Jan Garbarek: Rites (ECM 1685/86).

Jan Garbarek: Rites (ECM 1685/86)

This two-CD set from saxophonist Jan Garbarek comes with a discography booklet. Thumbing through it, I was shocked to realize how long Garbarek has been recording for ECM -- I mean, can Triptykon (a demo disc from way, way back) really have been recorded in 1972? And he had a couple of albums out before that. My goodness, I still think of I Took Up the Runes as a fairly new recording, and that was released back in 1990 -- man, I really am getting old. No wonder I'm thought of as the "grumpy olde editor."

OK, enough autobiographical claptrap. On to this recording, listening to which should make even the grumpiest old -- or young -- listener a lot less grumpy. This is music that reflects the joy inherent in the making of and the listening to music. Garbarek has long had an ear for a rich variety of musical sounds and traditions, but he has also always had his own unique sound and style. On Rites, it is as though he is trying his utmost to make a grand statement, but the wonderful thing is that in so doing, he never calls attention to himself; indeed, he all but disappears, the man and the musician being truly subsumed by the music. Besides his usual tenor and soprano saxes, Garbarek also plays synthesizers, samplers, and percussion. But this is no vanity project, as he brings in the synthesizer and accordion work of Bugge Wesseltoft, the percussion of Marilyn Mazur, the keyboards of Rainer Bruninghaus, and the bass of Eberhard Weber. On one cut, "We are the Stars," Garbarek weaves his saxophone sound over the voices of a boys' choir to moving effect. There is even a cut on which Garbarek does not play at all: "The Moon Over Mtatsminda" is a composition by Jansug Kkhidze, conductor of the Tbsili Symphony Orchestra, who sings and conducts this moving piece, which is sung in Georgian (an English translation is provided in the liner notes). The other non-Garbarek composition is Don Cherry's "Malinye," on which Garbarek's sax is accompanied by Wesseltoft's accordion and Mazur's drums. Although it may sound as though this recording must be just too eclectic to hang together, everything seems to fit, the end result being an ambitious and rewarding musical journey

that is recorded in the usual ECM high-quality manner by veteran engineer Jan Erik Kongshaug. Longtime Garbarek fans will want to get this recording to add to their collections, while those who have not heard any of Garbarek's work would be well-advised to give this recording a listen, and then check out some of his other work as listed in the extensive discography. You have nothing to lose but your grumpiness!