WINDHAM THRILLS

A Windham Hill artist encoring with Prince’s “A Love Bizzarre”? That’s hardly the mellow ambiance generally associated with the popular “new-age” record company. But that’s how acoustic guitarist/singer Michael Hedges capped his stunning, often fiery set Saturday at the Greek Theatre. It was a fitting gesture in a concert that proved that the label’s music--often derided as “musical quiche”--can be lively and humorous, and is anything but homogenous.

Top-billed Shadowfax’s pan-cultural “world music” confirmed the electric sextet’s reputation as the successor to Weather Report. The only problem was predictability of the fusion format, which was varied only by a calypso number, an Indian-ish excursion and a Chicago blues-styled encore.

Will Ackerman’s opening set of pleasant original classical-folk guitar pieces was much more in line with Windham Hill’s image. But then, he is the label’s founder.