MUSIC OF ANOTHER PRESENT ERA

On Oregon's debut album what you get is jazz fusion with a strong emphasis on the jazz side of the equation. In fact, I'd count Oregon as being one of the few fusion outfits who don't actually draw that much on rock - instead, the main non-jazz influences are folk music and raga, the latter seeping in through Collin Walcott's tabla and sitar. The title of "Music of Another Present Era" is apt, for the album at once has that rich vein of experimentalism characteristic of so much 1970s music and has a production that is strongly reminiscent of the era, and yet at the same time they seem to sit outside all the contemporary trends of 1972, sounding more like a continuation of 1960s post-bop in some places. Intriguing stuff, though it does meander a little.