Aug 23: Icarus

Here's a Sunday morning treat for you apropos of nothing....

Ralph Towner and Gary Burton playing 'Icarus' from the album 'Matchbook'

Apr 24: Ticket Stub #6: Oregon

Another band with a geographical name: an American state. Oregon were on a tour of the UK, which is rare. St. Andrews Hall is an intimate venue - it's been closed for some time for renovations which have just about finished. This was Oregon's 20th anniversary.

I've seen Jan Garbarek play there from the front row, which was epic, and here I was down the front again for this one as the seats were unreserved and not many were sold - as you can see I was ticket #53.

On the left of the stage was the epically talented guitarist and pianist Ralph Towner. He recorded for ECM for years and produced some classic albums - it was a privilege to have seen him play live, and he sadly passed away at the start of the year.

Paul McCandless released a few wonderful albums, one of which I have on CD - he was on reeds. Glen Moore played bass and on percussion was a young(ish) Trilok Gurtu. 

More on him elsewhere on the blog. He was replacing Colin Walcott - one of the co-founders.

So it was over 35 years ago, and only £6 - what a bargain. The audience was quite small.

Three days earlier they'd played the much larger Queen Elizabeth Hall,  in London and the setlist was as follows:

Junebug
Opening
Pepe Linque
Hand In Hand
Zephyr
Ecotopia
Waterwheel
Janet
Yet To Be

I remember them playing Wichi-Tai-To (a track later recorded by Jan too) and Silence of a Candle which was also recorded by the Paul Winter Consort. I also remember a Ralph Towner solo piece on guitar.

Here's 'Silence of a Candle':

And here's the Paul McCandless track that stands out for me.

Jan 19: Record Labels #1: ECM

The first of a series of posts featuring some record labels which champion music from global artists.

The record label which I perhaps have more of than any other in my collection is ECM.

ECM was founded by Manfred Eicher.

The covers of ECM music are always works of art.

This Substack article showcases some.

I have a great many ECM records in my collection. 

Here's five of my favourites, although ask me again tomorrow and I'll choose a different five:

1. 'Twelve Moons' - Jan Garbarek Group (1993)

2. Pat Metheny - 'Bright Size Life' (1976)

3. Keith Jarrett - 'Köln Concert (1975)

4. Anouar Brahem - 'Le pas du cat noir' (2002)

5. Ale Moller and Lena Willemark - 'Nordan' (1994)

Some of these will have their moment on the blog as well....

Here's the opening track from one of the albums, the wonderful 'Twelve Moons' - played live. I saw this band and this track performed live.

We also had sad news yesterday of the passing of an artist who has recorded many times with ECM: the virtuoso guitarist and pianist Ralph Towner. A real multi-instrumentalist.