Jump to content

Jan Garbarek


Guest che

Recommended Posts

  • 9 months later...
  • Replies 106
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Wish I'd gotten in while the going was good on this thread... I've always been curious about Afric Pepperbird but never bought it, mainly because Esoteric Circle kinda underwhelmed me, though I could see the potential for sure.

I think that train photo would make a great Incus or Bead record cover! :)

just heard Afric Pepperbird - :tup

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Yesterday a local station was playing some cuts off of the Jarrett VV live recording "Nude Ants". I hadn't listened to that one in awhile, and I must say there was some great playing on it (Jarrett, Garbarek, Christenson & Danielson IIRC).

This one has Garbarek sounding a little grittier than usual, which I like.

Guy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 years later...

Not yet seen a date for this, but there'll be opportunity to revisit early Garbarek when this ECM 3-lps-on-2-cds budget package comes out. Would have preferred a set with Afric Pepperbird and Tryptichon alongside WTT, but hey-ho...

Jan Garbarek

Dansere | Witchi_Tai_To

Jan Garbarek:

tenor and soprano saxophones

Bobo Stenson: piano

Palle Danielsson: double_bass

Jon Christensen: drums

Sart

Jan Garbarek:

tenor and bass saxophones, flute

Bobo Stenson: piano, electric piano

Terje Rypdal: guitar

Arild Andersen: double_bass

Jon Christensen: percussion

Recorded April 1971, November 1973

and November 1975

ECM 2146 – 48 | 3_CD Box in preparation

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, tease as you may, but this little box tells a history. Early ECM and early Garbarek are much more on the avant-garde side than much of what followed on the label. The first two LPs in the box have strong Chicago, Sanders, Coltrane and even Ayler elements (I kid you not). The last one, Dansere, reins it in and begins to sound more ECM-y. Just begins. So you can start to see the ECM sound as a genteel evolution from the harshness and wilfulness of the avant-garde. Really, early Garbarek is quite interesting. These albums are the missing link between Chicago and Munich and represent one strand in the development of moderns jazz(s, plural) in the wake of the avant-garde (and of its exhaustion).

Lesson over. I feel certain you'll buy this set now. ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like all those early Garbarek ECMs quite a bit, as well as the Esoteric Circle LP on Flying Dutchman.

Wouldn't have pegged "Chicago" so much, but either way, they are interesting and quite heavy.

By Chicago I meant, here, some small-instrument style percussion, a multi-instrument approach, and use of 'space'. None of the pure surrealist whackiness of some paragraphs of early Art Ensemble, but a connection all the same. I'd say a commodified version of space/silence became one of the ECM trade-marks, and I had in the back of my mind John Litweiler's argument that the Art Ensemble migrated from its early and radical emphasis on space as it became more percussion (and entertainment) driven. I was reminding myself how early ECM was not yet 'ECM' and that these early Garbareks belong to the same label-world as Afternoon of a Georgia Fawn and The Music Improvisation Company, and I am making a suggestion that the evolution of ECM in some way occupies the same history of loss of an avant-garde moment in ways we sometimes lose sight of.

I'm a cultural historian, what do you expect from me? ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like all those early Garbarek ECMs quite a bit, as well as the Esoteric Circle LP on Flying Dutchman.

Wouldn't have pegged "Chicago" so much, but either way, they are interesting and quite heavy.

By Chicago I meant, here, some small-instrument style percussion, a multi-instrument approach, and use of 'space'. None of the pure surrealist whackiness of some paragraphs of early Art Ensemble, but a connection all the same. I'd say a commodified version of space/silence became one of the ECM trade-marks, and I had in the back of my mind John Litweiler's argument that the Art Ensemble migrated from its early and radical emphasis on space as it became more percussion (and entertainment) driven. I was reminding myself how early ECM was not yet 'ECM' and that these early Garbareks belong to the same label-world as Afternoon of a Georgia Fawn and The Music Improvisation Company, and I am making a suggestion that the evolution of ECM in some way occupies the same history of loss of an avant-garde moment in ways we sometimes lose sight of.

I'm a cultural historian, what do you expect from me? ;)

Yeah, a lot of people only know the "ECM sound" once it had become that. But before that, the label released some really intense music, still recorded in a spectacular manner though.

In fact one might make the case that there for a while, ECM & CTI were the yin & yang of post-free/post-rock "popular" jazz, with at least as many similarities as differences?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like all those early Garbarek ECMs quite a bit, as well as the Esoteric Circle LP on Flying Dutchman.

Wouldn't have pegged "Chicago" so much, but either way, they are interesting and quite heavy.

By Chicago I meant, here, some small-instrument style percussion, a multi-instrument approach, and use of 'space'. None of the pure surrealist whackiness of some paragraphs of early Art Ensemble, but a connection all the same. I'd say a commodified version of space/silence became one of the ECM trade-marks, and I had in the back of my mind John Litweiler's argument that the Art Ensemble migrated from its early and radical emphasis on space as it became more percussion (and entertainment) driven. I was reminding myself how early ECM was not yet 'ECM' and that these early Garbareks belong to the same label-world as Afternoon of a Georgia Fawn and The Music Improvisation Company, and I am making a suggestion that the evolution of ECM in some way occupies the same history of loss of an avant-garde moment in ways we sometimes lose sight of.

I'm a cultural historian, what do you expect from me? ;)

Yeah, a lot of people only know the "ECM sound" once it had become that. But before that, the label released some really intense music, still recorded in a spectacular manner though.

In fact one might make the case that there for a while, ECM & CTI were the yin & yang of post-free/post-rock "popular" jazz, with at least as many similarities as differences?

What, pray tell, are the similarities?

ECM has been in existence for 40 years. Did CTI make 4?

Eicher never pushed an artist to record music he/she did not want to record. Look what Creed Taylor did to an artist like Jimmy Smith when he took over Verve. This type of stuff continued into the CTI years, unfortunately. The 70s were a time when jazz tried too hard to copy the commercial success enjoyed by rock. How did that work out? What it did was spawn labels like Muse, which while its heart was in the right place, produced some pretty crappily recorded sessions.

None of these problems have ever affected ECM. Eicher, for all of his naysayers, has always stood by his vision. For that ECM deserves to be applauded, as it is now the oldest ongoing "creative music" label.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bought "Dances" on vinyl - Garbarek with ogun? Couldn't pass it up, provided also the Penguin guide thinks it's one of his best albums (on piano and organ there's John Taylor - hardly much of a greasy player, I assume - the others present are Bill Connors and Jack DeJohnette).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bought "Dances" on vinyl - Garbarek with ogun? Couldn't pass it up, provided also the Penguin guide thinks it's one of his best albums (on piano and organ there's John Taylor - hardly much of a greasy player, I assume - the others present are Bill Connors and Jack DeJohnette).

Probably one of those you need to be in the right mood for. Don't expect The Sermon!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Eicher, for all of his naysayers, has always stood by his vision. For that ECM deserves to be applauded, as it is now the oldest ongoing "creative music" label.

I agree with you, JETman. The music of the 60s/early 70s suggested many directions. A listener may not like the ones (emphasis on the s) he chose, but they were as individual and legitimate as any of the other directions.

Why didn't he follow the route "I" prefer? Well, other people did.

Edited by Bev Stapleton
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...