Jan Garbarek: In Praise of Dreams - CD

“In Praise of Dreams” – Jan Garbarek’s first new album in six years - features two musicians with whom the great Norwegian saxophonist shares some history – American-Armenian violist Kim Kashkashian and African-French drummer Manu Katché. Garbarek, Kashkashian and Katché span a lot of idioms between them, but the music sings with a focussed sense of purpose, in the context that Jan has shaped for it. If dreams are movies for the mind, the album is aptly titled - its atmospheres are evocative and decidedly ‘filmic’.

Tracklist:

1 As Seen From Above 4:42
2 In Praise Of Dreams 5:21
3 One Goes There Alone 5:06
4 Knot Of Place And Time 6:22
5 If You Go Far Enough 0:39
6 Scene From Afar 5:14
7 Cloud Of Unknowing 5:22
8 Without Visible Sign 4:59
9 Iceburn 4:59
10 Conversation With A Stone 4:18
11 A Tale Begun 4:39

Drums, Electronic Drums [Sampled Or Looped Electronic Drums] – Manu Katché (tracks: 1, 3, 4, 6, 9, 10)
Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Synthesizer [Synthesizers], Sampler [Samplers], Composed By [All Compositions By], Percussion [Some Percussion] – Jan Garbarek
Viola – Kim Kashkashian (tracks: 2 to 4, 6 to 10)

BACKGROUND

“In Praise of Dreams” is the first new album from Jan Garbarek since “Rites” was released six years ago. A striking work, with some of Garbarek’s most intensely melodic writing, characteristically powerful solo statements, and spirited instrumental exchanges, it also emphasises the Norwegian saxophonist’s capacities as composer-orchestrator-arranger, and proposes some new colours and textures in its blending of acoustic and electronic elements. Yet the work’s authorship is evident from the very first unmistakable saxophone tone: “I think more in terms of evolution than revolution,” Jan Garbarek says, “the changes in the music taking place slowly over time, but there are some surprises here.”

Although the trio heard on the disc is unprecedented, there is also a logic to the unorthodox line-up. “In Praise of Dreams” features two musicians with whom Jan Garbarek has some history – American-Armenian violist Kim Kashkashian and African-French drummer Manu Katché. Garbarek, Kashkashian and Katché span a lot of idioms between them, but the music sings with a focussed sense of purpose, in the context that Jan has shaped for it. If dreams are movies for the mind, the album is aptly titled - its atmospheres are evocative and decidedly ‘filmic’. The use of loops and samples, in fact, only occasionally stressed on earlier Garbarek albums (“All Those Born With Wings”, “Visible World”), has been a hallmark of music Garbarek has written for film, theatre and ballet. The most immediately striking aspect of “In Praise of Dreams”, however, is its dialogic quality, the interweaving melodies of saxophone and viola. “I was really overwhelmed by the life and the depth that Kim brought to the lines that I presented to her…The way she plays the viola, the sensibility of the phrasing, all the subtleties and nuances of her sound production, it’s very close to the way I’d like to play saxophone. There seems to be a very good connection between our timbres, too, which was even more than I had hoped for. The richness in her sound brings the music to another level and gives me something to reach for, in my improvisations. It was inspiring to work with her.”

Describing Kim Kashkashian as “a very powerful new agent in my music-making”, Garbarek adds that “her strong sound had come to define the viola in a new way for me. I’d had many opportunities to listen to her music on ECM recordings through the years, in chamber music or orchestral contexts.”

The paths of Garbarek and Kashkashian had also crossed on several occasions. Both, for instance, were invited to contribute as soloists to music that Greek composer Eleni Karaindrou shaped for the films of Theo Angelopoulos, Garbarek appearing on the soundtrack of “The Beekeeper” (and subsequently on Karaindrou’s ECM debut “Music for Films”) and Kashkashian at the centre of the music for “Ulysses’ Gaze”. Kim Kashkashian had also been closely associated with Georgian composer Giya Kancheli. On his “Caris Mere” album, recorded in 1994/1995, Kancheli revised his “Night Prayers” to include Jan’s saxophone, while Kashkashian appeared on the title track.

In 1999, at Norway’s Bergen Festival, Jan Garbarek and Kim Kashkashian finally had a chance to play together, in an Armenian Night highlighting the music of composer Tigran Mansurian. “I played, more or less impromptu, with Kim on an Armenian folk song,” Jan Garbarek recalls, “And just being near that sound of hers was really magic for me, and consolidated my feeling that this is the way to play the viola.” Mansurian subsequently wrote the piece “Lachrymae” for Garbarek and Kashkashian, which they perform on the new album “Monodia”: “That brought our two sounds even closer together. So when I came to prepare material for ‘In Praise of Dreams’ Kim’s sound was very much in my mind…”

From her side, Kim Kashkashian was moved by the freedom and authority of Garbarek’s magisterial saxophone playing:

“The process of producing a sonority that informs through its content alone has always held a fascination for me. In Jan’s playing, I found a thrilling example of this element. Any sound he makes has an inevitable musical and organic logic based on an ever-flowing and unfailing relationship between duration, shape, and tension. It was a challenge and a pleasure to share in this process, which crosses boundaries of musical style – first with Mansurian’s music, and then with Jan’s own compositions. Thank you, Jan!”