The sun shines down on the earth all day, it warms the oceans and the forests, and awakens the majority of earth’s inhabitants, and at sundown the nocturnal animals wake up for nighttime activities, and there are feelings of solitude and uncertainty. With every dark hour that passes, daytime will soon occur. “There is a natural wonder that only occurs in the evening,” Winston wrote, “and ‘Night’ basically scales the clock from midnight to 7 a.m. When he released his final album, “Night,” last year, he described it in the terms of a concept album, as so many of his recordings were. “The best situation for me is a very small hall, with no mic at all.” I am influenced some by the sounds of electronic instruments, but I reflect those influences on acoustic instruments,” he wrote. “I like the total acoustic sound, and I play better that way, and I dislike the sound with a mic for my ways of playing. Winston preferred playing in intimate venues due to his disdain for amplification. Prior to developing this style in 1971, he wrote that “I was mainly working on stride piano, and I wanted something that was complementary to that, melodic and simpler, and using the sustain sound of the piano that I love… It is rural in nature, rather than urban.” Winston described folk piano as being an outgrowth of his early interests in American folk music along with R&B and rock. In contrast, he said he only devoted about 10% of his playing to folk piano, although “the majority of songs on my recordings are in this style,” he noted. Lesser known than his predominant style was Winston’s interest in New Orleans-style R&B piano, and he even claimed that 90% of the songs he played were in that style - “mainly played at the solo piano dances I do” - although this was rarely a staple of his typically more sedate recordings. I just play the songs the best I can, inspired by the seasons and the topographies and regions, and, occasionally, by sociological elements, and try to improve as a player over time.” “Any other labels, including anything having to do with anything philosophical, or spiritual, or any beliefs, are also not accurate, as I have no interest in those subjects. The New Age genre was not one he identified with, either. “When the ‘Autumn’ album came out in 1980, I was first sometimes mislabeled as classical, but… I don’t have any classical influence… Around that time I was also sometimes mislabeled as jazz, but I also don’t play jazz on the piano,” he added, although noting that “I am inspired some by the jazz traditions, and jazz was my main focus on the organ before I switched to the piano in 1971).” “I came up with the melodic style that I play in 1971, and I have always called it ‘Folk Piano’ (or more accurately ‘Rural Folk Piano’), since it is melodic and not complicated in its approach, like folk guitar picking and folk songs, and has a rural sensibility,” he wrote on his website. (He also released his own albums via his personal imprint, with distribution through Windham Hill through the mid-2000s and RCA thereafter.) But he will forever be predominantly identified as one of the most famous pianists of the late 20th century. In fact, he started up his own label, Dancing Cat Records, largely because of his interest in releasing albums by artists playing the Hawaiian slack-key guitar. Winston’s interests went beyond piano, as he also released acoustic guitar and harmonica recordings. His success continued into the ’90s, when three more of his albums went gold: “Summer,” “Forest” and a tribute album, “Linus and Lucy: The Music of Vince Guaraldi.” He had two other albums that reached the platinum level (“Autumn” and “Winter Into Spring”), also in the early ’80s. It was one of the releases that put the Windham Hill label on the map. “December” was his bestselling album, by dint of being considered a Christmas album, being certified triple-platinum in the U.S. Read the full message: /0Kzs6YSgE2- George Winston June 6, 2023 George quietly and painlessly left this world while asleep on Sunday, June 4, 2023. We are deeply saddened to share the news that George Winston has passed away after a 10-year battle with cancer.
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