Paul Winter Consort - The Early Winter Consort (1967 - 1978)

1978)

The Paul Winter Consort was founded in 1967 by Paul Winter, who had already begun a promising career as a jazz saxophonist in the early sixties. After hearing the songs of humpback whales, he was inspired to create a new form of music which would bring together elements of music from around the world as well as animal songs, thus creating an “orchestra of the entire world”. This artistic message was in line with Winter's growing interest in environmentalism, animal rights, and pacifism. Winter got the name “consort” from musical groups of the middle ages and the Renaissance which combined the sounds of wind instruments, string instruments, and percussion – the same instruments Winter was interested in using.

The original lineup included Winter on alto and soprano saxophones, cellist Richard Bock, guitarists Karl Herreshoff and Gene Bertoncini, flautist Virgil Scott, double reed player Gene Murrow, and percussionist Ruth Ben-Zvi. The group was initially unsatisfied with recording in the stressful environment of a recording studio, and felt rushed to release albums due to the studio's schedules. The original band released their first and only album, The Winter Consort, in 1968. The group suffered numerous lineup changes in its early stages. Its next album, Something In The Wind, was released in 1969, and replaced Gene Murrow and Ruth Ben-Zvi with Paul McCandless and Steve Booker. Another new addition to the group was bassist John Beal. Karl Herreshoff and Gene Bertoncini only appeared on Something In The Wind as guests, along with five other musicians. The group's third album, Road, was released in 1970, and saw further lineup changes. Winter and Paul McCandless were the only remaining members of the previous lineup, with Bock being replaced by David Darling, and Beal being replaced by Glen Moore. Other new additions were classical guitarist Ralph Towner and multi-instrumentalist Colin Walcott. This third album was of greater success than the first two, and had the unique honor of being brought to the moon by the astronauts on Apollo 15, who named two craters after the tracks Ghost Beads and Icarus. The bossa-nova flavored tune Icarus was written by Ralph Towner, and is arguably the Paul Winter Consort's most successful song. It has become the signature piece of both The Winter Consort and Ralph Towner, and was included in the standard lead sheet book known as The Real Book.

1971 saw the group have considerable success, and after replacing bassist Glen Moore with Herb Bushler, got the opportunity to create a new album and have it produced by George Martin, who had gained considerable fame from being the longtime producer of The Beatles. Martin gave the group many luxuries they were previously not used to. They were no longer rushed in and out of recording studios, stuck to the studio's schedules. They also didn't have to deal with the cramped space of the studio, with Martin suggesting they create the album in a rented house near the ocean. The Consort was encouraged to nourish its music and sense of community, and the end result was the landmark album Icarus, which was released in 1972, which George Martin described as “the finest album I've ever made”. 1972 also saw the departure of many important members of the group: Towner, McCandless, and Walcott all left to focus on their own new group with former Consort bassist Glen Moore, called Oregon.

The group took a long hiatus from recording, and Winter spent much of his time further researching the idea of creating music with animals. These experiments culminated in his experimental 1978 solo album Common Ground, which featured many members of the Consorts past, as well as many of the musicians that would shape the Paul Winter Consort in the future.