Ralph Towner

At 22, Ralph Towner had already earned a degree in composition from the University of Oregon and was adept at the piano and trumpet when he discovered his true passion, the guitar. Towner, now 60, appears Tuesday at Cal State Northridge in an International Guitar Night concert that also features Marco Pereira, a Brazilian who blends Brazilian, jazz and classical modes; Antonio Calogero, an Italian who favors the classical genre; and Brian Gore, an American who calls himself a folk musician.

The guitar is the original crossover instrument, from its infancy moving freely from the court to the street, from Old World to New. Not surprising then, it takes readily to fusion waters, a major point of the International Guitar Night Tuesday at the CSUN Performing Arts Center. San Francisco guitarist Brian Gore, with numerous models before him, has been producing package shows such as this for six years.

The group Oregon--which began blending jazz, classical and world music elements with improvisation nearly 20 years ago and whose music indirectly presaged the New Age movement--showed in its 90-minute set Monday amid the glitz of the Strand in Redondo Beach that it far surpasses the competition as creative musical colorists. Oregon's style has often been described as pastoral but percussionist Trilok Gurtu's work gave the music a harder edge. The arrangements successfully aimed for a seamless weave, where individual turns in the spotlight were less featured solos than sections of the compositions where one member took the lead.

At 22, Ralph Towner had already earned a degree in composition from the University of Oregon and was adept at the piano and trumpet when he discovered his true passion, the guitar. Towner, now 60, appears Tuesday at Cal State Northridge in an International Guitar Night concert that also features Marco Pereira, a Brazilian who blends Brazilian, jazz and classical modes; Antonio Calogero, an Italian who favors the classical genre; and Brian Gore, an American who calls himself a folk musician.

The guitar is the original crossover instrument, from its infancy moving freely from the court to the street, from Old World to New. Not surprising then, it takes readily to fusion waters, a major point of the International Guitar Night Tuesday at the CSUN Performing Arts Center. San Francisco guitarist Brian Gore, with numerous models before him, has been producing package shows such as this for six years.

Record companies often reflect the musical and cultural attitudes of their founders.

There are some surprising similarities between bassists Ron Carter and Gary Peacock. Born two years apart under the sign of Taurus--Carter is 61, Peacock is 63--both have performed in a wide array of settings, and both are held in universally high esteem by jazz musicians of every age and style. Carter, who is especially well regarded as a composer in Japan, where he is one of the best-selling artists in jazz, has spent more time writing for large--often unusually instrumented--ensembles.

Founded in the early '70s by members of the Paul Winter Consort, Oregon succeeded Winter's ensemble as the leading practitioner of pastoral, chamber jazz. After the death of percussionist Colin Walcott in 1984, the remaining members continued to perform but without the focus and the mystical edge that Walcott added.

Bounding onstage at Pepperdine's Raitt Recital Hall on Sunday afternoon with shaggy hair and pale yellow boots, Thibault Cauvin may have resembled your average teenage fan of the Vines. But once this 19-year-old French classical guitarist launched into the formal thicket of Scarlatti's sonatas, transcribed from harpsichord, something else was clearly afoot.

There are some surprising similarities between bassists Ron Carter and Gary Peacock. Born two years apart under the sign of Taurus--Carter is 61, Peacock is 63--both have performed in a wide array of settings, and both are held in universally high esteem by jazz musicians of every age and style. Carter, who is especially well regarded as a composer in Japan, where he is one of the best-selling artists in jazz, has spent more time writing for large--often unusually instrumented--ensembles.

Record companies often reflect the musical and cultural attitudes of their founders.

The group Oregon--which began blending jazz, classical and world music elements with improvisation nearly 20 years ago and whose music indirectly presaged the New Age movement--showed in its 90-minute set Monday amid the glitz of the Strand in Redondo Beach that it far surpasses the competition as creative musical colorists. Oregon's style has often been described as pastoral but percussionist Trilok Gurtu's work gave the music a harder edge. The arrangements successfully aimed for a seamless weave, where individual turns in the spotlight were less featured solos than sections of the compositions where one member took the lead.

When the band Oregon first got together in 1971, it took the name of the state where guitarist-pianist Ralph Towner and bassist Glenn Moore had gone to college. In doing so, it also assumed an identification that seemed a good fit: a group that offered a gently swinging melange of jazz and world music elements, named after a state that, at the time, offered a laid-back, natural environment drawing emigres from California and elsewhere.

Paul Horn, whose music has been created in such exotic places as the Taj Mahal and the Great Pyramids of Cheops, brought his unique jazz to the Vine St. Bar & Grill Wednesday evening. A flutist and soprano saxophonist of extraordinary talent, Horn displayed his full range of musical interests and talents during a delightful opening set that showcased not only his own visions but those of bassist David Friesen, guitarist John Stowell and the leader's son, drummer Robin Horn.