Ralph Towner YouTube Acoustic Guitar – Classical
I first heard of Ralph Towner in the mid seventies when he played with the acoustic ensemble/ band called Oregon. I rember at the time they .played 72 instruments amongst the four members, Colin Walcott (late), Glen Moore, Paul MaCandless. Ralph Towner single handedly opened the door for many players to follow, he played a form of contemporay jazz on the nylon string guitar and also 12 string guitar. Ralph Towner is also one of my favourite piano players, his chord playing at times reminds me of Bill Evans. His guitar playing is a mix of jazz improvisation and classical (to say the least). You may hear him play straight jazz tunes at times but his approach makes them unique. Personally I think he is one of the truly great guitar innovators of our time and his impact on a lot of players has been to think a little differently about the nylon string guitar.
Ihave owned about fifteen albums featuring Ralph Towner, not only with Oregon but with Paul Winter, Chic Correa, John Abercrombie and numerous others on Manfred Eichers ECM label. The youtube I have posted about is called the Reluctant Bride, it is typical of Towners playing, a cross betwen arranged music and improvisation. What i like about Ralphs playing is his willingness to take risks and head into harmonic areas that other players don’t dare to go.
I have been fortunate to see Ralph Towner play a couple of times in my life, once with Gary Peacock in Athens Greece and with the band Oregon in Sydney Australia. If you get the chance to see Ralph Towner live, make the best of the opportunity, it truly is a music lesson on the guitar.
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