Jan Garbarek: Visible World
Published:
COMPOSERS: Jan Garbarek
LABELS: ECM
WORKS: Visible World
PERFORMER: Jan Garbarek (ss, ts, kybd, perc, cl); Rainer Brüninghaus (p, syn); Eberhard Weber (b); Marilyn Mazur (perc, d); Manu Katché (d); Trilok Gurtu (tabla); Mari Boine (vocal)
CATALOGUE NO: 529 086-2 (distr. New Note)
‘Desolate Mountains’, ‘The Healing Smoke’, ‘Evening Land’: the track titles reassure you that you are entering Garbarek country. The Norwegian’s distinctive bent soprano has made beautiful, plaintive music in many settings – in cathedrals recently, beside the Hilliard vocal ensemble. But this is Garbarek at home, where the studio soundscape is illuminated by northern lights, a place inhabited by Lapp folklore, Apaches and even pygmies. Dancing percussion from Marilyn Mazur, Weber’s louring electro-bass and Brüninghaus’s all-enveloping synth coalesce in a vivid, turbulent backdrop for the leader. Garbarek, on peak form, soars confidently on his music thermal, to make some of the most blissful and natural improvised sounds imaginable. GB