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Jan Garbarek

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Jan Garbarek
Jan Garbarek in Oslo in 2016
Jan Garbarek in Oslo in 2016
Background information
Born (1947-03-04) 4 March 1947 (age 77)
Mysen, Østfold, Norway
OriginOslo, Norway
GenresJazz, classical, world
OccupationMusician
InstrumentSaxophone
Years active1966–present
LabelsECM, Flying Dutchman
Websitewww.garbarek.com (No longer available)

Jan Garbarek (Norwegian pronunciation: [ˈjɑːn ɡɑɾˈbɑ̀ːɾək]) (born 4 March 1947)[1] is a Norwegian jazz saxophonist, who is also active in classical music and world music.

Garbarek was born in Mysen, Østfold, southeastern Norway, the only child of a former Polish prisoner of war, Czesław Garbarek, and a Norwegian woman. He grew up in Oslo, stateless until the age of seven, as there was no automatic grant of citizenship in Norway at the time. When he was 21, he married the author Vigdis Garbarek. He is the father of musician and composer Anja Garbarek.[2]

Biography

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Garbarek's style incorporates a sharp-edged tone, long, keening, sustained notes, and generous use of silence.[3] He began his recording career in the late 1960s, notably featuring on recordings by the American jazz composer George Russell (such as Electronic Sonata for Souls Loved by Nature). By 1973 he had turned his back on the harsh dissonances of avant-garde jazz, retaining only his tone from his previous approach. Garbarek gained wider recognition through his work with pianist Keith Jarrett's European Quartet which released the albums Belonging (1974), My Song (1977), and the live recordings Personal Mountains (1979), and Nude Ants (1979).[2] He was also a featured soloist on Jarrett's orchestral works Luminessence (1974) and Arbour Zena (1975).[4]

As a composer, Garbarek tends to draw heavily from Scandinavian folk melodies, a legacy of his Ayler influence. He is also a pioneer of ambient jazz composition, most notably on his 1976 album Dis a collaboration with guitarist Ralph Towner,[3] that featured the distinctive sound of a wind harp on several tracks. This textural approach, which rejects traditional notions of thematic improvisation (best exemplified by Sonny Rollins) in favour of a style described by critics Richard Cook and Brian Morton as "sculptural in its impact", has been critically divisive. Garbarek's more meandering recordings are often labeled as new-age music, or spiritual ancestors thereof. Other experiments have included setting a collection of poems of Olav H. Hauge to music, with a single saxophone complementing a full mixed choir; this has led to notable performances with Grex Vocalis.

In the 1980s, Garbarek's music began to incorporate synthesizers and elements of world music. He has collaborated with Indian and Pakistani musicians such as Trilok Gurtu, Zakir Hussain, Hariprasad Chaurasia, and Bade Fateh Ali Khan.[3] Garbarek is credited for composing original music for the 2000 film Kippur.

In 1994, during the heightened popularity of Gregorian chant, his album Officium, a collaboration with early music vocal performers from the Hilliard Ensemble, became one of ECM's biggest-selling albums of all time, reaching the pop charts in several European countries and was followed by a sequel, Mnemosyne, in 1999. Officium Novum, another sequel album, was released in September 2010. In 2005, his album In Praise of Dreams was nominated for a Grammy Award. Garbarek's first live album Dresden was released in 2009.

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Awards and honors

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Memberships

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Garbarek is foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.[6]

Discography

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As leader

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As sideman

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With Egberto Gismonti

With Charlie Haden and Egberto Gismonti

With Keith Jarrett

With Eleni Karaindrou

  • Music For Films (ECM, 1991)
  • Concert in Athens (ECM, 2013)

With Karin Krog

  • Jazz Moments (1966)
  • Joy (1968)

With Gary Peacock

With Terje Rypdal

With George Russell

With L. Shankar

With Ralph Towner

With Jan Erik Vold

  • Hav (Philips, 1971)
  • Ingentings Bjeller (Polydor, 1977)

With Miroslav Vitouš

With Eberhard Weber

With others

References

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  1. ^ Hultin, Randi (2002). "Garbarek, Jan". In Barry Kernfeld (ed.). The new Grove dictionary of jazz, vol. 2 (2nd ed.). New York: Grove's Dictionaries Inc. pp. 11–12. ISBN 1561592846.
  2. ^ a b "Jan Garbarek | Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  3. ^ a b c Colin Larkin, ed. (1997). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Concise ed.). Virgin Books. pp. 505/6. ISBN 1-85227-745-9.
  4. ^ "Keith Jarrett Discography". Jazzdisco.org. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  5. ^ "Willy Brandt Stiftung - Willy Brandt stiftelsen". Willy-brandt-stiftelsen.no. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  6. ^ "Ledamöter". Kungl. Musikaliska Akademien (in Swedish). Retrieved 12 November 2024.
  7. ^ https://ecmrecords.com/product/remember-me-my-dear-jan-garbarek-the-hilliard-ensemble/
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jan Garbarek.
Awards
Preceded by Recipient of the Buddyprisen
1968 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
First award in 1982
 Recipient of the Gammleng-prisen
1982 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Recipient of the Norsk kulturråds ærespris
2004 		Succeeded by
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