Jan Garbarek Group "Twelve Moons" (1993)

Twelve Moons
release date: 1993
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5]

Track highlight: 1. "Twelve Moons - Pt.1: Winter - Summer; Pt.2: Summer - Winter" - 3. "Brother Wind March" - 10. "Witchi-Tai-To"

Released as 'Jan Garbarek Group' (Jan Garbarek - saxophones, Rainer Brüninghaus - keyboards, Eberhard Weber - bass, Manu Katché - drums, Marilyn Mazur - percussion, Agnes Buen Garnås - vocal, Mari Boine - vocal). This album is from his best period, from early 1980s to late 1990s, I think. It's beautiful modern jazz, jazz fusion and free jazz. Often, I don't find jazz fusion that great but that's mostly really when jazz has been fusioned with rock. On this album there's absolutely no rock styles present but it's really difficult to place in a genre because of the stylistic inputs from normally far apart genres like jazz and traditional folk in an ambient universe that sometimes almost becomes new age. On other Garbarek albums this style is too much present but here it only emphasizes the ambient feel.

Jan Garbarek "Star" (1991)

Star
release date: Jan. 1991
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5]

Tracklist: 1. "Star" (5 / 5) - 2. "Jumper" - 3. "Lamenting" - 4. "Anthem" (4 / 5) - 5. "Roses for You" (4 / 5) - 6. "Clouds in the Mountain" (4 / 5) - 7. "Snowman" (3 / 5) - 8. "The Music of My People" (3 / 5)

Released as 'Jan Garbarek - Miroslav Vitous - Peter Erskine' (Vitous: bass, Erskine: drums). The album is unmistakably Jan Garbarek BUT although I'm quite fond of this release, it's also very different from his most recent releases before, and after this one. The style is still jazz fusion but it's a much more traditional jazz album than his other releases and it has a touch of jazz bop and in that, a stroke of Mingus. Of course this has to do with the fact that the majority of the album's tracks has the signature of the bass player Miroslav Vitous in composer credits. Garbarek "only" takes credit for the title track and the co-writing of "Snowman", and collaborator, and drummer, Erskine takes the credits for "Anthem", "The Music of My People", and co-writer of "Snowman". The style is narrowed down to the more "pure" jazz styles and the usual element of traditional folk is completely absent here. The release also shows how Garbarek is an excellent band player and interpreter.

Jan Garbarek "I Took Up the Runes" (1990)

I Took Up the Runes
release date: Aug. 1990
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5]

Track highlight: 1. "Gula Gula" (4 / 5) - 2. "Molde Canticle Part 1" (5 / 5) - 3. "Molde Canticle Part 2" - 4. "Molde Canticle Part 3" (3,5 / 5) - 5. "Molde Canticle Part 4" (2,5 / 5) - 6. "Molde Canticle Part 5" (3 / 5) - 7. "His Eyes Were Suns" (4 / 5) - 8. "I Took Up the Runes" (4 / 5) - 9. "Bueno Hora, Buenos Vientos" (3,5 / 5) - 10. "Rahkki Sruvvis"

Studio album by Jan Garbarek, which is stylistically close to Legend of the Seven Dreams (1988) with a little less focus on ambient but still it's modern free jazz with traditional folk elements, also on this what could be Indian sounding fragments. Overall, I like this a bit better.

Jan Garbarek "Legend of the Seven Dreams" (1988)

Legend of the Seven Dreams
release date: Jul. 1988
format: cd (ECM 1381)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,66]
producer: Manfred Eicher
label: ECM Records - nationality: Norway

Track highlight: 1. "He Comes From the North" (5 / 5) (live) - 4. "Brother Wind" - 7. "Voy Cantando" (4 / 5) ( live )

Studio release by Jan Garbarek is an album with focus on ambient and contemporary / modern free jazz with traditional folk elements, sometimes Indian sounding fragments. All compositions are credited Garbarek but the album is made together with three of his 'usual' working partners: German pianist Rainer Brüninghaus, Brazilian percussionist Naná Vasconcelos (aka Juvenal De Holanda Vasconcelos, who is also credited for his vocal performance), and German bassist Eberhard Weber. Aside from playing soprano, alto, and tenor saxophones, Garbarek is also credited for playing flute and percussion.
The album is a nice blend with latin folk its, thanks to Vasconcelos and Nordic folk, which here works quite nicely.

Jan Garbarek "All Those Born With Wings" (1987)

All Those Born With Wings
release date: Feb. 1, 1987
format: cd (ECM 1324)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,78]
producer: Manfred Eicher
label: ECM Records - nationality: Norway

Tracklist: 1. "1st Piece" (3,5 / 5) - 2. "2nd Piece" (4 / 5) - *3. "3rd Piece" (4 / 5) - 4. "4th Piece" (3,5 / 5) - 5. "5th Piece" (4 / 5) - 6. "6th Piece" (3 / 5)
* In Memory of Andrej Tarkowskij

Studio album by Jan Garbarek, as always, produced by Manfred Eicher. The album is quite original in that Garbarek is only musician on the album, which is to say he plays (uncredited) all instruments including saxophones, keyboards, guitar, percussion, voice and other.
The album was the very first full album I ever listen to with Garbarek, and perhaps therefore it's still among my favourite Garbarek albums. As said, it's also one of his more experimental studio releases. Some tracks could be labelled modern classical, others as ambient or new age but the overall style is one of contemporary jazz fusion or free jazz, which sometimes drifts too far into what sounds as mere improvisations, but here the compositions predominantly stay on a fixed course.

Jan Garbarek "Paths, Prints" (1982)

Paths, Prints
release date: Sep. 6, 1982
format: cd (ECM 1223)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,08]
producer: Manfred Eicher
label: ECM Records - nationality: Norway

Track highlights: 1. "The Path" (4 / 5) - 2. "Footprints" (4 / 5) - 3. "Kite Dance" (5 / 5) - 4. "To B.E." (4 / 5) - 5. "The Move" (4 / 5) - 8. "Still"

Studio album by Jan Garbarek with Bill Frisell on guitar, Eberhard Weber on bass, and with Jon Christensen on drums and percussion.
Working together with the jazz fusion and modern classical guitar icon, Bill Frisell, could easily have led the music astray but Garbarek is ever-present in a dominating part with drums, percussion, bass and guitar as the subtle backbone. Of course it helps that Garbarek is credited as composer of all tracks, but the album is really one of my favourite Garbarek albums. He's famous for his incorporation of folklore and / or (old) traditional Norwegian folk spliced with modern jazz fusion. His instruments are the soprano and alto sax (he also plays tenor and other instruments as clarinet and percussion); however the instrument, his playing style is original and far from traditional jazz instrumentalists, and in that sense he has much in common with Danish trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg and his Nordic and ambient jazz sound. Frisell together with Weber, Christensen and especially Frisell is a wonderful cocktail.
Highly recommendable.
[ allmusic.com, Rolling Stone 3 / 5, The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings 3 / 4 stars ]