In Concert: Sonic Seasonings with FLOW and Friends

On a new Echoes Sonic Seasonings, we bring you FLOW and Friends. FLOW is the instrumental supergroup with pianist Fiona Joy Hawkins, guitarist Lawrence Blatt, trumpeter Jeff Oster and guitarist Will Ackerman, the founder of Windham Hill Records. With a coterie of friends, they get together in new configurations to reinvent the sound of Christmas.

We’ll hear Fiona Joy Hawkins joined by violinist Rebecca Daniel. The two musicians released a beautiful album of free-flowing neo-classical music exploring sorrow and loss called The Lightness of Dark. They are joined by percussionist Jeff Haynes and Jeff Oster on flugelhorn. They deconstruct a set of familiar seasonal songs into refracted variations as if spun through a prism.

The trio Departure, is an as-yet unrecorded trio, featuring with three musicians who have their own discographies and credits. They include trumpeter Jeff Oster from FLOW. He has several solo albums, including a couple of Echoes CD of the Month picks. His latest is called Reach. Bassist/keyboardist Tom Eaton is the producer and utility player of FLOW. He also has several solo albums out of deep ambient music including his latest, How It Happened. Guitarist Vin Downes is also a solo artist with several solo albums out. His latest is When the Sea Lets Go. They send carols into an ambient space where Miles Davis meets Pink Floyd on the moons of Jupiter.

Finally, guitarist Will Ackerman teams up with guitarist Vin Downes for a unique take on a lesser-known seasonal song. Ackerman is a veteran of Echoes Sonic Seasonings shows and his Winter Solstice collections on Windham Hill were an inspiration for all Echoes seasonal programming.

FLOW and friends turn Christmas into an intimately chilled and musically adventurous mood live on Echoes Sonic Seasonings.

DISCOGRAPHY
FLOW – Promise

Fiona Joy Hawkins & Rebecca Daniel – The Lightness of Dark

Jeff Oster – Reach

Lawrence Blatt – Longitudes and Latitudes

Will Ackerman – Was It This Lifetime

Tom Eaton – How It Happened

Vin Downes – When the Sea Lets Go