Oregon
Free Music Store
New York, New York
1974-10-09

WBAI New York, NY FM broadcast

Ralph Towner-acoustic guitars, piano
Glen Moore-bass
Paul McCandless-reeds and flutes
Collin Walcott-tablas, percussion, sitar

source/lineage (jswetch)-digital transfer of flac files from FM broadcast captured on unknown equipment> Audacity> TLH> DIME

Goody's additional lineage:
Audition (Pitch Bender, various amounts) > iZotope RX10 Advanced (Wow & Flutter reduced) > TLH (FLAC Level 8; Align sector boundaries)

01-Summer Solstice 8:17
02-Unknown title 5:41
03-Deer Path 3:49
04-Sail 14:06
05-Ogden Road 6:04
06-Ghost Beads 13:22
07-Dark Spirit 10:49
08-Tide Pool 9:49
09-Free Improvisation 7:38
10-Rainmaker 7:38

This is an Oregon show featuring the original quartet, and it comes from near to the time that they were initially gaining notice through albums on the Vanguard label like Distant Hills and Winter Light. WBAI was a free-thinking FM radio station in NYC, and many of the shows they broadcast came from a deconsecrated church on East 62nd Street in Manhattan. For some reason, this particular set of music has long been associated with Troy, New York, about 150 miles north of NYC. It is possible this was recorded in Troy for broadcast on WBAI, but it's more likely that this came from that space in Manhattan. This has been shared here on DIME before this, but not since 2017, when glasnostrd19 had it run under the idea that the show took place in Troy. A 2005 share from punkjazz did have it originating in NYC, though, and that's the location being used again here.
It's hoped that this new 2026 share will clean up the setlist and sound a bit better from the previous shares. The tracking here should be accurate, and the misidentification of the material will be avoided, such as nearly 3 minutes of tuning once upon a time being included in the file set and ID'ed as the song Deer Path. There is applause at the end of some tracks, and that was faded in earlier versions, but some other tracks end without the applause, so it's unclear how this might once have entered into circulation. Audacity was used for the 2026 tracking, and to sonically try to bring out some additional depth and clarity within the performance. There is still minor hiss from either FM or tape generation that's heard in the quieter parts. 5 separate shares of this show were auditioned to find the cleanest and clearest of them to use now. Thanks to Ian (glasnostrd19), Waterwheel (Christoph), lauramareike (Dieter), and a source I no longer recall for those different versions that were on hand to choose from. The one that's vague in its origin turned out to be that cleanest and clearest version, so that was used here as the raw material for any of the new work.
After the work in Audacity, this was sent over to goody. He found various issues relating to speed and pitch, and he remedied those via the lineage you'll see above. He sent it back with the suggestion that I still might clean up some things at the ends of tracks, and that was done on this end, using Audacity again, prior to the final step of sending this over to Dieter for the artwork that's included. Please be sure to check the samples, one of which will include a comparison to how this existed in previous shares. Finally, track 2 has always been shared as "Unknown", and attempts to figure out what it might've been for this version fell short too. Perhaps it's a song tested out a few times, but then dropped from the repertoire. If anyone reading this can ID a title with a good degree of certainty for this track, please leave a comment below so we can finally have it nailed down.
Thanks again to whoever might've once recorded this, and to those sharing this in the past. Particular thanks relative to this 2026 run to Dieter, Christoph, and especially Goody for getting it all to run "just right" for the rest of us. Enjoy!