Paul McCandless - Live At Kimball's East 1992 (Live,Oakland,1992) '2026

Tracks list

	Tracklist

01. Robin (Live,Oakland,1992)
02. Punch (Live,Oakland,1992)
03. The Marvelous Harlequin Duck (Live,Oakland,1992)
04. Last Bloom (Live,Oakland,1992)
05. Rainland (Live,Oakland,1992)
06. Hard Eights (Live,Oakland,1992)
07. Free (Live,Oakland,1992)
08. Cloudy This Morning (Live,Oakland,1992)
09. Tail Wind (Live,Oakland,1992)
10. Slink (Live,Oakland,1992)
 
The recent death of guitarist Ralph Towner has affixed renewed attention on the
group he was most associated with, Oregon — a bit of sad serendipity, as his
partner in that ensemble, Paul McCandless, is the subject of this archival
recording.
 
Discographically, this document from Kimball’s East, a defunct club just north
of Oakland, comes in between Oregon albums Always, Never, And Forever and
Troika. It was part of the tour for McCandless’s Windham Hill release
Premonition (Windham Hill Jazz), featuring drummer Mark Walker, who joined
Oregon four years later and remained with them until the end of their existence.
 
The others here — pianist Lyle Mays (reuniting with the leader after a 1982
Eberhard Weber album), synthesizer player Fred Simon and electric/acoustic
bassist Steve Rodby — all participated on Premonition as well. Yet the setlist
only includes four pieces from it, three others drawn from the earlier
McCandless session Heresay (1988), plus Mays’s “Hard Eights” and
“Slink” and a synth-heavy free improvisation.
 
McCandless is mostly on soprano saxophone but also takes turns on sopranino,
penny whistle, EWI, oboe and bass clarinet. And while there are Windham Hilly
moments like the opening “Robin” and “Rainland” — both from
Premonition — the live setting allows for a greater variety of feels. The
highlight is the mid-set triumvirate of “The Marvelous Harlequin Duck,”
McCandless whimsical on penny whistle before Simon takes the piece into video
game territory; the poignant soprano/acoustic piano duet “Last Bloom”; and
the wide-ranging “Free.” Fans of unusual textures will appreciate the
piano/synthesizer duality. — Andrey Henkin 

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