1974

With the acoustic instrumentation of chamber jazz, the experimentalism and genre-shifting of fusion, and ample chops to spare, Oregon were a promising unit already when they performed these live improvisations for Radio Bremen. This archival release finds them in excellent form, presenting nearly two hours of material. Ralph Towner and company do a fine job both building on early compositions from their first few studio albums and unveiling entirely new material.

As good as those early studio efforts are, in this free-roving live context the band really shine, allowing the material to stretch out and exercising their flights of fancy expertly. Having been shut away in the archives for nearly 50 years, it's wonderful that these excellent performances have now been given an official release.