Alex de Grassi – Clockwork (1981) (24/96 Vinyl Rip)

The Windham Hill name might lead you to believe this is New Age crap. It isn't. Alex de Grassi plays great solo guitar, and this is another of his fine releases.

His profile on Discogs:
Alex de Grassi (born February 13, 1952, in Yokosuka, Japan) is a Grammy Award nominated American fingerstyle guitarist. De Grassi came from a musical family. His grandfather was a violinist with the San Francisco Symphony. His cousin, William Ackerman, founded Windham Hill Records and signed de Grassi to his label. De Grassi's first album "Turning: Turning Back", an instrumental collection of solo guitar pieces, was released by Windham Hill in 1978. His next album, "Slow Circle" (1979) was his last for Windham Hill to exclusively feature solo guitar work. As the label shifted away from folk into a more new age sound de Grassi was joined by an ensemble of Windham Hill artists on subsequent albums.
For his fifth album, "Altiplano" (1987), released by RCA Novus rather than Windham Hill, de Grassi turned to more of a jazz sound. After one more new age album he began mixing in world music influences, particularly South American music, on his album "The World's Getting Loud" (1993), his last release for Windham Hill. He reprised the South American theme on "Tata Monk" (2000). De Grassi was nominated for a Grammy Award for his 1998 album "The Water Garden."

Biography by Linda Kohanov for Allmusic:
Music has long been a family affair for Alex de Grassi. Though he's primarily self-taught as a guitarist, his grandfather played violin with The San Francisco Symphony and his father was a classical pianist. Even more significant are de Grassi's ties to one of contemporary instrumental music's most influential labels, Windham Hill. In addition to his status as one of the company's finest and most consistently intriguing artists, de Grassi is literally a member of the Windham Hill clan. After earning a degree in urban geography from U.C. Berkeley and performing as a street musician in London, he made ends meet by learning the carpentry trade from his cousin Will Ackerman, who was just starting a small instrumental record label. De Grassi was encouraged to record his first album, Turning: Turning Back, for the fledgling Windham Hill company. As it turns out, he had more going for him than good connections. Over the years, de Grassi has proven to be an innovative guitarist and composer whose mastery of acoustic finger-picking styles has grown to include a variety of other techniques and ethnic influences. Though he left briefly to record with RCA Novus, de Grassi has since returned to the Windham Hill fold. In the mid-'80s, his travels to Bolivia became a major inspiration. He made numerous field recordings during his visits and first incorporated indigenous influences from the culture on his 1987 RCA Novus release Altiplano. His contacts with Bolivia's Contemporary Orchestra of Native Instruments also set in motion the ensemble's first American release, Arawl, on the New Albion label. De Grassi continued experimenting with different genres and sounds that included guitar lullabies (1996's Beyond the Night Sky), his 1999 album of James Taylor interpretations, and 2000's collaboration with world music artist Quique Cruz, Tata Monk. Moving back to solo guitar work, his exploration of American folk music can be heard on 2003's Now and Then: Folk Songs for the 21st Century.

Tracks
01. Thirty-six 06:32
02. Two color dream 06:25
03. Clockwork 06:43
04. Bougainvillea Suite · Opening 01:50
05. Bougainvillea Suite · Bougainvillea 03:56
06. Bougainvillea Suite · Elegy 01:13
07. Bougainvillea Suite · Sorta Samba 05:55
08. Bougainvillea Suite · Part Five 04:43
Total time: 37:14

Musicians
Alex de Grassi: Guitar, Composer
Darol Anger: Violin
Scott Cossu: Piano
Chuck Greenberg: Lyricon, Saxophone
Mike Marshall: Mandolin
Patrick O'Hearn: Fretless Bass
Rob Wasserman: Bass
Michael Spiro: Percussion
Kurt Wortman: Drums