American jazz musician
Paul McCandless
McCandless with Oregon in Treibhaus, Innsbruck, 2010
Birth name Paul Brownlee McCandless Jr. Born (1947-03-24 ) March 24, 1947 (age 77)
Indiana, Pennsylvania , U.S.Genres
Jazz ,
folk jazz ,
new age Occupation(s) Musician Instrument(s)
Oboe ,
bass clarinet ,
soprano saxophone ,
English horn Years active 1968–present Labels
Atlantic ,
Windham Hill ,
Vanguard ,
ECM Website
paulmccandless .com
Musical artist
Paul Brownlee McCandless Jr. (born March 24, 1947)
[1] is an American multi-instrumentalist and founding member of the American
jazz group
Oregon .
[2] He is one of the few jazz
oboists . He also plays
bass clarinet ,
English horn ,
flute ,
penny whistle ,
tenor saxophone ,
sopranino saxophone , and
soprano saxophone .
[3]
Biography
Paul Brownlee McCandless Jr. was born in
Indiana, Pennsylvania , United States,
[1] into a musical family. His father (who was also an oboe and English horn player) taught him clarinet, his mother piano,
[4] and he attended the
Manhattan School of Music . In 1971 he auditioned with the
New York Philharmonic playing English horn and was a finalist.
[5]
McCandless has released a series of records of his own compositions with bands he led, including All the Mornings Bring (
Elektra/Asylum , 1979), Navigator (Landslide, 1981), Heresay (
Windham Hill , 1988), Premonition (Windham Hill, 1992). With Oregon, he has recorded over twenty albums, as well as several albums with
Paul Winter .
[6]
In 1996, McCandless won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental with
Béla Fleck and the Flecktones . He also won Grammys in 2007 and 2011 with the
Paul Winter Consort for Best New Age Album and in 1993 for
Al Jarreau 's album Heaven and Earth .
[7] His performance on Oregon's album 1000 Kilometers was nominated for a Grammy for Best Jazz Instrumental Solo in 2009. He won the Down Beat Critics' Poll for Best Established Combo, the Deutscher Schallplatten Preis for his album Ectopia , and the Arbeitskreis Jazz im Bundesverband der Phonographishen Wirtschaft Gold Record Award.
[8]
In 1985, McCandless toured Europe with bassist
Barre Phillips and German clarinetist
Theo Jörgensmann . He has been a guest musician with
Béla Fleck and the Flecktones , appearing on the 1999 album
Greatest Hits of the 20th Century and the 2002 album
Live at the Quick , and has toured with
tabla musician
Sandip Burman . He was a guest of
Leftover Salmon and
The String Cheese Incident in the late 1990s. He has appeared on stage in duets with pianist
Art Lande , with whom he recorded the album Skylight . Since 2013 he has been playing regularly in Europe with the
Samo Šalamon Bassless Trio.
[5]
McCandless is active in
classical music . As an orchestral soloist, he has performed with the Camerata Chamber Orchestra of Mexico City, the
Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra ,
Philadelphia Orchestra ,
Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra ,
Los Angeles Philharmonic , and the
Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra .
[5] Three of Paul's orchestral scores are heard on the album Oregon in Moscow . "Round Robin", the opening track, received 2001 Grammy nominations for Best Instrumental Composition and Best Instrumental Arrangement.
[8]
In 2014, McCandless began performing with Charged Particles a jazz trio based in San Francisco,
[3] including opening the 2015 San Luis Obispo Jazz Festival with them
[9] and headlining at the
Stanford Jazz Festival .
[10] The quartet has appeared at
Birdland (in New York City),
Blues Alley (in Washington, D.C.),
Yoshi's Jazz Club , The Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, The Dakota Jazz Club,
[11] and other venues throughout the U.S.
[12] In 2017, McCandless and Charged Particles did a ten-day tour of Indonesia, performing at the Motion Blue Jazz Club (Jakarta),
[13] Jazz Centrum (Surabaya),
[14] and the Jazz Gunung Bromo Festival (on Mount Bromo)
[15]
Reception
The London Telegraph called McCandless's contribution to The Great Jubilee Concert "remarkable".
[16] Said Jazz Journal , "Paul McCandless delivered terrific, beautifully modulated solos on both oboe and soprano."
[17]
The Washington Post called McCandless a "stellar player" who plays "sparkling harmonic cascades."
[18]
Awards and honors
Grammy Award, Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male, with
Al Jarreau , 1993
Grammy Award, Best Pop Instrumental Performance with
Béla Fleck and the Flecktones , 1996
Grammy Award, Best New Age Album, with
Paul Winter Consort , 2007, 2011
Grammy Award Nomination, Best Instrumental Composition, Best Instrumental Arrangement, Oregon in Moscow , 2001
Grammy Award Nomination, Best Jazz Instrumental Solo, 1000 Kilometers , 2009
Winner, Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition, Down Beat Magazine Critics' Poll, 1976, 1978
Discography
As leader
All the Mornings Bring (Elektra, 1979)
Navigator (Landslide, 1981)
Skylight with Art Lande, Dave Samuels (ECM, 1981)
Heresay (Windham Hill, 1988)
Premonition (Windham Hill, 1992)
Squanto and the First Thanksgiving (Rabbit Ears, 1993)
Sentimental Sax (Nature Quest, 1995)
The Natural Saxophone (NorthSound, 1995)
Torches on the Lake with Spencer Brewer (Access, 1996)
Twilight (Impressions, 1996)
Summer Nights with Spencer Brewer (Impressions, 1996)
The Hidden Jewel with Art Lande (Mystica, 2002)
Perfect Alignment with Steven Halpern (Inner Peace Music, 2002)
Shapeshifter with Art Lande (Synergy Music 2004)
With
Oregon
Music of Another Present Era (Vanguard, 1972)
Distant Hills (Vanguard, 1973)
Winter Light (Vanguard, 1974)
In Concert (Vanguard, 1975)
Together (Vanguard, 1976)
Friends (Vanguard, 1977)
Violin (Vanguard, 1978)
Out of the Woods (Elektra, 1978)
Moon and Mind (Vanguard, 1979)
Roots in the Sky (Elektra, 1979)
In Performance (Elektra, 1980)
Our First Record (Vanguard, 1980)
Oregon (ECM, 1983)
Crossing (ECM, 1985)
Ecotopia (ECM, 1987)
45th Parallel (Portrait, 1989)
Always, Never, and Forever (veraBra, 1991)
Troika (veraBra, 1994)
Beyond Words (Chesky, 1995)
Northwest Passage (Intuition, 1997)
Music for a Midsummer Night's Dream (Oregon Music, 1998)
Oregon in Moscow (Intuition, 2000)
Live at Yoshi's (Intuition, 2002)
Prime (CAM Jazz, 2005)
1000 Kilometers (CAM Jazz, 2007)
In Stride (CAM Jazz, 2010)
Family Tree (CAM Jazz, 2012)
Live in New Orleans (Hi Hat, 2016)
Lantern (CAM Jazz, 2017)
As guest
With
Pierluigi Balducci
With
Suzanne Ciani
Live (Seventh Wave, 1997)
Turning (Wave, 1999)
Meditations for Dreams, Relaxation and Sleep (Seventh Wave, 2002)
Pure Romance (Seventh Wave, 2003)
Silver Ship (Seventh Wave, 2005)
With
Alex De Grassi
Beyond the Night Sky (Tropo, 1996)
As You Drift Away: Lullabies on Guitar (Music for Little People, 2008)
With
Béla Fleck
With
David Friesen
Star Dance , (
Inner City , 1976)
Waterfall Rainbow (Inner City, 1977)
Storyteller (
Muse , 1981)
With
Tony Furtado
Tony Furtado Band (Cojema, 2000)
American Gypsy (True North, 2002)
Live Gypsy (Dualtone, 2003)
With
Steven Halpern
Inner Peace (Inner Peace, 1994)
Perfect Alignment (Halpern Sounds, 2002)
Lake Suite (Inner Peace Music, 2006)
Music for Lovers, Vol. 2 (Inner Peace Music, 2007)
Drive Time Rx (Inner Peace, 2009)
Deep Alpha (Inner Peace, 2012)
Clutter Clearing at the Speed of Sound (Steven Halpern, 2016)
With
Mark Isham
Castalia (
Virgin , 1988)
Songs My Children Taught Me (Windham Hill, 1991)
Thumbelina (Festival, 1989)
Lake Suite (Windham Hill, 2006)
With
Peter Kater
Honorable Sky (Silver Wave, 1994)
Birds of Prey (Platinum Entertainment, 1999)
Heart's Desire (Source UK, 2001)
Inner Works: Piano & Strings (Source UK, 2002)
Xmas Ecstacy (Silver Wave, 2003)
Red Moon (Silver World, 2003)
Elements Series: Air (Real Music, 2005)
Elements Series: Fire (Real Music, 2005)
Elements Series: Water (Real Music, 2005)
Faces of the Sun (Silverwave, 2007)
Call of Love (Point of Light, 2010)
Light Body (Mysterium, 2012)
Heart of the Universe (Spirit Voyage, 2013)
Ritual (Mysterium, 2013)
With
Nguyen Le
Zanzibar (EmArcy, 1992)
Walking on the Tiger's Tail (ACT, 2005)
With
Michael Manring
Toward the Center of the Night (Windham Hill, 1989)
Drastic Measures (Windham Hill, 1991)
The Book of Flame (Alchemy, 1998)
With
Jaco Pastorius
Twins I Aurex Jazz Festival '82 (Warner Bros., 1982)
Twins II Aurex Jazz Festival '82 (Warner Bros., 1982)
Invitation (Warner Bros., 1983)
With
Fred Simon
Usually/Always (Windham Hill, 1988)
Remember the River (Naim, 2004)
Since Forever (Naim, 2009)
With
Paul Winter
With others
Will Ackerman , The Opening of Doors (Windham Hill, 1992)
Will Ackerman, Sound of Wind Driven Rain (Windham Hill, 1998)
Darol Anger , Heritage (Six Degrees, 1997)
Pierluigi Balducci ,
Blue from Heaven (Dodicilune, 2012)
Yelena Eckemoff , Arild Andersen,
Peter Erskine , Desert (L&H 2018)
Carla Bley ,
Night-Glo (ECM, 1985)
Cyrus Faryar , Cyrus (Collectors' Choice, 2006)
Meridian Green , In the Heart of This Town (String Bender, 1998)
Paul Hanson , Voodoo Suite (Manzanita Ranch, 2000)
Lars Jansson , Giving Receiving (Imogena, 2000)
Al Jarreau ,
Heaven and Earth (Reprise, 1992)
Kevin Kern ,
Beyond the Sundial (Real Music, 1997)
Michael Land , The Dig (Angel, 1996)
Art Lande , The Three Billy Goats Gruff and the Three Little Pigs
The Late Bronze Age ,
Outside Looking Out (Landslide, 1980)
Wynton Marsalis ,
Hot House Flowers (CBS, 1984)
Stephanie Mills ,
Christmas (MCA, 1991)
Marco Pereira , Essence (Kind of Blue, 2007)
Todd Phillips , Timeframe (Compass, 1995)
The Pursuit of Happiness ,
The Downward Road (Mercury, 1993)
Vasant Rai , Autumn Song (Vanguard, 1978)
Vasant Rai, Spring Flowers (Vanguard, 1976)
Samo Salamon , Little River (Samo Records, 2015)
String Cheese Incident ,
'Round the Wheel (SCI Fidelity, 1998)
Andy Summers ,
The Golden Wire (Private Music, 1989)
Taliesin Orchestra , Sacred (Compendia, 2002)
Huong Thanh , Mangustao (ACT, 2004)
Ralph Towner ,
Trios / Solos (ECM, 1973)
Ralph Towner,
City of Eyes (ECM, 1989)
Kit Walker , Fire in the Lake (Windham Hill, 1989)
Eberhard Weber ,
Later That Evening (ECM, 1982)
Eberhard Weber,
Endless Days (ECM, 2001)
Victor Wooten ,
What Did He Say? (Vanguard, 1997)
Sacbé , The Painters (PolyGram, 1996)
Motoshi Kosako , Place in the Heart (2010)
References
Further reading
Gioia, Tedd (2011). "The History of Jazz". Oxford University Press, Editor. Chapter 8 "Freedom and Fusion".
ISBN
0195399706
"Oregon" in "Dizionario della Musica e dei Musicisti, La Garzantina" (1983–2003). Garzanti, Editor, Milano (Italy).
ISBN
88-11-50484-8
External links
on
Vanguard
Our First Record
Music of Another Present Era
Distant Hills
Winter Light
In Concert
Together
Friends
Violin
Moon and Mind
on
Elektra on
ECM on Intuition
45th Parallel
Always, Never and Forever
Troika
Beyond Words
Northwest Passage
Music for a Midsummer Night's Dream (The Oregon Trio)
In Moscow
Live at Yoshi's
on CamJazz Related
International National Artists Other