Jan Garbarek - In Praise of Dreams

Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek cut his teeth emulating John Coltrane and blowing gales through the muscular compositions of George Russell and open improvisations of Keith Jarrett. But since the mid 1980s, the saxophonist has been making an increasingly rarefied and composed music full of chords suspended in space, harmonies echoing in gothic recesses, and always, wrenching saxophone melodies. In Praise of Dreams is his latest foray into a music that reaches for the mystical. With just Garbarek, some keyboard pads, light percussion from Manu Katché and haunting viola by Kim Kashkashian, In Praise of Dreams is instrumentally sparse, yet deep in emotion and atmosphere. Based mostly on rhythm loops, there's a hypnotic trance quality to Garbarek's compositions, but also a tinge of nostalgia with Kashkashian's wistful violin. You could be in a mediaeval stave church in Norway or a Parisian café circa 1890. Atop it all are Garbarek's saxophones. He builds many of his improvisations off Kashkashian's viola, echoing her melody lines, then spiraling off with his keening soprano saxophone hailing lamentations like a rainstorm and his tenor calling out in a torrent of emotion barely leashed. This isn't a jazz album in the traditional sense, but a tone poem of memory and dreams. --John Diliberto Amazon.com

Brilliant, regardless of "category"

Must Jazz be inaccessible to find critical praise?
This is an amazing album that is more lyrical and
moving than most of Jan's ECM work. Those who label
this effort smooth jazz are way off the mark! November 9, 2007

Needs Another Instrument to Shake Things Up

After jazz fusion left a lot of great musicians high and dry on the plateau of New Age jazz, they putzed around for awhile and came out with some good stuff (Garbarek's "Visible World" is one), but generally they couldn't avoid succumbing to the superficiality of their environments and so passion and intense compositional fecundity gave way to this over-the-top mood music that just sits there like a reptile.

On one level, this release meets the objective of pairing the elegant, forlorn lines of classical viola with the various sounds Garbarek can make with his saxophones. The light lounge lizard tenor touch works very well with the viola, for example. So, it's probably more of a 3 than a 2. But, emotionally, this music doesn't do very much for me and, though I know the viola is hard to play, Ms. Kashkashian's musicianship skills could be more self-assured at times. Garbarek showcases his virtuoso talents, but I often think this is to make up for a lot of other elements that are missing. However, this release works well as background music, as its insipidness works to help you keep your attention on THE OTHER MORE IMPORTANT THING YOUR ARE DOING, LIKE WATCHING DEAL OR NO DEAL.

Also, there are only three instruments here: viola, sax and percussion. I think a fourth one (not piccolo) might have helped, as it does on "Places." Maybe an electric guitar in the background, with lots of reverb and wah-wah would have been good - another voice to prevent the sax and viola from getting too chummy, which is something of a drawback here. But, Jan gazes out at us with this kind of, "yeah, I'm a great artist and my stocks are way up, so don't expect too much." Yeah, welcome to the capitalist dream in which you MUST go to sleep first. May 10, 2007

Ambient Jazz Dreams

Right up front, I don't know a whole lot about Jan Gabarek, how long he's been around, his body of work, or if this album is typical of his musical style or not. I know more about jazz in general than Jan Gabarek in particular. I heard Mr. Gabarek's "In Praise of Dreams" on "Echoes," and was significantly impressed enough to purchase the album. I am not disappointed with what I have heard beyond the title song, either; the songs range musically from a lazy flow of ambience to a catchy, urgent upbeat to slower,somewhat darker music - kind of like the nature of our dreams, the full range. I enjoyed this album and if you enjoy the NPR program "Echoes," I believe that you will, too. November 17, 2005

Integrating a career and distilling new joy

I had not intended to join in the flock of reviews, but I really want to make sure that no potential listener is put off by the few negative remarks. This is not "smooth jazz" or MOR classical/world beat. "De gustibus non disputandum", tastes are unarguable perhaps, but dispute I nonetheless must. This is my single "desert island" CD, and I don't say that lightly. The interplay between Kashkashian on viola and Garbarek on sax brings together two great currents of music, the "classical" compositional with improvisational jazz. The dialogue between the viola and the tenor sax are amazing in the closeness of their ... their ... is it tone? Texture? Timbre? I'm not fluent in the terms of musical description, but certainly I listen, and say to myself, "Here comes the sax!" only to realize a moment later that it is Kashkashian's viola.

The sound is often mournful, but not sad; it's uplifting. It is a clear sound, although Garbarek's usual coldness is tempered by the viola. The sax-viola duets are augmented by gentle keyboard work as well as a great performance by the drummer, Manu Katche, who has to be mentioned. He builds patterns that go a long way to providing a framework for the music.

Garbarek has had other opportunities to improvise over classical compositional structures - most famously, his lovely sessions with the Hilliard Ensemble, but he also joined on the CD "Monodia", where Tigran Mansurian composed expressly for Kashkashian and him. But here, on "In Praise of Dreams", Garbarek is both composer/arranger and improviser, and this CD gives him the opportunity to emphasize his strengths in composition. His strengths here are remarkable.

If you are looking for the soulful jazz sax in the sparse Nordic tradition of Garbarek's earlier work, you will still find it here - although the context may seem odd. But this is not MOR, nor world beat, nor a commercial sellout by an aging artist. This is an artist integrating the experience of a lifetime in music, and finding something new to synthesize from it all. I wish long life to Mr. Garbarek, and more opportunities to distill wisdom from his years. For anyone who has a love for the great traditions of western music, this disc is one great joy.
October 27, 2005

Romantic and ravishing even if a commercial offering

I have to give this 5 stars even though I find myself agreeing with some of the judgments made by the negative reviewers on this page, because the appeal of this album is so instantaneous and goes so directly to the heart.

Yes, this is in the mould of "Visible World" and "Rites," both of which are hugely enjoyable albums, but also unashamedly commercial. It is a Garbarek whose icy fires have dwindled somewhat and who seems to be enjoying a comfortable middle age by the hearth, rather than the shattered, King Lear-like wilderness which some other jazz musicians have groped through, and which one might have predicted would be Garbarek's eventual destination, extrapolating from the haunted, haunting artist of the 80's.

But his playing is as magisterial as ever, and the wonderful Kim Kashkashian tugs at the heartstrings with each soaring note, helping greatly to lift this album higher. If this is New Age schlock, it is at the very top of the genre.

Garbarek's discography is so vast, and his qualities as a musician so profound, that he can never be casually dismissed. The reviewers who seem not to know his work have wonderful discoveries to make.

The fact is that I cannot imagine any general listener who will not love this album. And as a long-time Garbarek fan who tries to buy everything made by this great artist, I feel that there is room in his oeuvre for a few comfortably commercial albums. This is one of the best of those, his best in years, and highly recommended. If you feel it may be beneath you intellectually, take a listen to the samples before you buy (try tracks 5 and 6 for a good idea of the flavour of this album). August 4, 2005

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