Oregon

Oregon - Our First Record (1970) {Vanguard–PJL Japan MTCJ-2550 rel 2004, Paper Sleeve}
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© 1970, 2004 Vanguard / PJL Japan | MTCJ-2550
Jazz / World Jazz / Progressive Jazz / Folk Jazz

Let's get one thing straight from the outset: Oregon is not nor were they Ever a "New Age" group. There is nothing saccahrinely simple or cloyingly pretty about this music - it is harmonically complex, rhythmically interesting and melodically uncliched. I have never understood why this band came to be labeled in such a facile and flagrantly inaccurate way. Along with bandleader Paul Winter (and coming from a completely different place,) Miles Davis, they were the true godfathers of what's come to be known as world jazz. Not to mention important contributors to 3rd stream music.

If there was a "second best" recording from Oregon in their early years, this would be it. The concept of "Winter Light" certainly reflects the visage of the Pacific Northwest in the fourth season, yet it is a music, and time of year, filled with hope for the future while pondering a somewhat bleak present. Winter can be pleasant, bearable and filled with its own snowy delights. The first three pieces on their own are worth the price of this entire project, and are definitive works from the quartet. "Tide Pool" while accented with bizarre twists, is anchored by Walcott's energetic tabla and Towner's pure bred energy on acoustic guitar.

Although it doesn't state it anywhere on the CD itself, this one is a bit different from all of the Oregon projects before or since. This recording on the Vanguard label is from 1979 and has a very good recorded sound for the time. I would say this is my very favorite Oregon recording ("Winter Light" comes a close second), from the bands first decade, my favorite recording at least up until the time they recorded for the ECM lable in the mid 1980's. Oregon has a large body of compositions, many of which have been recorded several times at intervals years apart, with slight changes in arrangement. However this recording has 9 pieces that I don't recall the band has recorded since, so there are no familiar well-known Oregon pieces here.

Oregon, the band which has been existing for more than three decades, is well known for crossing borders of musical genres, combining stylistic means of jazz with those of classical and world music from the very beginning, playing world jazz, and being open to both Indian music and folk with Celtic elements.

In 1983, the ubiquitous composers' collective known as Oregon left its old homestead of Vanguard Records and moved over to Manfred Eicher's ECM. It was also one of the final recordings the band did with multi-instrumentalist Collin Walcott; he was killed in a car accident a year later. Here's the strange thing about this date: Since the early '70s, Oregon had been an acoustic, chamber jazz/improvisational group.

Although Oregon was founded as an ensemble of soloists, their strength has always been their ability to integrate as a band, a result of their unusual combination of talent and curiosity. None of the members was content with just one instrumental style, but instead developed connections with classical Indian and European music, bluegrass, folk, jazz and experimental avant-garde. With such a solid musical foundation, the Oregon four needed to do little more than appear within a zeitgeist that welcomed improvisational and chamber jazz sounds, and before an audience that valued their wild mix of characters and compositional talents.