Jan Garbarek

Born in Norway to a Polish former prisoner of war, saxophonist Jan Garbarek first discovered jazz while living in Oslo as a teenager. Originally inspired by John Coltrane and Dexter Gordon, he led jazz groups in Norway and studied and recorded with the composer George Russell. Garbarek's sound was eclectic from the start: Showing the influence of minimalist classical music, open spaces and long sustained notes became his trademarks; he also drew from European music and initially, from the free jazz of Albert Ayler. He was one of the first artists signed to ECM in 1969, helping to build that label's reputation for lyrical, often meditative jazz. However his first two ECM albums, Afric Pepperbird (1970) and Sart (1971) both showed the Ayler influence and were considerably more raucous than his later work. 1972's Triptykon, whose tranquil and haunting pieces were built on Scandinavian folk themes, was more typical of Garbarek's later work. Fellow ECM artist Keith Jarrett included Garbarek in his European Quartet, which toured to great success in the mid-'70s. Garbarek was also part of other, shorter-lived groups including the European free-jazz ensemble Popofoni and a duo with acoustic guitarist Ralph Towner. The 1979 album Photo with Blue Sky, White Cloud, Wires, Windows and a Red Roof officially introduced the Jan Garbarek Group, which never had a permanent lineup; significant members over the years included guitarists Bill Frisell, David Torn and Bill Connors, drummers Manu Katche and Jack DeJohnette, and bassists Charlie Haden and Eberhard Weber. He also teamed with Indian musicians L. Shankar and Zakir Hussain on the 1985 album Song for Everyone. The contemplative side of Garbarek's music came to the fore during the '80s; as a result he was often associated with the New Age genre. When Gregorian chant became an unlikely trend in the early '90s, Garbarek teamed with the Hilliard Ensemble on the jazz/chant fusion project Officium, recorded at the St Gerold monastery in Austria. It became the best-selling album in ECM's history. Two sequels followed: 1999's Mnemosyne and 2010's Officium Novum, the latter adding Armenian music to the mix. 2009 brought Garbarek's first live album, Dresden, which also served as a career retrospective. In 2015 he appeared in a supergroup with Pat Metheny and Gary Burton on Hommage to Eberhard Weber, in honor of the bassist's 75th birthday.