12 Comments
Dec 12, 2021Liked by Ted Gioia

damn...trying to pull myself back together after listening to Wolf Eyes..it's invigorating to be introduced to Winter's enormous contribution. True mavericks are so rare. Thank you once again.

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"It’s hard to convey to a young fan raised in an age of streaming how much we listened over and over again to the same records back in those days. Most of us couldn’t afford to buy many albums, so the ones we did own got lots of use. " So true. And I bet many of us coordinated what we bought with college roommates to maximize the choices of albums to listen to.

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Dec 13, 2021Liked by Ted Gioia

Thank you so much for this. We’re about the same age, and I discovered Paul Winter in the exact same way— his was one of my first records, back when each one was a treasure. I’ve loved his music ever since, and I always thought he deserved much wider recognition. His tone on soprano is miraculous.

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Thank you for sharing the story and music of Paul Winter. I had no idea of the breadth of his musical explorations. Very inspiring!

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Thank you once again. I knew nothing of this until now.

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Paul Winter is perfect music for painting. I don't think I heard Paul Winter in my repertoire.

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Dec 15, 2021Liked by Ted Gioia

I accidentally stumbled into a Paul Winter Consort concert at a small college in Indiana in 1969. I was stunned. I had been listening to the first Led Zepplin album, and Beatles and Stones and here was something I couldn't describe, yet I could understand on a new musical level. Something way beyond the limits of any music I had ever heard. My life was forever changed. I have been a jazz dj now for over 30 years. Last night (12/13/21) I played Paul Winter's Wintersong album on the air (KDNK). That one came out in the 80s and remains my favorite holiday album. Icarus shares my top spot along with Kind of Blue.

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Dec 15, 2021Liked by Ted Gioia

Over the decades, Winter has ventured in several directions, with solid results in each, and is indeed long overdue for recognition as an NEA Jazz Master. In his own way, he is the de facto dean of an on-the-bandstand musical school of the same sort Art Blakey created for bop. Winter would be in my pantheon if all he'd ever done was provide the nest in which the quartet Oregon hatched. The Winter Consort's 1970 live album ROAD features Winter with cellist David Darling and the four who would go on to form Oregon - guitarist Ralph Towner, bassist Glen Moore, percussionist and sitarist Collin Walcott and oboist Paul McCandless. 50+ years later, there is still plenty of fearless beauty in the invitingly edgy energy of their all-acoustic explorations.

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It's amazing how much extraordinary music could exist without our knowledge. I wasn't aware of Winter's work, so my amazement is bigger, not just after reading your profile, but especially after listening to him. A perfect jazzman. A completely boundaries-breaker. Thank you for discovering it for me.

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seminal moment: sneaking into one of the front rows at carnegie hall (after getting off a freighter as a first time sailor) and seeing Paul Winter lead a wolf right past our seats...! & then we all howled together!!

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I write to you from Crestone, CO, one of the many places where Mr. Winter wrote and recorded. Twenty years ago, one of Winter's pieces came up in a mix CD I'd made and my new girlfriend (from Mozambique) immediately stopped what she was doing, and started dancing. Two decades later, she'll still declare "This is my favorite song," and start dancing if "Down in Belgorod" comes on. I can't think of higher praise.

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Something worth mentioning - for the cellists in the room anyway - is that the great David Darling (RIP) had one of the best non-classical cello gigs ever playing with the PWC. His opening melody on Icarus and then how the band enters in layers is so gorgeous it almost defies description. I know nothing else remotely like it.

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