Ralph Towner - Blue Sun (1983)

 

Related:

Oregon - Music of Another Present Era (1972)

Ralph Towner - Diary (1973)

Ralph Towner - Solstice (1974)

Still can't prioritize this blog at the moment, but I wanted to quickly drop some Sunday listening on you. Like Towner's Diary, Blue Sun is a completely solo endeavor, which means that he wrote and performed every piece of it -- guitars, piano, cornet, synthesizers, some light percussion. Very easy on the ears kinda stuff.

Track listing:

1. Blue Sun

2. The Prince and the Sage

3. C.T. Kangaroo

4. Mevlana Etude

5. Wedding of the Streams

6. Shadow Fountain

7. Rumours of Rain

Over and gone

Also listen to:

Terje Rypdal - After the Rain (1976)

Bill Frisell - In Line (1983)

Kenny Wheeler - Deer Wan (1978)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
John Taylor, Norma Winston, & Kenny Wheeler - Azimuth (1977)

Laid-back but sprawling, stream-of-consciousness pieces, helmed by Canadian trumpeter/flugelhorn-player Kenny Wheeler, and featuring a band of ECM heavyweights -- check the tags.

Track listing:
1. Peace for Five
2. 3/4 in the Afternoon
3. Sumother Song
4. Deer Wan

Follow down

You'd also enjoy:

Barre Phillips -
Mountainscapes (1976)

Paul Motian Trio -
Le Voyage (1979)

Ralph Towner - Solstice (1974)

More ECM excellence, this time from a four-piece group of ECM heavyweights -- saxophonist Jan Garbarek, keyboardist Eberhard Weber, drummer Jon Christensen, and guitarist/bandleader Ralph Towner. While much of Towner's work is placid and sparse, with Solstice, the full-band sound lends a welcome sense of dissonance and unrest to his compositions, leading to one of his most diverse, dynamic, and memorable outings.

Track listing:
1. Oceanus
2. Visitation
3. Drifting Petals
4. Nimbus
5. Winter Solstice
6. Piscean Dreams
7. Red and Black
8. Sand

Distant hills

Ralph Towner - Diary (1973)

First fully solo album from American guitarist Ralph Towner. Tranquil but buoyant compositions for piano, twelve-string and classical guitar, performed entirely by Towner alone. I've heard almost all of his albums, and this is probably my favorite.

Track listing:
1. Dark Spirit
2. Entry in a Diary
3. Images Unseen
4. Icarus
5. Mon Enfant
6. Ogden Road
7. Erg
8. The Silence of a Candle

Sipping the past

Oregon - Music of Another Present Era (1972)

Phenomenal debut album from this innovative group, whose members included, at the time, guitarist Ralph Towner, bassist Glen Moore, oboist Paul McCandless, and multi-instrumentalist Collin Walcott. Their distinct blending of Indian and 'Western' classical folk styles with jazz fusion and psychedelia has never sounded better than it does here.

Track listing:
1. North Star
2. The Rough Places Plain
3. Sail
4. At the Hawk's Well
5. Children of God
6. Opening
7. Naiads
8. Shard / Spring Is Really Coming
9. Bell Spirit
10. Baku the Dream Eater
11. The Silence of a Candle
12. Land of Heart's Desire
13. The Swan
14. Touchstone

Eyes