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Project Wrap Up
I've now listed all 366 entries in my survey, one for each day of the year in 2020. Before ending the project, I wanted to share some mo...
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I've now listed all 366 entries in my survey, one for each day of the year in 2020. Before ending the project, I wanted to share some mo... -
Bill Evans (p); Marc Johnson (b); Joe LaBarbera (d) Recorded on November 29, 1979 Bill Evans died less than a year after making these record... -
Jordi Sabatés (p, el p, perc); Santi Arisa (d, perc) Recorded in 1979 Spanish pianist Jordi Sabatés earned a five-star review in Downbeat ...
I will always remember my first exposure to Oregon at a hifi store, which was smart enough to have "Out of the Woods" sitting around as a demo disk. The interplay among the group is strong, all-acoustic (at least in the 1970s) guitars, sitars, tablas, bass, and reeds (including oboe and English horn). The compositions are mostly by Ralph Towner and are well represented on Winter Light. The style is hard to describe - definitely jazz played by virtuosos - but more focused on textures and sounds. Very accessible. Free improvisation and Towner compositions comprise most of the Oregon albums. "Oregon in Performance" from 1979 is a slight favorite, and the Elektra records sound a little better than the Vanguards. But once hooked, there's no reason to choose between records; get 'em all (except maybe for the ill-advised collaboration with Elvin Jones).
ReplyDeleteBeyond 1980 Oregon moved to ECM, which you might think would be a move up sound-wise. Not so. Their ECM records include more synthesizers and are recorded digitally, which removes one of the key features of the Vanguard and Elektra recordings. A recent album "Lantern" (2016 on CamJazz) is a reassembled band but much closer to the original concept.
I cannot recommend this group more strongly to people who like small acoustic settings and fusions of jazz, eastern, and exotic music.