„It is very rare indeed for the art of the brush on canvas and fingers on musical instruments to inhabit the same time, space and composition. But when it does a lifetime of magical experiences are born and stay with you forever. To do this the artists must make a myriad metaphysical leaps and transmigrations! A twist of fate that must make mind, body and soul dance with the re-invention of pure joy. To do this requires re-locating the landscape of music to a canvas in the musician’s mind and the listener’s ear. There is no group of artists who can perform this magic like the musicians of the group – Oregon.“
==== RAUL D’GAMA ROSE, AllAboutJazz.comOregon emerged in 1970 as a splinter band from the Paul Winter Consort. Its members each had experience in jazz, classical, and a variety of non-western musical styles, and were also multi-instrumentalists. Ralph Towner played standard acoustic and 12-string guitar, piano, a variety of electric keyboards, trumpet and flügelhorn. Paul McCandless‘ instrumental arsenal included oboe, English horn, soprano sax, bass clarinet, the musette, and tin flute. Collin Walcott handled most of the percussion duties on tabla and various African and Latin rhythm instruments plus sitar, dulcimer, clarinet, and violin. Glen Moore was the bassist, and also played clarinet, viola, piano, and flute. They suffered some snide comments labeling them the „Modern Jazz Quartet of the ’70s“ or „a white, European imitation of the Art Ensemble of Chicago.“ In truth, they were an excellent ensemble playing a hybrid style that wasn’t exactly jazz, and certainly wasn’t rock, but liberally quoted and borrowed from free jazz, Asian, African, European and pop music sources. They began on Vanguard, later moved to ECM, and also issued albums on Elektra and Portrait/Columbia. Walcott‘s death in a car accident in 1984 was a major blow but he was eventually successfully replaced by percussionist Trilok Gurtu. Oregon has worked at times with some guest players (including Zbigniew Seifert, Nancy King, and Elvin Jones). Their Elektra albums were reissued on CD by Discover, while their Vanguard and ECM albums have also been remastered and re-released on compact disc. Mark Walker, a master percussionist and drummer from Chicago, eventually replaced Gurtu, and became a full-time member of Oregon in 1996. Beginning with 2005’s Prime, Oregon recorded for the CAM Jazz label. Family Tree appeared in 2012. (Ron Wynn. All Music Guide)
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