Jan Garbarek (born 4 March 1947 in Mysen, Norway) is a Norwegian tenor and soprano saxophonist, active in the jazz, classical,
and world music genres. Garbarek was the only child of a former Polish
prisoner of war Czeslaw Garbarek and a Norwegian farmer's daughter.Garbarek's sound is one of the hallmarks of the ECM Records label, which has released virtually all of his recordings. His style incorporates a sharp-edged tone, long, keening, sustained notes, and generous use of silence. He began his recording career in the late 1960s, notably featuring on recordings by the American jazz composer George Russell (such as Othello Ballet Suite and Electronic Sonata for Souls Loved by Nature). If he had initially appeared as a devotee of Albert Ayler and Peter Brötzmann, by 1973 he had turned his back on the harsh dissonances of avant-garde jazz, retaining only his tone from his previous approach.
Garbarek gained wider recognition through his work with pianist Keith Jarrett's European Quartet which released the albums Belonging (1974), My Song (1977) and the live recordings Personal Mountains (1979), and Nude Ants (1979). He was also a featured soloist on Jarrett's orchestral works Luminessence (1974) and Arbour Zena (1975)
As a composer, Garbarek tends to draw heavily from Scandinavian folk melodies, a legacy of his Ayler influence. He is also a pioneer of ambient jazz composition, most notably on his 1976 album Dis a collaboration with guitarist Ralph Towner that featured the distinctive sound of a wind harp on several tracks. This textural approach, which rejects traditional notions of thematic improvisation (best exemplified by Sonny Rollins) in favour of a style described by critics Richard Cook and Brian Morton as "sculptural in its impact", has been critically divisive. Garbarek's more meandering recordings are often labeled as New Age music, a style generally scorned by more orthodox jazz musicians and listeners, or spiritual ancestors thereof. Other experiments have included setting a collection of poems of Olav H. Hauge to music, with a single saxophone complementing a full mixed choir; this has led to notable performances with Grex Vocalis, but not yet to recordings. In the 1980s, Garbarek's music began to incorporate synthesizers and elements of world music. He has collaborated with Indian and Pakistani musicians such as Trilok Gurtu, Zakir Hussain, Hariprasad Chaurasia, and Ustad Fateh Ali Khan.
In 1994, during heightened popularity of Gregorian chant, his album Officium, a collaboration with early music vocal performers the Hilliard Ensemble, became one of ECM's biggest-selling albums of all time, reaching the pop charts in several European countries and was followed by a sequel, Mnemosyne, in 1999. In 2005, his album In Praise of Dreams was nominated for a Grammy. Garbarek's first live album Dresden was released in 2009.
1969 - Esoteric Circle (with Terje Rypdal)
1970 - Afric Pepperbird
1971 - Sart
1972 - Triptykon
1973 - Witchi-Tai-To (with Bobo Stenson Quartet)
1975 - Dansere (with Bobo Stenson Quartet)
1976 - Dis
1977 - Places
1978 - Photo with Blue Sky, White Cloud, Wires, Windows and a Red Roof
1979 - Aftenland (with Kjell Johnsen)
1980 - Eventyr
1981 - Paths, Prints
1983 - Wayfarer
1984 - It's OK to Listen to the Gray Voice
1986 - All Those Born with Wings
1988 - Legend of the Seven Dreams
1988 - Rosensfole (with Agnes Buen Garnas)
1990 - I Took Up the Runes
1990 - Ragas and Sagas (with Ustad Fateh Ali Khan)
1991 - Star (with Miroslav Vitous, Peter Erskine)
1992 - Madar (with Anouar Brahem, Ustad Shaukat Hussain)
1992 - Twelve Moons
1993 - Officium (with The Hilliard Ensemble)
1995 - Visible World
1998 - Mnemosyne (2CD) (with The Hilliard Ensemble)
1998 - Rites (2CD)
2003 - In Praise of Dreams
2009 - Officium Novum (with The Hilliard Ensemble)
