Musical Mood Of The Day: Norwegian Jazz Saxophonist Jan Garbarek

vikthor (58)in #music • 5 years ago

Greetings, Steem users! For today's musical mood of the day I'll be talking about Jan Garbarek, one of the greatest saxophonists alive.

Jan Garbarek was born on March 4, 1947 in the small town of Mysen, Norway. He spent his early life in the capital city of Norway, Oslo. The musical genre in which he mainly composed and also interpreted was jazz. Garbarek's overall artistic inspiration can trace its roots back to Scandinavian folk music. He rose to fame on the worldwide jazz music scene after he signed a contract with ECM records.

Jan Garbarek can be regarded as a pioneer of ambient jazz. His most notable album of this sub-genre would be 'Dis' released in 1976. The vast majority of Garbarek’s records had been labeled by some critics as New Age music instead of 'contemporary jazz'.

After a long series of vanguard records, he became an international artist and proponent of the post-bop jazz sub-genre. He also became the leader of Keith Jarret's 'European Quartet'. One of his most critically acclaimed album, 'Dis' released in 1976, featured the collaboration with Ralph Towner and was used as motion picture soundtrack in various films and documentaries.

Nevertheless, it was only in the 1980s that Garbarek’s music touched the greatest level in regards to both the number of album units sold globally and critical acclaim. Throughout this decade, he also added instrumental and vocal elements and motifs of etno jazz to his music. In 1994, he released a Gregorian music-based album entitled 'Officium'.

In 2007, Garbarek concerted in Burghausen, Germany at the 37th edition of the local Jazz Festival. He also concerted in Bucharest, Romania in 2009 during the second part of the Masters of Jazz Festival at Sala Palatului. Below you can listen to a short selection of some his songs: