Jan Garbarek In Praise Of Dreams CD

Personnel: Jan Garbarek (soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, synthesizer, percussion, sampler); Jan Garbarek; Manu Katche (drums, loops); Kim Kashkashian (viola).
Audio Mixers: Manfred Eicher; Jan Garbarek; Jan Erik Kongshaug.
Recording information: A.P.C. Studio, Paris, France (03/24/2003-06/04/2003); Blue Jay Recording Studio, Carlisle, MA (03/24/2003-06/04/2003); Oslo, Norway (03/24/2003-06/04/2003).
Editors: Manfred Eicher; Jan Garbarek; Jan Erik Kongshaug.
Photographer: Jan Jedlicka.
It has been six years since saxophonist/composer Jan Garbarek issued a new recording under his own name. For In Praise of Dreams Garbarek enlisted violist Kim Kashkashian and frequent collaborator Manu Katché on drums. Garbarek, who composed the album's 11 selections, plays saxophones as well as a host of keyboards and percussion, while Katché plays acoustic and electronic drums along with Kashkashian's viola. In many ways this is the most radical recording that Garbarek has ever issued, but not because it's outside -- quite the opposite. This is easily the warmest, most accessible outing Garbarek has ever issued because though there are no vocals, Garbarek has clearly written "songs" on this set, with identifiable structures that are followed almost throughout. Though he is no stranger to the form, having employed it almost continually for the last 20 years, he has never engaged it so thoroughly and completely. Previously, he has engaged improvisation to get song to the breaking point and move it somewhere else. Here it is always present; surprise happens inside the formal frameworks of these compositions. Beautiful, soulful lines underscore and recontextualize the saxophonist's trademark Nordic iciness of tone on the opener, "As Seen from Above," with its spiraling soprano, lush keyboards, and hypnotic loops. In its warmth, it comes very close to a distinctly European kind of groove/soul-jazz. The interplay between Kashkashian and Garbarek on the title track offers rounded, multidimensional sonorities winding through the intro before spilling into a call-and-response melody. The repetitive keyboard line and Katché's mantra-like drumming under the loops draw the listener inside the song's heart and extend the edge for the front line. The restrained romanticism shown by Kashkashian on her nocturnal solo intro to "One Goes There Alone" is nearly breathtaking. As it gives way to the tune itself, it's slow, reflective, and rooted deeply in the tension created between percussion and Garbarek's minimal backing response lines. When he solos later in the tune, he's clearly blowing blues into her elegiac line. The blues notion continues in his phrasing on "Knot of Place and Time," slipping through the landscape of Kashkashian's elegant, near heartbreakingly poetic soundscape. And so it goes. Things get more speculative on "Scene from Afar" and "Cloud of Unknowing," but it hardly matters since these song forms are nonetheless immediately recognizable, presenting the nether side of the equation. It emerges again with "Conversation With a Stone" and whispers to a close with "A Tale Begun," a mantra-like duet that closes this strong set that will undoubtedly, if it gets the opportunity to be heard, garner Jan Garbarek some new fans. Poetic, moving, and marvelous, In Praise of Dreams is a welcome return. ~ Thom Jurek
Like his frequent collaborator Keith Jarrett, Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek never stands still for long. Straight-ahead jazz with Miroslav Vitous (the fine UNIVERSAL SYNCOPATIONS), medieval music with the Hilliard Ensemble, film music, impressionistic jazz flavored by his homeland's folk and classical music--Garbarek has excelled at these and more. On IN PRAISE OF DREAMS, he's convened a typically atypical group to perform his vivid, intense compositions--classical violist Kim Kashkashian and rock/jazz drummer Manu Katche.
Garbarek's saxophone sound eerily conveys the essences of both Arctic windswept landscapes andDown Beat (p.80) - 3 stars out of 5 - "Kashkashian's gorgeous sound and the way it blends with Garbarek's saxes is a highlight, and Katche fits well with a style that's repetitive and trance-like."