George Winston
Autumn

It's 1980, and the then thirty-year-old Winston meets Will Ackerman and entertains him with the guitar (classical) with some pieces he had written for solo piano. Yes, but why use the guitar if he intended them for the piano? Well, perhaps because the great Ackerman had a guitar in his hands at that moment, and a few notes were enough for a good listener. The fact is that the founder of Windham Hill Records didn't dislike what he heard from George at all, so much so that he signed him on the spot for the newborn record company. And so, the second album of our hero comes out, but in reality, it's the first to be successful enough to open a fortunate career for the pianist from Montana, a semi-populated state in the northwest of the USA, but rich in evocative and often snowy landscapes, a source of inspiration for many of his pieces, certainly almost all of those on this album, except obviously the maritime one, which not by chance is the sparsest.

Composed of rather simple and sometimes repetitive chords, in the long run, it might seem a bit monotonous, especially for those who crave adrenaline rushes. On the contrary, "Autumn" is a meditative album, made of lightly painted images by Winston's brushstrokes on the keyboard, especially in the first side, which is generally melancholic as suggested by the arrival of a season where nature, rather than falling asleep, in the homeland of our hero, goes to freeze for almost 6 months. The second part is more lively with the excellent "Road," which suggests the slow interspersing of steps on a country road, with a slight increase in tempo perhaps due to the approach to the farm, George's destination, upon reaching which one moves to the contemplation of the "Moon," with a luminous reflection perhaps on the snowy mountains of Montana or on the waters of a fast-flowing stream descending from them, with a decidedly romantic and evocative finale; perhaps the best piece of the album.

Next, we have the call of the sea, hearing Winston’s notes, quite agitated, only to calm down at the end, and the closure that rightfully belongs to the stars and it couldn’t be otherwise, perhaps referring to his ascendant; "Stars" is a very suggestive piece: perhaps the continuous (the obsessive interspersing) human quest to understand what on earth might be up there watching us. A futile search, without answers.

"Autumn" was praised both by overseas critics and by sales, thanks to which Ackerman & Co.'s company could impose itself on the general public, effectively launching a New Age music season that would only run out about twenty years later, not before having produced many remarkable albums by excellent artists and performers, often little known in Italy.

Compared to Winston's subsequent productions, "Autumn," in my opinion, should not go beyond a generous 3 stars, considering neither the graphics nor the acoustic yield are noteworthy. However, keeping in mind the historical moment and the following it will have with Windham Hill, I cannot refrain from rounding up to 4 stars.