This week’s Hot New Local Single “A Tune for Towner” from the new Joel Shapira solo guitar recording Unscripted.
The namesake for the tune is multi-instrumentalist Ralph Towner. Towner, who is now 85, became well-known for his work with the Paul Winter Consort, his appearance on the Weather Report record I Sing the Body Electric, and especially for his role in the fusion band Oregon. The latter group became synonymous in the 1970’s for music that fused free improv, Indian Classical forms, and folk music.
The recording has a sound that is evocative of Towner’s work on ECM records, i.e. understated and melodic with a kind of pastoral beauty. The harmonies are evocative, and there’s an intimacy to the recording that has something to do with the sounds of fingers on nylon strings and the breaths of the performer which punctuate the phrases.
Shapira is playing two different performances to celebrate the release of the new album: two CD release dates: a trio and solo date on Saturday, October 25th from 7 to 10 P.M. at the High Hat in St. Paul, and a solo appearance at Berlin in Minneapolis on Saturday, Nov. 1st from 4:30 to 6pm.
Check out the single here:
More Posts for Show: The Morning Show
