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Credits:
Andy Abad: Guitars and Charango
Armen Chakmakian: Electronic Keyboards, Acoustic Piano
Chuck Greenberg: Woodwinds and Lyricon
Phil Maggini: Electric Basses and vocal on “Brown Rice”
Stu Nevitt: Acoustic and Electronic Drums and Percussion
Ramon Yslas: Congas and Percussion
Produced by Chuck Greenberg
Reviews:
Any band that has been around for twenty years with ten best-selling albums to its credit - one Grammy
winning, another Grammy-nominated should surely release a live album.
Shadowfax's first live album finds most of the core members of the group, Chuck Greenberg, Phil Maggini,
and Stu Nevitt, and some superb additions (who have been along for an album or two) playing harder than
ever.
Proving Shadowfax is not a studio band, this recording takes a well-chosen cross-section of songs from
their two decades of releases and brings them to life without multi-tracking or sequencing. The extended
arrangements have more bite (mostly due to harsher distorted electric guitar work by Andy Abad) than
their studio versions. Providing a balance are "Include Me Out" and "A Pause in the Rain," which display
the lighter and more sophisticated touch that Armen Chakmakian keyboard work brings to the band.
The studio version of Don Cherry's "Brown Rice/Karmapa Chenno" is better than this live version (the
former simmers and bubbles with greater restraint before erupting into the heavy metal power chord
cadenza), but I wouldn't trade it for the extended "Ariki." A must have for Shadowfax fans.
-David N. Blank-Edelman RhythmMusic
LONG BEFORE "world beat" became a music industry marketing trend, the Grammy-award winning group
Shadowfax was expanding conventional musical boundaries with a unique blend of rhythms and melodies
from a variety of rich cultures. Since their inception in Chicago in 1974 to the present time, Shadowfax's
unique sounds have made fans all over the world while setting new artistic standards in contemporary
jazz, new age and world music. Shadowfax has earned recognition as one of America's premier
instrumental ensembles.
SHADOWFAX recorded their debut album "Watercourse Way" in 1976 on ABC/Passport Records, but first
began to find a wide audience for their music in 1982 when they began recording for the Windham Hill
label. Over the past 20 years, the band has recorded 10 successful albums, among which "Folksongs For A
Nuclear Village" was honored with a Grammy in 1988. Their album "Esperanto" was also nominated for a
Grammy in 1992. Shadowfax co-founder, producer and wind player Chuck Greenberg says, "We have
always tried to make music that is true to what we feel. We hope that music reaching us on an emotional
level, will also reach listeners as well."
THE BAND has been looking forward to this new album (June 13, 1995) and video - a live recording from
its new label, Sonic Images, based in Los Angeles. Greenberg says, "The band is enthusiastic about their
new association with Sonic Images. They have been fans of our music for a long time, and we anticipate and
a long and productive relationship with them."
SHADOWFAX's original members Chuck Greenberg (winds), Stu Nevitt (drums), and Phil Maggini (bass)
are joined by Armen Chakmakian (keyboards) and Ray Yslas (percussion) who have been with the band
since recording "Esperanto" in 1992. Newest member Andy Abad (guitar) appears on the live recording
after debuting with the band on 1994's "Magic Theatre."
SHADOWFAX continues to create new music for the next century, defying categorization and breaking
musical boundaries. In the words of Mix Magazine "Shadowfax's music is not jazz, not rock, not electronic,
not new age, not classical. It's not any of these categories but all of them."
"In the tradition of musicians like Miles Davis, Peter Gabriel and Don Cherry, Shadowfax blurs the line between
genres, mixing 3rd world drums and reeds with synthesizers and jazzy saxes. The result is a jazz and
rock-influenced sound that is simultaneously electric and acoustic, urban and tribal, sophisticated and naive."
-Newsday, 1993
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