It’s gray and foggy where I live in Southern California, cold too.  I helps sink in the fact that summer is gone and fall is here.  I never liked the fall, though it’s been easier over the past few years.  The holidays from Halloween until Valentine’s Day can either be a source of joy and togetherness or a sinkhole of dread and sadness, depending on each person.   I may have been influenced by my late father, who always darkly observed, as fall was approaching, that “the shadows are getting longer”.  It sounded like a portent of death to me.

I associate the music of the Portland, Oregon band Oregon with fall.  There’s a fall feeling in their music, which they’ve been making and recording since the 1970s.  The group has changed little except for the drummer/percussionist.  The original drummer, Colin Walcott, died in a car accident in Germany, and a succession of drummers, including Trilok Gurtu and Mark Walker, have followed.  Otherwise the group Oregon consists of Paul McCandless on double reeds and soprano sax, Glen Moore on bass, and Ralph Towner on guitars.   They’ve made about a dozen cd’s over the years, maybe more. Read More →