''December'' is the fourth solo piano album from

George Winston George Winston (born December 26, 1949) is an American pianist, guitarist, harmonicist, and record producer. He was born in Michigan and raised mainly in Montana ( Miles City and Billings), as well as Mississippi and Florida. He is best known fo ...

. It was recorded during the fall of 1982 and was released at the end of the year. It is a

Christmas album Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or, in the case of carols or songs, may employ lyrics whose subject ma ...

, and more generally a tribute to the winter season. The album is a follow-up to ''

Winter into Spring ''Winter into Spring'' is the third solo album of pianist George Winston George Winston (born December 26, 1949) is an American pianist, guitarist, harmonicist, and record producer. He was born in Michigan and raised mainly in Montana ( Miles ...

'' from earlier in 1982. ''December'' is Winston's highest-selling album, having been certified triple Platinum by the RIAA, signifying 3 million copies in shipment. The success of the album, along with several of Winston's other albums from the early 1980s, enabled the record label,

Windham Hill Windham Hill Records was an independent record label that specialized in instrumental acoustic music. It was founded by guitarist William Ackerman and Anne Robinson (née McGilvray) in 1976 and was popular in the 1980s and 1990s. The label was ...

, to get international distribution and a higher profile. The album also spent 136 weeks on the

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of art ...

, reaching a peak of No. 54 in January 1984, over a year after its original release. In 1987, five years after its release, it reached No. 2 on Billboard's Top Holiday Albums chart. A 20th Anniversary Edition of the album, with two bonus tracks, was released in 2001. The album was again reissued in 2013 by

Valley Entertainment Valley Entertainment is an American independent record label and music distributor based in New York City, United States. The company was founded in 1994 by Barney Cohen and Jon Birge. In 2001, it acquired the prestigious back catalogue of space, ...

with

Dancing Cat Records Dancing Cat Records is a record label founded in 1983 by pianist George Winston to publish both his music and music in the Hawaiian slack-key guitar style. Its mission later expanded to cover other Hawaiian musicians. Dancing Cat's albums were o ...

, Winston's own label. This reissue was packaged in a

Digipak Optical disc packaging is the packaging that accompanies CDs, DVDs, and other formats of optical discs. Most packaging is rigid or semi-rigid and designed to protect the media from scratches and other types of exposure damage. Jewel case A ...

and features revised cover art.

Critical reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

critic William Ruhlmann commented that ''December'' ranks as "the mother of all solo instrumental albums, and with good reason. Mixing traditional carols with

Pachelbel's Canon Pachelbel's Canon (also known as the Canon in D, P 37) is an accompanied canon by the German Baroque composer Johann Pachelbel. The canon was originally scored for three violins and basso continuo and paired with a gigue, known as ''Canon and G ...

and a few originals, Winston produces a solo piano album of unparalleled—and undeniable—beauty. How can music be simultaneously stirring and soothing, relaxed yet exalted? Millions have found the answer here, and an industry has spent decades trying to duplicate it."

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from 1982 vinyl liner notes. *George Winston — piano ;Additional: *Anne Ackerman, William Ackerman — cover design *Karen Kirsch, Steven Miller — sound engineers *Jack Hunt — mastering *Greg Edmonds — photography

Chart

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 1982 albums George Winston albums Windham Hill Records albums Valley Entertainment albums Christmas albums by American artists