A musician of uncommon refinement and curiosity, Ralph Towner spent more than five decades expanding the expressive possibilities of jazz guitar, forging a body of work that bridged classical composition, improvisation and global folk traditions.

Ralph Towner. Photo © Caterina Di Perri/ECM Records

Born in 1940 into a musical household – his mother a piano teacher, his father a trumpet player – Towner initially studied art at the University of Oregon before switching to composition, a decision that would shape the architectural clarity of his music. There he met bassist Glen Moore, a partnership that would become central to his life’s work.

Early exposure to the recordings of jazz pianist Bill Evans proved formative, influencing both Towner’s harmonic sensibility and his own emerging pianism. Yet it was a chance encounter with the classical guitar that redirected his path. Captivated by the instrument, he travelled to Vienna in the early 1960s to study with Karl Scheit, acquiring a technical and contrapuntal command that would later distinguish his playing from any of his jazz contemporaries.