Oregon

Oregon's first recording in a while features the three surviving original members (Ralph Towner on guitar and keyboards, bassist Glen Moore, and Paul McCandless, who switches between soprano, English horn, sopranino, oboe and bass clarinet) with either Arto Tuncboyaciyan or Mark Walker on percussion. They perform 14 originals that usually avoid blue notes, making the music sound very folk-oriented. There is plenty of variety in the atmospheres, and the consistently intriguing music should appeal to many listeners, including those who are into mood music, world music or folk songs in addition to jazz.

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.

Oregon continues to move forward creating and evolving as one of America's most important contemporary musical movements. The compositions are original and soar with collective unity, fusing elements of jazz, folk, classical, and world music into a completely original voice. Recorded in a live setting, Chesky Records has captured this event in absolute sonic splendor.

As of this recording, three out of four members of Oregon have been playing together in the group for 42 years. Drummer and percussionist Mark Walker has been on board since 1996, making them among the longest-running small groups in jazz history. Given their long-established sound and collective sense of pan-global adventure, Oregon have remained vital, restless, and disciplined. Family Tree features five new Ralph Towner compositions plus two utterly reworked – and superior – versions of others recorded on his solo offerings, two new Paul McCandless numbers, a new one by Glen Moore, and two collective compositions from the band. Family Tree is the first recording since 1989's 45th Parallel that does not feature any group improvisation.

Passionate, airy, poetic, refined, gentle, evocative: this is Lantern, the new valuable gift Oregon and CAM JAZZ are releasing to all those, ever-growing in number, who are keen on their music, and all the lovers of the finest jazz. This CD features ten original tracks by a quartet that is a wonder of unity, coherence and also expressive freedom: Lantern blends different gems into a new one, a precious plot of moods that take on fantasy and avant-garde nuances (Lantern) or are conventional and playful like lovely dances (Dolomiti Dance), swinging and brisk (Walk The Walk, The Glide), sweetly Latin (Not Forgotten) or, at times, almost poignant (Figurine). Even a disarmingly simple track (The Water Is Wide) turns into a small gem of jazz thanks to the sophisticated solos by Paolino Dalla Porta on double bass and that talented artist, Ralph Towner, on piano (and guitar, of course).

Long before "New Age" and "World Music" became part of the musical-term language, Oregon was making music that would influence (directly or indirectly) those genres. During the early 1970s, the much-maligned fusion movement in jazz was building up steam, and Oregon, in their quiet, understated way, contributed greatly. The band played acoustically–all the players had jazz backgrounds as well as a strong interest in ethnic musics from around the globe.

It seems like yesterday that "Our First Record" changed the course of events, arriving in a flash at this latest release "In Stride", with the same energy, the same desire to explore and keep in the game, consistently, and once again. «In Stride» envelopes the entire history of this band; it enhances the compositional talent of these four musicians, magnifies their voices as soloists and, above all, recalls in case you need reminding that strange and magical alchemy which transformed this quartet into Oregon.

Ecotopia was the last album that Oregon released through the ECM label, and the first that the band - now with a new fulltime percussionist in the person of Gurtu (Walcott was never truly replaced, but continued and still does continue to inspire and propel the band ever onward). The music on the album is vivid and fresh, but like the half a dozen albums (including the ones they released up to Northwest Passage), there is a sense of mortality in the music an urgency in the tone and flow that suggests that Towner, Moore and McCandless have survived a catastrophe and are now tread softly into the future aware of the impermanence of things.

Fine late '70s material from the acoustic band Oregon. Despite the title, it's not violin-dominated material, but their standard blend of Asian, European, African, and American elements and influences.