As the story goes, Ellwood cajoled his parents into buying him a cheap, nearly unplayable guitar when he was 12 years old. The instrument was too warped to play chords, so he came up with the right-handed picking style he uses to this day. The Canadian-born artist later developed an interest in renaissance and baroque music, taught himself to... [+] Read More

As the story goes, Ellwood cajoled his parents into buying him a cheap, nearly unplayable guitar when he was 12 years old. The instrument was too warped to play chords, so he came up with the right-handed picking style he uses to this day. The Canadian-born artist later developed an interest in renaissance and baroque music, taught himself to play the lute, and eventually designed a 7-string guitar so he could transcribe lute pieces without sacrificing any voicings. Ellwood's classical music leanings are apparent on his Narada recordings, although his music has a gentle, contemporary feel to it as well. ~ Linda Kohanov, All Music Guide [-] Hide

The alias of composer Chip Davis, Mannheim Steamroller was among the pioneers of neo-classical electronic music, emerging as one of the driving forces behind the New Age phenomenon. Born in Sylvania, Ohio, Davis' father was a high school music teacher, while his mother was a trombonist with Phil Spitalny's All Girl Orchestra. His grandmother was... [+] Read More

The alias of composer Chip Davis, Mannheim Steamroller was among the pioneers of neo-classical electronic music, emerging as one of the driving forces behind the New Age phenomenon. Born in Sylvania, Ohio, Davis' father was a high school music teacher, while his mother was a trombonist with Phil Spitalny's All Girl Orchestra. His grandmother was his first music teacher, giving the child his initial piano lessons at the age of four; two years later, Davis composed his first piece, a four-part chorale written in honor of his dog. He later joined a boys' choir as well, and while attending the University of Michigan played bassoon in the school's concert band. Upon graduating in 1969, Davis was tapped to tour with the Norman Luboff Choir; after five years with the group, performing everything from pop to classical, he returned to Sylvania to teach music at the local junior high school, often adapting classical standards to contemporary harmonies and rhythms for student consumption.

Davis later left teaching, arranging and conducting an Omaha, Nebraska production of Hair before accepting a job writing advertising jingles. With co-worker Bill Fries, he created the enormously popular C.W. McCall character, later the figure behind the chart-topping hit "Convoy; " as the McCall craze went into high gear, however, Davis returned to the classical adaptations he'd first composed while a teacher, and soon entered the studio to begin recording what he dubbed "18th century classical rock" -- classical music performed on electric bass and synthesizers. He titled the resulting album Fresh Aire, and when no label would touch it, he founded his own company, American Gramaphone, in 1974, creating a fictitious band named Mannheim Steamroller to better promote the project. Davis initially marketed Fresh Aire to stereo showrooms, where his state-of-the-art sound proved ideal for demonstrating home stereo equipment; the LP became a smash hit among audiophiles, and a series of popular Fresh Aire sequels followed in the years to come.

In 1984, Davis issued Mannheim Steamroller Christmas, which shocked onlookers by selling over five million copies on the strength of a Top 40 Adult Contemporary rendition of "Deck the Halls." It was followed four years later by A Fresh Aire Christmas, another unqualified hit. The environment informed 1986's Saving the Wildlife, the soundtrack to a PBS special, and was followed three years later by Yellowstone: The Music of Nature, which raised over half a million dollars for the National Parks Service. Although in the early 1990s Davis began recording under his own name for the first time, he also maintained the Mannheim Steamroller guise for a series of seasonal recordings, among them 1995's Christmas in the Aire, 1997's Christmas Live and 1998's Christmas Angel: A Family Story. 1999's two-disc 25 Years celebrated Mannheim Steamroller's silver anniversary. Continuing with their Fresh Aire series, volume eight was released in mid-2000. The albums Romantic Melodies and American Spirit came in 2003. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Though he's one of the most influential artists in "new age pop" and adult alternative circles, Lynch has extensive formal music training. Inspired by Andres Segovia's classical guitar recordings, Lynch studied the instrument in Barcelona, Spain, in the early '60s. He later attended the University of Texas as a composition student. Toward the... [+] Read More

Though he's one of the most influential artists in "new age pop" and adult alternative circles, Lynch has extensive formal music training. Inspired by Andres Segovia's classical guitar recordings, Lynch studied the instrument in Barcelona, Spain, in the early '60s. He later attended the University of Texas as a composition student. Toward the end of the decade, Lynch moved to New York and became a fixture in the city's "early music" scene as a lutenist with Renaissance Quartette. A period of personal and spiritual crisis, however, led him to retreat from his career in conventional classical music. He moved to California, spent some time investigating various spiritual traditions and philosophies, and started experimenting with electronic music. His 1983 debut album, The Sky of Mind, artfully meshed his early classical music leanings with spatial, synthesized orchestrations and became an underground success with virtually no promotional support. Two years later, he released his most famous album, Deep Breakfast. While much of the album continued in a neo-classical vein (with some lyrical duets for viola and keyboards, among other things), Lynch's catchy tune, "Celestial Soda Pop," became a hit in the newly emerging WAVE radio formats. The album was one of the first new age releases to sell over 500,000 copies. While Lynch's later albums have their moments, his increasingly pop-oriented style lost the expressive intensity of his earlier work. Though, many listeners were attracted to his vibrant electronic textures and heartrending melodies. ~ Linda Kohanov, All Music Guide [-] Hide

The American ambient/neo-classical composer who has most closely allied himself with the increasingly sympathetic independent-rock underground -- through his collaborations with the Cocteau Twins' Robin Guthrie -- Harold Budd is also one of the very few who can very rightly be called an ambient composer. His music, a sparse and tonal wash of... [+] Read More

The American ambient/neo-classical composer who has most closely allied himself with the increasingly sympathetic independent-rock underground -- through his collaborations with the Cocteau Twins' Robin Guthrie -- Harold Budd is also one of the very few who can very rightly be called an ambient composer. His music, a sparse and tonal wash of keyboard treatments, was inspired by a boyhood spent listening to the buzz of telephone wires near his home in the Mojave Desert town of Victorville, California (though he was born in nearby Los Angeles). Though interested in music from an early age, Budd was 36, already married and with children of his own, by the time he graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in Musical Composition in 1966. He became a respected name in the circle of minimalist and avant-garde composers based in Southern California during the late '60s, premiering his works The Candy-Apple Revision and Unspecified D-Flat Major Chord and Lirio around the area. In 1970, he began a teaching career at the California Institute of Arts, but continued to compose while there, writing Madrigals of the Rose Angel in 1972. After leaving the Institute in 1976, Budd gained a recording contract with the Brian Eno-affiliated EG Records, and released his debut album The Pavilion of Dreams in 1978. Two years later, he collaborated with Eno on one of the landmark albums of the ambient style, Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirrors. After recording two albums for Cantil in 1981 (The Serpent [In Quicksilver]) and 1984 (Abandoned Cities), Harold Budd again worked with Eno on 1984's The Pearl. A contract with Eno's Opal Records resulted in one of Budd's most glorious albums, The White Arcades, recorded in Edinburgh with Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins. Budd left Opal after 1991's By the Dawn's Early Light, and recorded two albums for Gyroscope: Music for Three Pianos (with Ruben Garcia and Daniel Lentz) and the lauded Through the Hill, a collaboration with Andy Partridge of XTC. In the mid-'90s, he recorded albums for New Albion and All Saints before signing to Atlantic for the release of The Room in mid-2000. In 2004 Budd decided to retire, claiming he had said all he wanted to, and that he "didn't mind disappearing." His final outing, Avalon Sutra/As Long as I Can See My Breath, appeared on David Sylvian's Samhadi Sound imprint as a double disc. The album featured 14 new pieces, some recorded solo, some recorded with saxophonist Jon Gibson, and some with a string quartet.

His collaboration with Eraldo Bernocchi, Fragments From the Inside, issued on Sub Rosa arrived in spring 2005. ~ John Bush & Thom Jurek, All Music Guide [-] Hide

This ensemble was formed in the mid-'80s as the brainchild of Mike Marshall, an internationally acclaimed mandolin player best known for his work with David Grisman and Montreux. Marshall was looking for a way to bring respectability to an instrument primarily known for bluegrass and quaint folk tunes. Toward this end, he established a... [+] Read More

This ensemble was formed in the mid-'80s as the brainchild of Mike Marshall, an internationally acclaimed mandolin player best known for his work with David Grisman and Montreux. Marshall was looking for a way to bring respectability to an instrument primarily known for bluegrass and quaint folk tunes. Toward this end, he established a string-quartet-style group featuring the extended family of mandolin instruments. Marshall and Dana Rath play standard mandolins (which take the place of violins), John Imholz plays mandocello (with a range similar to the cello), and Paul Binkley holds up the middle with his mandola (the alto counterpart to the viola). Together they interpret well-known classical works and premiere newly commissioned compositions of "serious mandolin music." ~ Linda Kohanov, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Having exhausted the four seasons, Chip Davis turned to Johannes Kepler's account of a trip to the moon, The Dream, for the theme to Fresh Aire V. Fans may recall that Fresh Aire 4 featured a song of the same name, implying in the album artwork that Kepler's book had induced a reverie by the fireside. Fresh Aire V is that reverie revealed in its... [+] Read More

Having exhausted the four seasons, Chip Davis turned to Johannes Kepler's account of a trip to the moon, The Dream, for the theme to Fresh Aire V. Fans may recall that Fresh Aire 4 featured a song of the same name, implying in the album artwork that Kepler's book had induced a reverie by the fireside. Fresh Aire V is that reverie revealed in its full length, detailing on the first side of music the trip to the moon, and on the second side an account of events on the moon. As might be expected, the musical landscapes of the moon and winter lean heavily on synthesizers, so in many ways it's like Mannheim Steamroller never left. The difference here is the addition of the London Symphony (guess the Omaha Symphony was busy that day) and the Cambridge Singers, two revered institutions that Davis puts to full use in place of his usual medieval colors. The opening, "Lumen," is unlike anything Mannheim had done to date: a choral piece that sounds medieval, but forsakes the usual up-tempo entrée for a dour, mystical experience. As it turns out, Mannheim merely moved the usual intro up one spot, to the spirited "Escape From the Atmosphere." Yet the medieval, progressive rock of earlier work never makes an appearance; instead, Mannheim sounds more like the Alan Parsons Project than Rick Wakeman when action or emotion are the tasks at hand, Vangelis when trying to paint spacescapes. Despite some genuinely good sections, such as the classically scored "Earth Rise" (with its shades of Ben Hur) and the oddly charming "Creatures of Levania," much of Fresh Aire V sounds like music for an imaginary television series. In the post-Chariots landscape of 1983, Mannheim Steamroller can be forgiven for trying to bridge electronic and classical sounds, but Davis' classical aspirations seem lightweight on the moon, especially compared to artists who have long since grown acclimated to space, like Tangerine Dream and Vangelis. ~ Dave Connolly, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Like many contemporary instrumentalists, Ellwood began his recording career as a solo artist. His debut for Narada is a collection of pieces for guitar. ~ Linda Kohanov, All Music Guide

Like many contemporary instrumentalists, Ellwood began his recording career as a solo artist. His debut for Narada is a collection of pieces for guitar. ~ Linda Kohanov, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Ray Lynch's synthesizer playing sometimes approximates keyboard instruments and sometimes sounds like individually plucked strings on electrified string instruments, but always has a deeply textured melodic structure and a buoyant rhythmic underpinning. Isolated notes in series and patterns make a pointillistic mosaic of sound that alternately... [+] Read More

Ray Lynch's synthesizer playing sometimes approximates keyboard instruments and sometimes sounds like individually plucked strings on electrified string instruments, but always has a deeply textured melodic structure and a buoyant rhythmic underpinning. Isolated notes in series and patterns make a pointillistic mosaic of sound that alternately soothes and stimulates. No wonder this is one of the best-selling new-age albums of all time. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Hearing Budd's piano slowly fade in with the start of "Late October" is just one of those perfect moments -- it's something very distinctly him, made even more so with Eno's touches and slight echo, and it signals the start of a fine album indeed. Acting in some respects as the understandable counterpart to Ambient 2, with the same sense of... [+] Read More

Hearing Budd's piano slowly fade in with the start of "Late October" is just one of those perfect moments -- it's something very distinctly him, made even more so with Eno's touches and slight echo, and it signals the start of a fine album indeed. Acting in some respects as the understandable counterpart to Ambient 2, with the same sense of hushed, ethereal beauty the partnership brought forth on that album, The Pearl is so ridiculously good it instantly shows up much of the mainstream new age as the gloopy schlock that it often is. Eno himself is sensed as a performer on the album, if not by his absence then by his very understated presence. The merest hints of synth and whisper play around Budd's performances, ensuring the latter takes center stage. Eno and Daniel Lanois handle the production side of things, their teamwork once again overseeing a winner. When they bring themselves a little more to the fore, it still always is in the subtlest of ways, as with the artificially higher-pitched notes from Budd on "Lost in the Humming Air." Part of the distinct charm of the album is how the song titles perfectly capture what the music sounds like -- "A Stream With Bright Fish" is almost self-defining. Another key point is how Budd truly captures what ambience in general can and does mean. "Against the Sky" is a strong example -- it can be totally concentrated upon or left to play as atmospherics and is also at once both truly beautiful and not a little haunting in a disturbing sense. Other highlight tracks include the deceptively simple title track, as serene a piece of music as was ever recorded, and the closing "Still Return," bringing The Pearl to a last peak of beauty. ~ Ned Raggett, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Selections by Haydn, Ravel, Debussy, Copland, Brahms, and Shostakovich take on new levels of scintillating intensity and charm at the hands of The Modern Mandolin Quartet. ~ Linda Kohanov, All Music Guide

Selections by Haydn, Ravel, Debussy, Copland, Brahms, and Shostakovich take on new levels of scintillating intensity and charm at the hands of The Modern Mandolin Quartet. ~ Linda Kohanov, All Music Guide [-] Hide