Paul McCandless

Paul McCandless

McCandless with Oregon in Treibhaus, Innsbruck, 2010
Background information
Birth name Paul Brownlee McCandless, Jr.
Born (1947-03-24) March 24, 1947
Indiana, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Origin Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Genres Jazz, folk jazz, new age
Occupation(s) Musician
Instruments Oboe, bass clarinet, soprano saxophone, English horn
Years active 1968–present
Labels Atlantic, Windham Hill, Vanguard, ECM
Associated acts Paul Winter Consort, Oregon, Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, Charged Particles
Website www.paulmccandless.com

Paul McCandless, Jr. (born March 24, 1947, Indiana, Pennsylvania) is an American multi-instrumentalist known for his time with the group Oregon. He is one of few expert jazz oboists. He also plays bass clarinet, English horn, and soprano saxophone.[1]

Biography

Paul Brownlee McCandless, Jr. was born into a musical family. His father taught him clarinet, his mother piano,[2] and he attended the Manhattan School of Music. In 1971 he auditioned with the New York Philharmonic playing English horn, and was a finalist.

McCandless has released a series of records of his own compositions with bands he led: All the Mornings Bring (1978, Elektra/Asylum), Heresay (1988, Windham Hill), Navigator (1981, Landslide Records), and Premonition (1992, Windham Hill). With Oregon, Paul has recorded 28 albums and CDs, in addition to 7 records and CDs with Paul Winter.

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 (winning aGrammy with them in 1996, and appearing on the 2002 album Live at the Quick) and has toured with tabla artist Sandip Burman. He also was a guest of Leftover Salmon and The String Cheese Incident multiple times in the late 1990s. He has appeared on stage in duets with pianist Art Lande, with whom he recorded the album Skylight.

McCandless is active in the classical music world. 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.

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 on the main stage and headlining at the Stanford Jazz Festival. The quartet has also appeared at Birdland (in NYC), Blues Alley (in Washington, DC), Yoshi's Jazz Club, the Chelmsford Center for the Arts (Massachusetts), and an array of other venues on the east coast of the U.S.

With Oregon, Paul has recorded a stunning 28 albums and CDs, in addition to 7 records and CDs with Paul Winter.

Reception

McCandless was a featured soloist with Pat Metheny and Gary Burton in "The Great Jubilee Concert", a tribute event in Theaterhaus Stuttgart, in 2015, by the SWR Big Band, celebrating the music and the career of German bassist Eberhard Weber.[4] The event was encapsulated on Hommage a Eberhard Weber (ECM, 2015). McCandless appears on two of Weber's albums as a leader. The London Telegraph called McCandless' contributions to the concert "remarkable".[5] Said Jazz Journal, "Paul McCandless delivered terrific, beautifully modulated solos on both oboe and soprano."[6]

About a McCandless concert, the Washington Post said:[7] "the group deftly explored more imaginatively orchestrated pieces, balancing contemplative and colorfully textured works that made use of a broad variety of mostly reed instruments (and an electronic wind synthesizer) with more rhythmically aggressive pieces that were often marked by spirited and sometimes rhapsodic improvisations by McCandless". The South China Morning Post said he is "a particular pleasure to hear." Said the Birmingham Post, "McCandless soars".[8] And the Washington Post called McCandless a "stellar player" who plays "sparkling harmonic cascades."[9] The Jerusalem Post said when McCandless performs, he "sprinkles feather-light soprano saxophone touches."

Awards

Selected Discography

Solo

As sideman

With Paul Winter Consort

With Oregon

on Vanguard

on Elektra

on ECM

on Intuition

on Cam Jazz

With Paul Winter

With Fred Simon and Steve Rodby

With Art Lande

With Eberhard Weber

With Ralph Towner

With Béla Fleck

With Béla Fleck and the Flecktones

With Spencer Brewer

With Andrea Pellegrini

With Comotion

References

  1. "Jazz band Charged Particles welcomes fusion icon Paul McCandless into the fold". Retrieved 2016-07-08.
  2. Rinzler, Paul; Kernfeld, Barry (2002). Kernfeld, Barry, ed. The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. 2 (2nd ed.). New York: Grove's Dictionaries Inc. p. 647. ISBN 1-56159-284-6.
  3. "Jazz band Charged Particles welcomes fusion icon Paul McCandless into the fold". Retrieved 2016-07-08.
  4. "LondonJazz: NEWS: Eberhard Weber - The Great Jubilee Concert to be released on DVD in early 2016". www.londonjazznews.com. Retrieved 2016-07-08.
  5. "Eberhard Weber Jubilee Concert, Stuttgart, review: 'magical'". Retrieved 2016-07-08.
  6. Publishing, JJ. "Review: Eberhard Weber Jubilee, Stuttgart". www.jazzjournal.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-07-08.
  7. "McCandless: Weak Opening 'Punch'". 1992-09-10.
  8. "CULTURE: CD REVIEWS: New world of excellence. - Free Online Library". www.thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved 2016-07-09.
  9. "THE STRING CHEESE INCIDENT "'Round the Wheel" Fidelity; KELLER WILLIAMS "Breathe" Sci Fidelity". 1999-10-22.

Further reading

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