"Aloft," floating thru the air, hang-gliding, free falling in a parachute, or merely flying a kite, pulling the string, making it swing and dance, all these feelings of being high above the earth, blown by the wind, have been put into Harkness' accoustical guitar music.

Upholding the guitar's flights of fancy are various other instruments: fretless bass, synthesizers, piano, percussion, and in "Coconuts" even a touch of trumpet and saxophone, but the guitar is always foremost.

Some of the pieces are very Latin sounding, like "Luna Baillando" and "Coconuts" particularly. "Cuchullain's Dream," written about a giant of Celtic mythology captures the Celtic flavor completely, and what else would one expect of a Windham Hill production? "Summer Solstice" was originally titled "Kathy's Lullabye" and was composed by Harkness to put his wife Kathy to sleep. The title was changed when the piece became the title offering for Windham Hill's "Summer Solstice" album. More of Harkness' varied musical style shows in the jazzy "Harlem River Drive," which Harkness describes as "representing a more urban setting."

I must admit that accoustical guitar is not one of my favorite instruments to listen to, primarily because one so often hears the fingers sliding on the strings. I must compliment Harkness though. He plays his guitar with great skill and total clarity. No noisy, distracting sliding around for him, just sharp, clear, singing notes.

The liner notes include fascinating descriptions of how each song came to be composed. Most of the compositions are by Harkness. Brian Keane composed "Coconuts" and helped arrange some of the pieces. He also produced the album.

I'm going to hit the button on the CD, and re-play "Paradise Reef" while I dream of floating deep under the ocean, watching briliantly colored fish dart in and out of a coral reef as the music paints the picture for me.