Shadowfax

  • Shadowfax - Watercourse Way [Passport Records PPSD-98013] (1976)
  • Shadowfax - Watercourse Way [Lost Lake Arts LL-0085] (1976)
  • Shadowfax - Shadowfax [Windham Hill Records C-1022] (1982)
  • Shadowfax - Shadowfax [Windham Hill Records WH-1022] (1982)
  • Shadowfax - Shadowdance [Windham Hill Records WH-1029] (1983)
  • Shadowfax - The Dreams Of Children [Windham Hill Records WH-1038] (February 1985)
  • Shadowfax - Too Far To Whisper [Windham Hill Records WH-1051] (1986)
  • Shadowfax - Folksongs For A Nuclear Village [Capitol Records C1-46924] (30 March 1988)

Also Appears On

  • Various Artists - Windham Hill Records Sampler '82 [Windham Hill Records WH-1024] (1982)
  • Various Artists - Windham Hill Records Sampler '84 [Windham Hill Records WH-1035] (1984)
  • Various Windham Hill Artists - A Winter's Solstice [Windham Hill Records WH-1045] (1985)
  • Various Artists - Windham Hill Records Sampler '86 [Windham Hill Records WH-1048] (1986)
  • Various Artists - Windham Hill Sampler '88 [Windham Hill Records WH-1065] (1988)

Biography

Jason Ankeny [allmusic.com]

One of new age electronic music's earliest and best-known proponents, Shadowfax were formed in Chicago in 1972 by saxophonist Chuck Greenberg, guitarist G.E. Stinson, and bassist Phil Maggini. Originally a blues band, the trio soon began exploring chamber jazz and folk; even medieval music began creeping into the mix, alan_parsonsropriately enough for a group named in honor of a horse from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series. Adding drummer Stuart Nevitt in 1974, Shadowfax issued their debut LP, Watercourse Way, two years later; failing to make an immediate impact, the quartet did attract a cult following that continued to grow following its subsequent signing to the Windham Hill label. Their commercial breakthrough arrived with the release of 1982's eponymously titled effort, which reached the upper rungs of the Billboard jazz charts; for the follow-up, 1983's Shadowdance, Shadowfax's ranks swelled with the additions of violinist Jamii Szmadzinski and pianist/synth player Jared Stewart. The band endured multiple personnel changes in the years to follow, with founding members Greenberg and Maggini both remaining constants well into the 1990s. However, given Greenberg's leadership position in Shadowfax and role in creating their signature sound (including his playing of the Lyricon electronic wind instrument that he helped to engineer), the group disbanded following the reedman's death from a heart attack while vacationing on California's Santa Cruz Island in September 1995.