Jazz virtuoso and fusion pioneer Ralph Towner – composer of jazz standard Icarus – dies at 85

Jazz and acoustic guitar virtuoso Ralph Towner has died at the age of 85. News of the musician’s passing was shared on January 18 by his long-term label ECM. His daughter, Celeste Towner, confirmed the news.

Best associated with the six- and twelve-string acoustic, Towner expanded the jazz lexicon with his avant-garde approach to the instrument. While initially gaining fame as a pianist, he quickly stepped to the forefront of the late ’60s New York jazz scene as a guitarist.

Fast forward to the ’70s – the height of jazz fusion – and Towner would make the most of that decade to establish himself as a jazz guitar tour de force.

Not only did he appear on Paul Winter Consort’s album Road, which included the Towner-penned Icarus – now a jazz standard – but he also formed the modern jazz/world music quartet Oregon, lent his chops as a sideman on Weather Report’s 1972 album I Sing the Body Electric, and went on to form a longstanding relationship with ECM, the label that released virtually all his non-Oregon recordings after his 1973 debut as a leader, Trios / Solos.

“There’s something about having the freedom to basically direct the music yourself,” Towner told Jazz Times in 2017.

“Guitar is such a good solo instrument; there’s a sense of playing an ensemble kind of music, but on your own. You certainly have a different role. With others, it’s several people playing a single piece of music.

“In jazz, they’re all composing as they’re playing, even if there’s a pre-organized tune that you’re playing on or a completely freeform piece; it’s still composition. When you’re on your own, basically you’re the only composer.”

Both with Oregon and as a solo artist, Towner stood out for his inventive use of overdubbing – allowing him to play the guitar and the piano at the same time – best exemplified in his 1974 record, Diary, in which he essentially duets with himself.

Towner moved to Italy in the early ’90s, settling in Palermo before making Rome his home. Oregon continued to record and perform on a prolific level, with Towner – alongside multi-instrumentalist Paul McCandless and bassist Glen Moore – touring with different band members following the death of sitar and tabla player Collin Walcott in 1984.

Summing up his work with Oregon – and his ethos toward his musical projects – Towner asserted in an interview with Innerviews, “The reason we continue is strictly because the music keeps improving. If the music wasn’t good, we would have stopped quite a while ago.”

Janelle is a staff writer at GuitarWorld.com. After a long stint in classical music, Janelle discovered the joys of playing guitar in dingy venues at the age of 13 and has never looked back. Janelle has written extensively about the intersection of music and technology, and how this is shaping the future of the music industry. She also had the pleasure of interviewing Dream Wife, K.Flay, Yīn Yīn, and Black Honey, among others. When she’s not writing, you’ll find her creating layers of delicious audio lasagna with her art-rock/psych-punk band ĠENN.