As a younger musician, Ralph Towner wrote “Icarus,” a revolutionary jazz piece that grew to become a crossover hit for the Paul Winter Consort. Later, the classically educated guitarist (additionally a nice pianist and horn participant) discovered his technique to ECM information and, for greater than 50 years, has launched music of introspective guitar artistry, in addition to enjoying within the groundbreaking group Oregon.

Towner’s latest ECM effort is At First Gentle – which finds the 83-year-old enjoying higher than ever.

One feeling that comes via the brand new album is optimism, like “Make Somebody Joyful” and “Little Outdated Woman.” Had been you aiming for a theme?
I seen that these older tunes are an instance of how one collects sure music in a lifetime that was formed by them.

Your music flows so naturally it’s typically exhausting to inform if it’s composed or improvised. Inform us in regards to the strategy of invention.
Usually, I compose the theme and notate it fairly precisely. Then I improvise on the harmonic and melodic content material in a way, hopefully, that continues the ambiance and route of the written materials. Over time, I saved adapting every tune in my very own method; I abstracted them and modified them till the sources had been now not recognizable. Nearly with out noticing, I’d arrived in an idiom of my very own.

Sixty-five years in the past, you had been a scholar of classical guitar. Who had been you listening to?
I first heard a classical guitarist once I was graduating from college in music composition. I made a decision to place my self-taught jazz piano enjoying on maintain and research guitar with a grasp within the Vienna music academy. I finally listened to [guitarist/lutist] Julian Bream for stylistic inspiration. I discovered that the guitar was a really pianistic instrument, able to subtle polyphony and myriad tone colours. My research concerned fairly a little bit of Renaissance and baroque music, which performed a giant half in shaping my writing and efficiency strategies.

How did you make the leap to jazz improvisation – and who’re your inspirations?
I began improvising on the trumpet once I was eight years previous and had entry to recordings of assorted jazz and classical musicians. At the moment, within the late ’40s, I started to listen to nice swing and Dixieland trumpet gamers, and progressed by imitation. My solo recordings have all the time included my very own compositions through which there are hint components of the composers and musicians which have attracted me through the years – George Gershwin, John Coltrane, John Dowland, and Invoice Evans, to call a couple of. The mix of keyboard and guitar strategies is a crucial facet of my enjoying and composition, and I really feel this album is an efficient instance of shaping this expanse of influences into my private music.

Strings are crucial to gamers of nylon-string guitars. What variety do you utilize?
Not a lot change in strings – I’ve stayed with D’Addario for years.

Your music has been so inspirational. For instance, one can’t take heed to the Pat Metheny Group with out eager about the affect of Oregon on that band. You basically opened the door to a brand new sort of atmospheric jazz. Any ideas on that legacy?
The start of my New York Metropolis years, beginning in 1968, was a wealthy interval to be writing and enjoying new items with musicians who had migrated from everywhere in the world. New bands had been forming like Climate Report, Miles Davis’ sextet with Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter, and the Mahavishnu Orchestra, to call a couple of. Oregon got here collectively within the West Village and mixed suitable devices like acoustic 12-string and classical guitars, Indian tabla, oboe, and double bass. We used odd meters, totally different harmonies and free improvisation.

What’s behind your half-century affiliation with the ECM label?
I made my first recording for ECM in ’72 and felt very lucky to have solid a friendship with [producer] Manfred Eicher. It’s a rarity for an artist to stay with the identical recording firm for a whole profession, and I’m grateful to be certainly one of them. Manfred’s method produces an environment within the studio that’s nearly reverent, with little or no discuss, few takes, and practically all the time recording in a single to 2 days. This leads to very spontaneous performances.

You’re in your 80s, an age when many musicians are retired. What impressed you to document At First Gentle?
It was the enjoyment of enjoying a brand new assortment of my very own and different composers’ items. I follow on daily basis to fight the stiffness that comes with age, and ramp up my hours no less than two weeks upfront of the recording.

Classical-guitar icon Andrés Segovia carried out into his later 80s. Do you propose to maintain going so long as the music is there?
I’ll carry on enjoying so long as I can!

This text initially appeared in VG’s September 2023 challenge. All copyrights are by the creator and Classic Guitar journal. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.