Though its spirit and rhythm should make it accessible to a rock audience, Oregon’s music doesn’t fit within that genre. It has been called jazz on more than one occasion, but it isn’t exactly that, either; Oregon’s biggest influences include the baroque, Indian, and classical fields.

At any rate, the outfit combines a rare degree of imagination with the large, diverse instrumental skills necessary to display it. Just as importantly, its members possess a shared vision that, even on improvised numbers, results in cohesive, strongly directed performances.

You really ought to check out all of its albums; and their latest—Violin, a collaboration with Polish violinist Zbigniew Siefert, seems as good a place to start as any. The band’s free-flowing, harmonic music has never been more graceful or invigorating.