Biography of Ralph Towner

This unique acoustic guitarist brought the craft and discipline of classical guitar into modern improvisational settings. Very active as composer and member of the well-known group Oregon. Raised in a musical family, he studied trumpet and piano and earned a degree in composition. Though he worked as a jazz pianist, his real love is the acoustic guitar: he studied classical guitar intensively with Karl Scheit in Vienna. After playing with The Paul Winter Ensemble, he cofounded the eclectic ensemble Oregon in 1971; his many compositions are mainstays of that popular and artistically successful group. Also an innovator on 12-string guitar, his fine solo on The Weather Report album I Sing the Body Electric contributed to his early recognition. An early solo album Diary and his duets with John Abercrombie on Sargasso Sea show the clarity and energy of his style. Towner's unusually meticulous approach to artistic and technical issues on the guitar, combined with his fine ability as a composer, make all periods of his recorded work well worth investigating. ~ David Nelson McCarthy