a post about Oregon

one of the most interesting entries in the archives are Oregon, a band featuring guitar and piano player Ralph Towner, sax, oboe and clarinet player Paul McCandless and bass / piano player Glen Moore. they were founded in 1970; the fourth founding member was percussionist and sitar player Colin Walcott, who sadly died in a car accident in East Germany in 1984. he was replaced by Trilok Gurtu, who played with them for 5 years. the current percussion player is Mark Walker, who joined in 1996.
although I believe Oregon's music to be jazz without any rock ingredients I think they perfectly fit into the archives; their jazz is a kind of "world jazz". the combination of acoustic guitar, sitar, acoustic bass, acoustic piano, sitar and the warm wind instruments of Paul McCandless gives them a unique sound which is unlike any other jazz ensemble. what's more: somehow one does not think of "jazz" when listening to them; they certainly have nothing to do with the origins of jazz. their closest musical relative is European chamber jazz like Eberhard Weber's Colours; I consider Oregon, although not European themselves, to be a precursor of European Chamber jazz. highly recommended to any prog lover. as a starting point I suggest "Winter Lights", which is my favorite album of them


Edited by BaldJean - March 10 2008 at 17:58

Yes, "Winter Light"... haven't heard it in 25+ years, a friend had that LP, which I've never seen on CD. Of course, the title is a double entendre; the members of Oregon all came from The Paul Winter Consort, so when they broke off, they were minus Paul Winter, hence they were "Winter Light"...  I have some later Oregon stuff, as well as many Towner solo albums and one by Walcott. Another Winter Consort alumnus, David Darling, has released a number of excellent ECM label albums, which often feature members of Oregon.

I love Webber's Chorus. I guess I should search for oregon.

I have all their recordings from the Walcott era including the Towner solo album that was him and McCandless/Walcott.  What a fantastic group of musicians.  All great performers, improvisers and composers.  They are a prime example of a group that had no boundary really and weren't really categorize-able.  My personal favorite is Distant Hills.  That album is a huge mind trip!

I have Roots in the Sky on CD.