In 1970 Ralph Towner (guitar, keyboards), Paul McCandless (oboe, saxophone), Glen Moore (bass) and Collin Walcott (sitar, tabla, percussion) left Paul Winter's band, the pioneer of world music, to start their own band Oregon. Their first album couldn't be released because of their record company's bankruptcy, but their second album Music of Another Present Era is still considered a classic. On the album we can hear a unique blend of western classical music, Indian music, jazz, folk and so-called "space music". When Walcott died in a car accident in former East Germany, the group didn't play for a while, but some time later Oregon picked up where they had left off with Trilok Gurtu and, later, Mark Walker, who is still with the band. Their most recent album (on CAM Jazz) 1000 Kilometers, received two Grammy nominations last year; one for "Best Jazz Instrumental Solo" and one for "Best Jazz Instrumental Composition".
