Collin Walcott

Collin Walcott (April 24, 1945 – November 8, 1984) was an American musician who worked in jazz and world music.

Collin Walcott
Born(1945-04-24)April 24, 1945
New York City, US
DiedNovember 8, 1984(1984-11-08) (aged 39)
Magdeburg, East Germany
Occupation(s)Musician
InstrumentsSitar, tabla
Associated actsOregon
Websitewww.collinwalcott.com

Early life

Walcott was born in New York City on April 24, 1945.[1] He studied violin and tympani in his youth, and was a percussion student at Indiana University.[2] After graduating in 1966, he went to the University of California, Los Angeles, and studied sitar under Ravi Shankar and tabla under Alla Rakha.[1]

Later life and career

According to critic Scott Yanow of Allmusic, Walcott was "one of the first sitar players to play jazz".[2] Walcott moved to New York and played "a blend of bop and oriental music with Tony Scott" in 1967–69.[1] Around 1970 he joined the Paul Winter Consort and co-founded the band Oregon.[1][2] These groups, along with the trio Codona, which was founded in 1978, combined "jazz improvisation and instrumentation with elements of a wide range of classical and ethnic music".[1]

Walcott also played on the Miles Davis 1972 album On the Corner,[1] had three releases under his own name on ECM Records,[2] and taught at the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado.[1] Walcott was killed in a bus crash in Magdeburg, East Germany, on November 8, 1984,[1] while on a tour with Oregon.[2]

Author David James Duncan wrote retrospectively in 1996 about an Oregon concert he attended in Cascade Head in his piece "My One Conversation with Collin Walcott". Duncan described Walcott as sitting "buddha-style" on stage, surrounded by instruments. Along with an electronic drum kit "to his north", Walcott "had five different tablas to his south, a sitar to his east and a bewildering semicircle of rattles, chimes, clackers, bells, whistles, finger-drums, triangles and unnameable noisemakers to his west. He was the first Western 'jazz' percussionist I'd ever seen sit flat on the floor like an East Indian."[3]

Discography

As leader

  • Cloud Dance (1976) ECM 1062
  • Grazing Dreams (1977) ECM 1096
  • Dawn Dance (1981) ECM 1198 (with Steve Eliovson)
  • Works (compilation) (1988) ECM/Polygram 837 276

With Oregon

  • Our First Record CD (1970) Universe 42
  • Music of Another Present Era CD (1973) Vanguard VMD-79326
  • Winter Light CD (1974) Vanguard VMD 79350
  • Distant Hills CD (1974) Vanguard VMD-79341
  • In Concert CD (1975) Universe 25
  • Together (w/Elvin Jones) CD (1976) Universe 9
  • Friends CD (1977) Vanguard 79370-2
  • Out of the Woods CD (1978) Discovery 71004
  • Violin CD (1978) Universe 40
  • Moon and Mind CD (1979) Vanguard VMD 79419
  • Roots in the Sky CD (1979) Discovery 71005
  • In Performance CD (1980) Wounded Bird Records 304
  • Oregon (ECM, 1983)
  • Crossing (ECM, 1984)

With Codona

  • Codona (recd.1978, pbl.4/1979) ECM 1132
  • Codona 2 (recd.1980, pbl.2/1981) ECM 1177
  • Codona 3 (recd.1982, pbl.2/1983) ECM 1243

As sideman

With David Darling

With Miles Davis

With Egberto Gismonti

With Meredith Monk

With Tony Scott

With Ralph Towner

See also

References

  1. Kernfeld, Barry (2003). "Walcott, Collin". Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.J470400. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. https://www.allmusic.com/artist/collin-walcott-mn0000089828/biography
  3. David James Duncan (1996). "My One Conversation with Collin Walcott". River Teeth: Stories and Writings. Bantam. pp. 191–192. ISBN 9780553378276.
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