Jan garbarek biography

European innovators in jazz are few and far between. Those who have innovated consistently for twenty or thirty years and transcended each new wave of style and genre as it comes washing through are much, much rarer.

Saxophonist Jan Garbarek manages that feat with something to spare.

Born in Norway and attracted to saxophone during his teens by jazz radio broadcasts in Oslo while he studied law, Garbarek honed in on the playing of John Coltrane, a man whose music and commitment became his model.

By the late 60s Garbarek had met George Russell and studied Russell's important musical thesis, The Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organisation.

He played with Russell on a number of major ventures before cutting his own first albums.

By 1971 Garbarek had formed his own trio with Arild Anderssen and Edward Vesala, and this group began recording for Manfred Eicher's ECM label.

The music was new and fresh, Garbarek's rock-hard tone, lack of vibrato and fondness for stat