Ana

Ralph Towner | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 7, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Ecm Records
• ASIN: B000024HK9
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #298,957 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superbly Focused, June 28, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Ana (Audio CD)

Many of Ralph's albums tend to seem like 2 or 3 fragments of albums sort of jammed together incongruously (e.g., City of Eyes, Open Letter, Lost and Found). There also seems to be an awkward tension in those recordings between the melodic and careflly-crafted songs, and the more experimental, improvisatory pieces. This recording has neither of these distracting characteristics.

This is a solid set of some of Ralph's most melodic compositions, performed beautifully on the classical guitar, followed by a small, interesting set of more improvisatory pieces performed on 12-string. The fact that it is all solo guitar narrows the gap between the composed and the improvised.

This record makes an interesting contrast to his earlier "Solo Concert", where the roles of the 2 types of guitar sounds are reversed.

Fortunately, we are free to own all of Ralph's wonderful recordings if we choose. But if we were only allowed to own a few, this one should certainly be among them.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Towners Best, December 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Ana (Audio CD)

Having been a long time fan of Ralph Towner I was looking for something new to listen to. Having seen him both with Oregon and with John Abercrombie, I was looking for something that would not sit on the shelf. Also, being a guitar player myself for a good part of the past 20 years, I know good playing and composition when I hear it. I like Blue Sun and Lost and Found, but Ana is by far my favorite Towner CD. I listened to this cd probably 3 times in a row the night I got it. Included is some of the best 12 string guitar I have ever heard, and I listen to lots of guitar music. You won't be disappointed if you are already a fan, and if you aren't already, this record could win you over.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fantastic compositions, October 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Ana (Audio CD)

Ralph Towner is a wonderful jazz composer, which cannot be said for many guitar players. This album is all solo acoustic guitar. The first piece Reluctant Bride is oone of the best compositions I have heard. It beautifully evokes a wedding in a Spanish villa, you can just imagine the reluctant bride sitting in an inner courtyard, her white gown against a spanish sky, the grey stone, pensive...I cant really describe it it is so much better described by RT. The other compositions are also beautifully done. I am a longtime RT fan and this is one of his most interesting recordings. WOrds cannot describe it. If you like Oregon's early albums, like Winter Light and DIstant Hills, you will love this. If you just like great quality guitar and composition, you will love this. It doesnt have the ECM sound that some of the seventies and early eighties RT albums have, its its own thing. Its not even clearly jazz, as was true with Oregon for the most part. nothing trite about it,which is a big problem with solo acoustic work these days. and the compositions are more interesting than the recent gary peacock duet album.