Windham Hill founder and acoustic guitarist Ackerman has a way with the elegiac and the moodily majestic, rarely so well-conceived as on this 1981 disc that features cameos from Darroll Anger and George Winston. An early example of digital recording, Passage illustrates Ackerman's command of the pedal-tone figure; hypnotic fingerpicked arpeggios with subtly moving basslines patiently draw the listener in. Anger's violin adds a spirited lyric voice to the meditative "Remedios," while Winston's characteristic phrasing adds splashes of color to "Hawk Circle." If Ackerman's 1976 LP In Search of the Turtle's Navel is, arguably, the album that invented new-age music, Passage is his refinement of the form."
Track listing:
Remedios
Processional
The Impending Death of the Virgin
Spirit
Pacific
The Bricklayer's Beautiful Daughter
Hawk Circle
Anne's Song
Passage
