Art Lande, Paul McCandless & Bruce Williamson Spirits Collector's Edition MQD Gold CD

If you're a fan of ECM Records, then the names Art Lande, Paul McCandless and Bruce Williamson will probably be familiar to you. Art Lande and Paul McCandless have toured the world dozens of times playing their unique blend of contemporary jazz along with performing on hundreds of albums.

The first single to be released on their 2025 album Spirits is "Queen of Sydney," a composition by Paul McCandless. Here Art Lande is on the piano, Paul (on the left) playing oboe, and Bruce Williamson is on the right playing flutes. If you're a fan of Ralph Towner or Pat Metheny, you'll love this song.

What makes this album special is that there is no bass or drums — just the unique sound of a piano being surrounded by different combinations of reeds, flutes and saxophones creating a sonic experience unlike any you've heard before. Each song offers a new sonic experience of instrumental combinations along with improvisation by legendary masters at the top of their game performing live in the same room. No overdubs or fixes — just humans responding to sound and melodies.

This is an album that contemporary jazz lovers and radio DJs have been longing for.

Paul McCandless was the oboist in the legendary ensemble called "Oregon" along with famed guitarist Ralph Towner, bassist Glen Moore and tabla percussionist Collin Walcott. Often considered the godfathers of New Age music, their unusual yet complicated melodies brought a fresh twist to the genre called "jazz." With Paul McCandless on oboe, English horn, bass clarinet, flutes and multiple saxophones, Oregon helped move the sound of jazz to a worldwide sound. His gift for playing the oboe is legendary among double reed players especially having studied at the Manhattan School of Music and becoming a finalist for the New York Philharmonic playing the English horn.

Art Lande is a renowned composer and pianist having launched his career on ECM Records with a historic album called Red Lanta featuring Jan Gabarek on saxophone. Rubisa Patrol, featuring Mark Isham and Bruce Williamson, set a path for many jazz musicians to make their name. Art has now performed on more than 40 albums under his direction and is a well known teacher of improvisational arts.

Bruce Williamson, the youngest member of the ensemble, brings his talents on multiple saxophones, clarinets and flutes. Bruce resides on the East Coast where he's a sought after sideman for many ensembles.

About MQD Gold CDs:
These are collector's items. The MQDs (Master Quality Discs) are hand made in the Blue Coast studio using 24k Gold discs of the highest quality. Sonically, you won't find a better sounding disc. Blue Coast makes them one at a time, on order, and directly from the masters in their studio. All discs are checked for errors, hand written and numbered. There is no artwork for the cover. They arrive in a white digi pack with gold MQD logo on front. All titles look alike except for the writing on the discs themselves and the avery label on the back with song titles.

Note: Additional images are sample package only and do not show actual tracklist for this title.