Gig review: Jan Garbarek group

Published on Friday 29 January 2010 18:04

JAN GARBAREK GROUP **** CITY HALLS, GLASGOW

THIS was saxophonist Jan Garbarek's first Scottish appearance with his group since 2004, and the first since bass player Yuri Daniel took over the role long held by Eberhard Weber. The new man has altered the dynamic of a group that had become rather set in its ways, playing both a different instrument – a five-string fretless bass guitar – and a different style to his predecessor.

There was a new – or perhaps restored – energy and vibrancy to much of the music, augmented by the inclusion of drummer Trilok Gurtu for this tour. Rainer Bruninghaus is not the most exciting of pianists, but has been a staple of this band, and provided continuity behind the leader's signature playing.

Garbarek's sound on both tenor and soprano saxophones has been much praised, and justly so. His keening, steely sonority and masterly authority remains a powerful force in contemporary jazz, and this quartet proved an excellent vehicle in which to showcase his qualities.

He favoured soprano for most of a very long concert – delivered as a concentration-testing single set – turning to tenor only occasionally on upbeat tunes (and briefly to wooden flute on a short duet with Gurtu).

The harmonic texture of his music is never dense or cluttered, leaving the improvisational focus primarily on melodic invention. His simple, often folk-influenced tunes have a ringing, almost anthemic quality, and can evoke the atmosphere and rhythms of Spain, Africa or the Caribbean as readily as his native Norway.

Each of his sidemen was allocated a substantial solo interlude as well as lots of space to solo within the compositions, which allowed us a chance to hear Daniel cut loose, and Gurtu to make further investigations of both vocal mnemonics and his sound-altering water bucket.