Oregon
Music Of Another Present Era
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Oregon is an accomplished band which has been getting rave reviews on the New York City club circuit despite the fact that it is serious, eclectic and non-electric. The four musicians are classically trained. They have impressive jazz credentials. They have worked with symphony orchestras, rock groups and "progressive" aggregations like Weather Report. Guitarist Ralph Towner is well-known as a composer for orchestra, film and dance. Collin Walcott studied under Ravi Shankar and tabla virtuoso Alla Rakha. Paul McCandless was a symphonic oboist and Glen Moore was a jazz bassist. Oregon is a framework within which they are able to use everything they know. Oregon's range of musical referents
Read More is thus unusually broad. The band is equally at home with baroque counterpoint, Indian raga, harmonically-advanced improvising, rock rhythms and contemporary classicism. Such eclecticism is nothing new after the groundbreaking work of a variety of Sixties groups, but the skill and intelligence the Oregon musicians display sets them apart from the run of "bold new fusions" and other musical shotgun weddings. The various influences and elements have been absorbed into an attractively consistent style. The band is the thing; the individuals in it are all able soloists, but they have chosen to work together toward an ensemble sound. The most typical Oregon sound is hypnotic, high-energy acoustic improvising with oboe or English horn on top, Towner's 12-string guitar providing a ringing drone or punctuating with darting single-string lines, Moore's bass providing a full bottom, and Walcott's tablas furnishing the propulsion. It is a sound that springs directly from the tentative raga/jazz/rock fusions of the Sixties, but here the fusion is assured; the style seems to have "taken" so that it is now as natural for young, white urban musicians as the blues was for Depression-era rural blacks. A great deal of study, discipline and training has gone into this music, but it is accessible and easy to listen to. In fact, Music of Another Present Era is the freshest instrumental sound so far this year, and there is enough substance to stand up to repeated listening. (RS 140) BOB PALMER |
