Shadowfax - Shadowdance (1983)

Note: The disc I own is the made in Japan-for-US market pressing in a smooth sided jewel case.

For whatever reason, I didn't jump on the Shadowfax train when it passed my station in the '80s, but this CD was in the clearance bin and I thought I'd take a chance on some relaxing, acoustic Windham Hill New Age music. While there's some of that here, there's also a bit of electronic jazz-rock that took me by surprise. Maybe in an effort for more commercial success? And even though I'm not crazy about the timbre of an electric jazz violin, I like this album even more than I thought I might. In my little world, this sort of stuff is more appropriate for background music than active listening, but the CD is worth more than the 50¢ I shelled out for it.

Reviews/ratings:

• Billboard: "taps enough rock, jazz and Third World elements to straddle more conventional commercial jazz formats"
• CashBox: "exotic and accessible enough to penetrate the mainstream"
• High Fidelity: "quite a departure from the music of the acoustic soloists who dominate [the Windham Hill] roster."
• The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (1999): ★★★

The group and album were also featured in the December 1983 issue of DownBeat magazine.

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #145
• Billboard Jazz: #13
• CashBox: #170
• CashBox Jazz: #9

Tracks: It's an ethno-fusion mixed bag of acoustic, electric, Western, Eastern, upbeat, ballad, odd meters, etc., but the writing is generally good, and overall, relaxing and enjoyable. My top picks today are Distant Voices and the cover medley of Don Cherry's songs Brown Rice & Karmapa Chenno.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I probably heard this album as a college undergrad as some of my peers were into Shadowfax at the time, particularly the 1984 album The Dreams Of Children.