Jan Garbarek - I Took Up the Runes

There's a stately splendor in much of this 1990 recording, whether it's infused with a broadening calm or a welling tension as Garbarek synthesizes his disparate inspirations into frequently compelling music. Mari Boine Persen, a Lapp singer, contributed the first tune, an evocative musical call that summons Garbarek's frequent use of folklore, an element that's further developed by singer Ingor Ántte Áilu Gaup on the traditional song "His Eyes Were Suns" and his own "Rahkki Sruvvis." The five-part "Molde Canticle," at more than a half-hour, is the CD's centerpiece. It's a shifting tableau with a startling change of pace for "Part 4," a rock-driven piece that fully unleashes Manu Katché's driving drums and Garbarek's always potent tenor saxophone. Garbarek synthesizes elements in his saxophone playing as well. His distinctive tenor sound can assume elements of King Curtis and the R&B stream, while it adds expressionist touches from his roots in the jazz avant-garde to the title track. There are fine contributions from Garbarek's regular associates, including Rainer Brüninghaus, who plays piano throughout, and the virtuosic Eberhard Weber, whose electric upright bass, both bowed and plucked, is a distinctive upper-register voice. --Stuart Broomer Amazon.com

remakable jazz artist makes it accessible to all

the only sad aspect of this incredibly evocative album is how relatively few people will ever hear it . i'd love for more people than us in our little esoteric reader/listener/writer clique to hear this deeply stirring and uplifting record . all jan's albums are teriffic . this and probably to a greater degree "VISIBLE WORLD" can hopefully bring people to projects like "STAR" and "RITES" which defy all but the most scholarly and by virtue of that , exclusive efforts to explain them . spirituality and philosophy for the ears and mind and heart . July 27, 2008

I'm torn as to whether this or his previous disc, Legend of the Seven Dreams, is his greatest

Actually, it really doesn't matter. If I give the nod to Seven Dreams, it's because it first assayed his shift to elegiac folk-jazz and because of "He Came from the North." Yes, "Molde Canticle" is entirely remarkable, perhaps even trumping anything on the former disc from the standpoint of sheer virtuosity. But maybe, just, not quite matching the wide-eyed clarity of ur-folk/jazz vision so amply on display on Seven Dreams.

On the other hand, this disc bountifully expands the sound palette, even as it retains the minimalist approach, including, for the first time, long-time collaborator Manu Katche on drums, and an early taste of electronic pioneer, Bugge Wesseltoft, on synth. Plus, it contains perhaps Eberhard Weber's finest recorded bass playing on "Molde Canticle, Part 3." Also, I absolute love how Garbarek so subtly deploys Wesseltoft's synth stylings: They're never obtrusive, always absolutely geared to their proper accompanying role. And his tenor playing on "Molde Canticle, Part 3" seems to me to be his strongest on disc. Another highlight: Vasconcelos's percussion on "Molde Canticle, Part 4," brilliantly integrated into the adventurous soundscape laid down by Garbarek's muscular tenor sax, Katche's extroverted drums, and Weber's declamatory bass.

Have I talked myself into this as Garbarek's finest outing?

Maybe.

But not quite. For one thing, there's too much tenor playing for my taste--a sax I actually prefer, under most circumstances, but falling short of the great concept Garbarek has on soprano. Second, despite the obvious aptness to the proceedings of Ingor Antte Ailu Gaup's voice, it somehow subtly adds an alien element that can't quite be fully integrated into the folk-jazz vibe. (Others may, certainly, disagree, and conclude that this is the crowning achievement of Garbarek's folk-jazz conception.) Third, I think this disc may be a little too long. The title cut, oddly, isn't one of the highpoints, delving, as it seems to me, in faux rather than real mystery, and the last two numbers, "Bueno Hora, Buenos Vientos" and "Rhakki Sruvvis," seem to evoke a vibe already adequately explored.

But these are quibbles. This is certainly one of the absolutely finest, if not the very finest, of the many discs in Jan Garbarek's vast canon, one you'll certainly want to avail yourself of, if you haven't already. March 9, 2007

Promises Of An Ocean Deep

Just like any other Garbarek enthusiast would tell you, this is a deliciously lucid album. But in the Garbarek Canon this ranks as the most translucent experience from any of his work, rising even higher than Legend of the Seven Dreams, Visible World and what Rites could have been; another three albums that I consider my favourite Garbarek, apart from his avant-gardist jazz from of the early days.

"Molde Canticle" is an astonishing piece of music, a testament of solitary introspection, something that ECM does all the way starting from their album art up to their style of production, just as well as this is a testament to the economy of improvisation. I cannot think of any other moment with more fondness than playing the first part in front of an audience; there is such clarity of expression, of dynamics and of mood that it sends shivers down the spine. This is not the ordinary, drairy stuff, this remains unconsumed to the last moment being uplifting, as does the best of Garbarek in every occasion.

Now, the Molde Canticle piece is the epicentre of the album, which would have made it astonishing on its own right already. I am thankful, however, that there is something else and that this something else does not go down the usual Garbarek route, either as strikingly different in mood and timbre to shake the sweetness of the rest of the album, or as numbingly filling the rest of the air space. That is, the epicentre itself is such a collocation, such a unity, so integral that it feels impossible to think of anything external forming a larger existing unity to fill the rest of the album. But these songs flow from the heart and into the soul, and Garbarek's approach to the archetype through folkloristic improvisation prevails: the whole album folds into itself time and again, either as a lone voice calling from the top of the mountain or a jazz/rock piece played in a music hall. To listen to this album again is each time a new experience, deeper than before because your soul has changed, and deeper because of the things you still find, and things you remember from it. This is not a mirror, but it does reflect ourselves just as the greatest art does - we can loose ourselves in and build our lives upon it because we know that the foundation holds. Music is one of the things that helps us identify with not only our personality, but our voice of expression. And this is one of those transcendental experiences to cherish.

Just as someone else already said: disparately sublime. February 4, 2007

Garbarek at his most relaxed

There appear to be fewer and fewer musicians (Asian, European, American, Latin American) with whom Garbarek hasn't collaborated at some time. Where no collaboration is possible, he will happily doodle on top of already highly-polished works, as in the million-selling disks he has made with the Hilliard Ensemble. The facility with which he has created dozens of beautiful and intensely enjoyable recordings has led some critics to accuse him of shallowness.

I think the truth is that he is a great musician with much genius, who consistently performs at a level which only looks facile to observers incapable of even approaching his level. But he is also a restless spirit who uses his tecnhical brilliance to conceal himself as consistently as other musicians -- David Darling, for example -- reveal themselves.

Even on this disk, which is a deliberate exploration of his own Scandinavian-Slavic roots (taking up the runes) there is frequently the sense that he is very self-consciously "collaborating" with yet another tradition, even if it is that of his own nation.

The difference is that the tension so often evident in his work with others has here given way to a serene unfolding of something as close to the real Garbarek as we are likely to see. And as so often when that happens, it the Scandinavian Baroque that is the guiding spirit, with stately measures and rather grand tunes giving way to sprightly dances and fanfares, a smell of the stableyard and the crackle of log fires.

Some listeners are irritated by the unadventurousness of this album, the absence of the complex beats and jagged melodies of his exotic works, or the angst which signals that he is operating at a higher level. But this is a Garbarek who is contented, at ease, very much at home, and the result is deservedly one of his most popular recordings. This is a deeply pleasing work and a Garbarek must-have. Highly recommended. July 15, 2005

Incredible experience

I am 40 and listen to jazz since I was a child, as my father was a jazz fan. I play and teach guitar, and have a musical education background. I still do not know why, but since the beginning of the year (2004) I got much more deeply in love with music and specifically jazz - I work listening music, I listen music driving, at home etc. and I have probably purchased about 150 jazz CDs this year. This is certainly the one I like the most. I have listened to the whole CD about 4 or 5 times, and all of them were among the greatest aesthetic experiences I had. This CD is fantastic. I've been learning to enjoy Garbarek, and actually like all his CDs I have purchased until today, but this one is the great of the greatest. It is a journey. It is incredible a group of people could have composed and played such music. You feel transported to another dimension of reality, you feel hypnotized, you feel totally involved with the players and the music. A unique experience, from those that make living worth. November 5, 2004

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