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.