Vanguard Sessions: Best of the Vanguard Years [Original recording remastered]

Oregon | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 21, 2000)
• Original Release Date: March 21, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Vanguard Records
• ASIN: B00004NKA5
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #161,740 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This 14-track collection represents the definitive 1970s recordings by the group Oregon, which mixed aspects of jazz improvisation, classical composition, and Indian raga into one of the more innovative approaches to the so-called fusion era. Anchored by Ralph Towner's introspective acoustic guitar and piano melodies (think post-Woodstock Bill Evans), the Oregon sound incorporated Paul McCandless's airy woodwinds, Glen Moore's singing bass, and Collin Walcott's world-beat percussion. What has distinguished Oregon's original concept from the subsequent New Age knockoffs is the musicians' undeniable jazz chops and collective refusal to pander to slick sentimentality and faux spiritualism. To recall Oregon at its elemental best, check out "Aurora," from the 1974 Distant Hills album. But it's also interesting to hear what the group can do when pushed by a guest soloist: "Improvisation on Robert de Visee's Menuet II" (with Larry Coryell), "Gospel Song" (with Bennie Wallace), and "Charango" (with Elvin Jones). --Rick Mitchell

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still Sounds Fresh 30 Years Later, December 20, 2001

By 

Steve Vrana (Aurora, NE) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Vanguard Sessions: Best of the Vanguard Years (Audio CD)

Oregon was never the same after the death of Collin Walcott in 1984. But during the Vanguard years (1970-1978), the band produced some of the best music of its career. To simply refer to Oregon as a jazz ensemble is somewhat misleading with its folk and world music influences--especially Indian raga. Each member is an accomplished multi-instrumentalist: Ralph Towner (guitar, piano), Colin Walcott (tabla, sitar, clarinet, dulcimer), Paul McCandless (oboe, English horn, bass clarinet) and Glen Moore (bass, violin, flute, piano). While all of the members composed, Towner and McCandless were the principal songwriters. They occasionally worked with outside musicians. "Charango" is from the 1977 album Together recorded with jazz drummer Elvin Jones. "Serenade" is from the 1977 album Violin, featuring violinist Zbigniew Seifert. "Improvisation on Robert de Visee's Minuet II" is actually from guitarist Larry Coryell's 1974 album The Restful Mind--only Towner, Moore and Walcott appear on this track. This is powerful music and makes a great introduction to the band that had its origins in the Paul Winter Consort in the late Sixties. [My only complaint is that this collection duplicates more than half of the tracks on the equally excellent Essential Oregon from 1987 also on Vanguard and it's still in print!] While Oregon has recorded sporadically since their tenure at Vanguard, these are among the group's best. It was a real treat to upgrade my old vinyl recordings of this amazingly fresh and improvizational group. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a 'low 5', December 26, 2000

By 

C. H Smith (Bowling Green, Kentucky United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Vanguard Sessions: Best of the Vanguard Years (Audio CD)

I've been an Oregon fan for many years, but especially enjoy the material they produced back in the 1970s when they were on Vanguard Records. This 'best of' collection from that period therefore got my attention quickly when it came out. There are several things that make this an attractive package: material from several of their albums of that time, four previously unreleased cuts, a total time of over 76 minutes, and the material itself, chamber jazz performed by four very highly talented musicians (each of whom made successful individual careers as well). Oregon was one of the main precursors to the 'New Age' genre of music (and their music is regularly played even now on stations programming such material); they could either be very tight and quartet-like at times, or stretch out into long improvisations in concert (I went to one such performance in which the first 'set' consisted of a one hour-long improvisation; it was followed by a break and then a second 'set' in the same format). All this said, I would not personally call the selections on this cd a 'best of' but rather a 'representative of' kind of collection. Surely, for example, "The Silence of a Candle," probably their best known composition, should be on a 'best of' anthology, but it is absent from this one. A few others could be mentioned as well. What one gets here would seem to be more of an effort at exposing the *range* of their music during this period than it is a 'best of' collection, and while that's not a bad idea, one could reasonably ask for, say, a 2-cd set featuring the latter concept. Still, a very good collection, worthy of deliberate listening or Sunday afternoon dallying in front of a blazing fireplace.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Granola Jazz at its best!!, October 2, 2000

By 

Guardian of the Zen Sea "Indigo" (Looking after the sun and surf) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vanguard Sessions: Best of the Vanguard Years (Audio CD)

I like to call the jazz stylings of Oregon "Granola Jazz". All the members of the original group, Oregon, are incredible musicians. As a group they even exceed their own individual abilities, and create a truly fine, integrated sound. They actually play their own instruments together, there are no synthesizers, and the instruments are a mix of guitar (and occaisionally piano), woodwinds, tablas and an awesome 1700s bass. These guys used to play sitting on the stage with carpets all around, and odds and ends of unique percussion "thingies" along the walls. The music is incredibly intelligent and lively without being at all trite. Oregon defined this style of jazz for the head and heart, especially when they recorded on Vanguard. After the deeply unfortunate and untimely death of Colin Walcott, the dynamics of the group chaged and the music was never the same as it was "back then". That's not to say the new stuff is bad, it is just not the same. If you like Oregon, or if you are willing to try music by many of the origianl members of the Paul Winter Consort, only BETTER, then I strongly suggest that you dive headfirst into this CD. Afterwards, you can buy all the other ones...