windham Hill Builders in Palo Alto while playing music for Stanford theater productions and performing impromptu concerts in town. [3]

Windham Hill Records

With money borrowed from friends, he recorded his first album, The Search for Turtle's Navel, later changed to In Search of the Turtle's Navel , on his own label, Windham Hill Records in 1976. His second album, It Takes a Year, he released in 1977. Shortly thereafter, Will recorded and produced an album entitled Turning: Turning Back by his cousin, guitarist Alex De Grassi. This was followed by Robbie Basho whose music had inspired Ackerman for years. He left carpentry to pursue music full time in 1980. During that year, the label received national attention via the success of a piano album by George Winston entitled Autumn . He then discovered guitarist Michael Hedges at a concert in Palo Alto and immediately signed him to the label. Other musicians in the catalog were Darol Anger, Mike Marshall, Liz Story, and the band Shadowfax. In time the genre associated with Windham Hill was called New-age music. [4]

In 1982, A&M Records became Windham Hill's distributor. The label was selling millions of albums, and Ackerman became a wealthy man. Despite outward signs of success, he was diagnosed with depression. By 1984, Ackerman no longer wanted to run a large corporation. He left California for Vermont. He built Imaginary Road Studios in Dummerston, Vermont and has continued to work as a producer. [4] [5] The walls of his studio are covered in more than 20 Gold and Platinum records from US and overseas sales.

Awards and honors

Grammy Awards

Zone Music Reporter Awards

Discography

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Hedges</span> American guitarist (1953–1997)

Michael Alden Hedges was an American acoustic guitarist and songwriter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrick O'Hearn</span> American multi-instrumentalist and composer

Patrick John O'Hearn is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, and recording artist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul McCandless</span> American jazz musician

Paul Brownlee McCandless Jr. is an American multi-instrumentalist and founding member of the American jazz group Oregon. He is one of the few jazz oboists. He also plays bass clarinet, English horn, flute, penny whistle, tenor saxophone, sopranino saxophone, and soprano saxophone.

Eugene Friesen is an American cellist and composer.

Montreux was an American fusion band, specializing in the blend of jazz and bluegrass, with jam elements. The band was active from approximately 1982 until 1990, and recorded on Windham Hill Records. The name of the band came from the jazz festival in Switzerland of the same name, at which an early version of the band was formed under a different name.

<i>In Search of the Turtles Navel</i> 1976 studio album by Will Ackerman

In Search of the Turtle's Navel is the 1976 debut album by guitarist Will Ackerman. Some consider the album to be the start of new-age music. The album took Ackerman from his work as a carpenter and head of Windham Hill Builders to becoming a professional musician and executive of Windham Hill Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eric Tingstad</span> American songwriter

Eric Tingstad is an American record producer, musician, songwriter and composer. He was born and raised in Seattle, Washington. Best known as a fingerstyle guitarist, Tingstad has performed, recorded, and produced alternative country, blues, americana, rock, smooth jazz, ambient, and New-age music. Tingstad frequently collaborates with woodwinds player Nancy Rumbel as Tingstad and Rumbel.

Russel Walder is an American jazz oboist and the founder of Nomad Soul Records.

<i>Imaginary Roads</i> 1988 studio album by William Ackerman

Imaginary Roads is an album by the new-age guitarist William Ackerman, released in 1988.

<i>Aerial Boundaries</i> 1984 studio album by Michael Hedges

Aerial Boundaries is the second album by guitarist Michael Hedges released on the Windham Hill label in 1984. It was nominated for a Grammy Award as Best Engineered Recording.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fiona Joy Hawkins</span> Musical artist

Fiona Joy Hawkins, is an Australian vocalist and pianist. Her collaborations have included five albums produced by Will Ackerman. Her influences include George Winston, Michael Nyman, Chopin, and Mendelssohn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turtle Island Quartet</span> American string quartet

The Turtle Island Quartet is a string quartet that plays hybrids of jazz, classical, and rock music. The group was formed in 1985 by David Balakrishnan, Darol Anger, and Mark Summer in San Francisco. They released their first album on Windham Hill Records in 1988 with Irene Sazer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Windham Hill Records</span> New-age music record label

Windham Hill Records was an independent record label that specialized in instrumental acoustic music. It was founded by guitarist William Ackerman and Anne Robinson in 1976 and was popular in the 1980s and 1990s.

Corin Nelsen is a Grammy Award-winning recording engineer and music producer. He is best known for his work with William Ackerman, the Grammy award-winning founder of Windham Hill Records, and as chief engineer at Ackerman's Imaginary Road Studios in Vermont.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laura Sullivan (composer)</span> American composer, pianist, author

Laura Sullivan is an American composer, arranger, pianist, producer, author, and a New-age, World, Spoken Word, Native American, and Pop music artist. She has worked with leading musicians of the industry and Grammy award winners including Eric Sullivan, Nancy Rumbel, Jeff Oster, Eugene Friesen, and Will Ackerman. She is best known for her album, Love's River, which won the Grammy Award for Best New Age Album in the 56th Annual Grammy Awards. Love’s River was recognized as one of the best commercial productions by Will Ackerman after 2009. Sullivan's album Pieces of Forever was nominated for Best New Age Album in the 64th Annual Grammy Awards.

Damon Buxton is an American fingerstyle acoustic guitarist and composer. His primary instrument is the six-string classical guitar. He uses silent spaces, open tunings, natural reverb, and double picking. His compositions draw on musical traditions of fingerstyle, classical, new age, and jazz. Buxton is a self-taught musician who began playing the guitar at age 21 and developed his trademark fingerpicking style. He currently lives in the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania area with his wife and two cats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flow (American band)</span> New Age music group of one native Australian and three Americans

Flow is an American New Age music group consisting of pianist/vocalist Fiona Joy from Australia, guitarist Lawrence Blatt, trumpeter and flugelhornist Jeff Oster, and guitarist Will Ackerman, all from the United States. The band's name is an anagram of the initials of their names.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeff Oster</span> American musician (born 1957)

Jeff Oster is a Grammy-nominated American musician who specializes in trumpet and flugelhorn in the New Age music genre. He is a member of the four-piece band Flow. Oster's style has been described as "Miles Davis meets Pink Floyd." He is three-time winner of the Independent Music Awards and ten-time winner of the Zone Music Reporter Awards. He was featured on the Laura Sullivan's Grammy-winning album Love's River. Flow's debut album reached number 4 on the Billboard New Age Albums Chart in 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Eaton (musician)</span> Musical artist

Tom Eaton is a Grammy-nominated American multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, and mastering engineer. He is known as the composer of multiple albums, and as a producer and engineer who works with Grammy Award-winner William Ackerman.

References

  1. 1 2 Ruhlmann, William. "Will Ackerman". AllMusic. Retrieved June 3, 2018.
  2. ↑ Tom Casciato. "Stanford Carpenter Runs Record Label."The Stanford (CA) Daily, November 15, 1977, p. 4.
  3. ↑ "Producing Music for the Heart". Baton Rouge (LA) Advocate. May 2, 1984. p. 8B.
  4. 1 2 Berkowitz, Kenny (October 11, 2016). "In the Age of Disco, Windham Hill Founder Will Ackerman Helped Solo-Acoustic Guitar Thrive". Acoustic Guitar. Retrieved June 3, 2018.
  5. ↑ Bolles, Dan (April 2, 2014). "In the Studio With Windham Hill Founder Will Ackerman". Seven Days. Retrieved February 4, 2024.
  6. ↑ "Will Ackerman". GRAMMY.com. May 22, 2018. Retrieved June 3, 2018.
  7. ↑ "2022 GRAMMYs Awards: Complete Nominations List". GRAMMY.com. November 23, 2021. Retrieved November 26, 2021.
  8. ↑ "2017 ZMR Music Award Winners". www.zonemusicreporter.com. Retrieved June 3, 2018.
  9. ↑ "Will Ackerman". AllMusic. Retrieved November 26, 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.