Ralph Towner (born March 1, 1940, in Chehalis, Washington; died January 18, 2026, in Rome, Italy) was an American jazz guitarist.

Towner received classical trumpet training and also taught himself to play the piano. He began studying composition at the University of Oregon in 1958 and in 1963 went to Vienna to study classical guitar with Karl Scheit. He then studied with Homer Keller at the University of Oregon, followed by another year of study with Scheit in 1967.

In 1968, he moved to New York City as a guitarist and pianist, where he became a member of the Paul Winter Consort in 1970. In 1972, he founded the group Oregon with Glen Moore, Collin Walcott, and Paul McCandless, with whom he recorded more than thirty albums over the years.

He recorded with musicians such as Keith Jarrett, Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter (Weather Report), Egberto Gismonti, Gary Burton, John Abercrombie, Gary Peacock, Jack DeJohnette, Jan Hammer, Eddie Gomez, Elvin Jones, Freddie Hubbard, the Trio Azimuth, Maria Pia De Vito (Verso, 2000), and in 2009 in a duo with Paolo Fresu (at the Enjoy Jazz Festival).

Towner performed worldwide, in North and South America, Asia, throughout Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.

He composed orchestral works, which have been performed by, among others, the Stuttgart Opera Orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and the Freiburg Festival Orchestra, a solo suite for guitar, as well as chamber music and film scores, and wrote a book on playing technique and improvisation on the classical guitar.

Awards
1974: Down-Beat Critics Poll,
1976: German Record Critics' Award for Solstice,
1988: German Record Critics' Award for Ecotopia,
2015: German Jazz Trophy.

Ralph Towner - Silence of a Candle

Ralph Towner - My Foolish Heart - Solo in Leipzig

Ralph Towner Solstice Quartet - 1975

 

R.I.P

 

A great musician has gone