Oregon's

c... 0 ::l (/l Classical / ;;;· < ~ Master the intensity. I lived in a small room and had no distractions. The year in Vienna was isolated; all I did was learn to play the guitar. Providing you have an excel­ By Len Lyons lent teacher, I don't think this technical thing is much of a mystery - as much as It is easy to think of playmg to meter, voicing; and written charts for converting this technique into music an instrument as an end in itself, but the the multitude of instruments the quar­ and emotion." case of Ralph Towner is a reminder that tet uses. Using his solo album as a frame After that year in Vienna, Towner a musical "instrument" is just that ___: a of refere.nce, ·Towner's music can be returned to Oregon for a master's degree device for expressing music. Towner, delicate and sensit~ve (as in- "Entry in .a program in music theory (though he known primarily as the guitarist in the Diary"), pleasingly lyrical ("Icarus"), or never completed his thesis) and fhen

contemporary music ensemble, Oregon a ]arring, neaih surrealistic collage of 1 returned to Vienna for another year of (an artistic offspring of the painful alienation ("Images Unseen"). study with Scheit. In 1968, without Consort), is a musician first and a guitar­ Although he is happy to have his music quite !mowing why, he moved to New ist second. He readily uses the acoustic become a "catalyst for personal reac­ York City, commenting in retrospect, "I , trumpet, and percussives to trans­ tions," he considers his compositions to wouldn't be here doing this interview if form his musical ideas into physical be an expression, not an objective state­ I hadn't moved to New York. I met reality. Still, it is the acoustic guitar ment transla table into descriptions such colleagues and influences. It's an amaz­ (both classical and 12-string) through as those above. He says that he writes ingly energetic place which opened the which the music inside is most com­ "on the level of sound." doors to playing, recording, and tour­ pletely and sensitively brought out. Towner's involvement with music ing." "I didn't even know what a guitar began at age three, when he began In New York, however, Towner was until I was 22," Towner says. Now, "improvising" on the piano. Though his started out by earning his living as a at a still boyish 35, his relationship to mother was a piano teacher, Ralph pianist, simply because the acoustic gui­ the instrument has been serious, single­ never studied the instrument formally. tar did not fare well in the lounge-trio minded, and intense. It has produced a In fact, his musical training didn't begin gigs he was playing. For him, the elec­ body of recorded work which includes until he enrolled at the University of tric guitar was not an alternative. "f an appearance on 's I Oregon as a composition major and never liked the electric guitar," he says. Sing the Body Electric [Columbia, KC- part-time trumpet player. In his last " Of course, I enjoyed it, like listening to 31352), Oregon's three albums on Van­ year of college, he was on the road to some old Herb Ellis things, but I wasn't guard (Music of Another Present Era becoming a guitarist, though seemingly even remotely interested in playing the [79326) , Distant /fills [79341) , and by chance. "I went to a music store to electric guitar. It appeals to me now, Winter Light [79350] ), and two buy a trumpet mute or music paper, though, because of the modern players. Towner albums on Germany's ECM, something like that," he recalls, "and I'm not on "an anti-electric campaign or Trios/Solos, on which he is backed by there was this salesman type there who anything. It's a valid instrument. I'm the other members of Oregon, and a sold me a classical guitar. I taught just not drawn to it." solo album, Diary. He is also a prolific myself a little bit, · and then wrote a As a pianist (and musician), Towner composer, writing nearly 80% of c;:omposition for flute and guitar." was strongly influenced by , Oregon's music, and a seasoned per­ Just after college, Towner's serious­ especially the Evans-Scott LaFaro former, since the group is currently on ness about music became focused on collaboration's, and evidence of this the road ten months of the year. that one instrument, and he traveled to influence still surfaces in his recent com­ His music is essentially unclassifiable, Vienna, enrolling in the Academy of positions (for example, "Icarus"). Thus, though it is often associated with jazz Music and Dramatic Arts. He explains, most of his playing in New York was because of its 'free,' improvisational "I went there to study with one man, either jazz or the Brazilian-oriented jazz nature. But its serious (in the sense of Karl Scheit, and he turned out to be a ' which was in vogue in the latter half of "classical") dimension cannot be great teacher. I feel that I made up for the Sixties. It brought him into groups ignored, given his meticulous attention my 'late start' in one year because of Continued on page 28 10 RALPH TOWNER better." Continued from page 10 Despite his initial reluctance, the 12- with singer Astrud Gilberto, percussion­ string still has a place in Oregon's instru­ ist Airto (then on traps), and bassists ~entation. " It's a pretty fascinating Miroslav Vitous and . mstrument," explains Ralph, "so I still Occasionally, he did jazz guitar work, use the 1 2-string when I write some­ playing with and Keith thing on it, though it would be easier Jarrett. However, he recalls that during for me not to play it as far as having this whole period he was "trying to find consistent fingernail length is con­ a place for the guitar." cerned." Towner now owns three Guild The commercial opportunity finally 12-strings, preferring one he bought in a presented itself in 1970, when he was pawn shop because · the width of the invited to join the . neck suits him. He uses medium gauge Yet, his classical training had to accom­ silk and steel compound strings. modate another variation: "When I joined Paul Winter's group, he had a The Consort, aside from providing a 12-string and he wanted me to play it. I steady format for his acoustic guitar dragged my heels at first because of the work, was important to Towner in two fingernail problem and the steel strings, other respects. " I was forced," he says, but then I found a way to play it" " to learn how to integrate all those (Towner plays both strings simultan­ instruments in my writing." Second, it eously). " If I hit one string," he con­ brought him, , and Colin tinues, "I'd be sort of digging at it by Walcott, who had known each other ... , t ... J-\ PtC,

gltsc0 r p 0 r a t i 0 n Dept. HW P.O. Box 136 Battle Creek, Mich. 49016 RALPH TOWN ER note. Your note will change pitch. And Continued from page 28 l do that too, sometimes. But, generally, Rather, the quartet decided to pursue all the stop tones are done with the their own musical identities. right hand. A note will sustain, and Though Oregon has no "leader" as such Towner seems to have received the most' notoriety, largely because of his guitar work. There is no denying that his sound is unique, a.nd he attributes its individuality not just to his musical ideas, but to the way he plays the instrument. "It's a method," he says, " no t a style." The most singular and curio us aspect of this method is that he considers it pianistic. " The classical guitar is really just a keyboard ," he explains. " There's a very important difference between plectrum playing and , not just fingerstyle, but the whole classical approach, which is the control of the volume and identity of each voice. You approach it with a keyboard sensibility, which mea ns a lot more control of the individual notes you're striking simultaneously . That's a very important distinction, which is usu­ ally lost on plectrum players who switch from pick to classical. I can usually Oregon: (L-R ) Paul McCandless, Ralph identify someone who is a converted Towner, Glen Moore, . plectrum player beca use the left hand when it stops, not by rele asing the left will be used , as on electric guitar, fo r hand, but by damping it with one of the note length and articulation. If you fingers of the right hand, you stop the want a staccato, you just release a note pitch straight, like a damper on the on the guitar with the left hand, but piano. A damper will stop the note that will bend the tone at the end of the Continued on page 32

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30 RALPH TOWNER on a stool and balancing the guitar on Continued from page 30 your left leg," he says, " is that it frees your right arm to move around and play without changing its pitch. You're not different tone colors. When you hold it 1:r releasing tension; you're stopping the on y o~r right leg, the tendency is to pin vibration." the gmtar to your body with your right THE Ralph's guitar tone has been the sub­ elbow and play on the same place on ject of much attention. He explains it the guitar all the time. Consequently , GREAT this way: " If I sound unusual, it may be you sound monotonous." my classical approach. I'm controlling Towner's favorite classical guitar was ONE .. . the sound I produce the way I would as a '64 Ramirez, which was stolen from * a piano ·player. It requires careful con­ his car in New York. Since then, he has trol of the volume of each note, as if used a '72 Ramirez with Savarez (Red one note appeared in the foreground Card) strings. When he mikes his guitar, and the rest were stacked in the back­ equipment, synthesizers and accessories. Our he uses two Neumanns, one placed in catalog has established itself as the nation's ground, almost in a three-dimensional the upper area, and one in the lower leader in products, and in service. Our way. That way you can bring out any area, but never over the sound hole. He famous reputation backs it up. elements you want. There's a shuffling doesn',t use contact mikes. "They're Our 1975 CATALOG IS YOURs- of attention that gives the music such an handy for projection," he states, " but FREE ! Just fill in the coupon below and mall illusion of constant activity ." they don't give a true picture of what I it to us today. There is more to giving each note its sound like after the tone is given a singular quality than just volume, chance to wallow around in the guitar." Towner feels. "You also give identity to Though Towner's influences range each voice by where you pluck it on the from Bill Evans to Baden Powell to string. There's a brighter part and a Bartok, he now listens to music "only MUSIC EMPORIUM USA more mellow part away from the bridge. for pleasure" and feels that his days of It's almost theatrical to me . You can do P.O. Box 41006 * Bethesda, Md. * 20014 studying and apprenticeship are over. this with an electric, too, but I think in Still, he admits, he listens carefully to classical you can do it to a subtler several guitarist friends. Curiously, they degree." are all electric players: John Abercrom­ The importance of picking different bie, Mick Goodrick, and Bill Connors. areas of the strings is also reflected in " That's why the guitar is so amazing," Towner's rationale for holding the Towner concludes. "It's virtually a guitar in the classical position. "The different instrument in everyone's only reason for putting your left foot hands." •

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Collin WalcoH Paul McCandless Glen Moore Ralph Towner

Oregons music has been defined as a fusion of classical, eastern, jazz and For Flat-Top Catalog 8091-A: impressionisti~ . with Ralph Towner's guitars a vital voice. Ralph has been playing Guild almost since he first began to explore the 12-string sound. Something else: Ralph Towner uses Guild Strings. No other brand is Guild good enough for his Guild 12-string guitars. 225 West Grand Street Elizabeth, New Jersey 07202 . Ralph Towner also on ECM Records...... _ __ A Division of Avnet. lnc .--..-