In Praise of Dreams

Amazon.com
Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek cut his teeth emulating John Coltrane and blowing gales through the muscular compositions of George Russell and open improvisations of Keith Jarrett. But since the mid 1980s, the saxophonist has been making an increasingly rarefied and composed music full of chords suspended in space, harmonies echoing in gothic recesses, and always, wrenching saxophone melodies. In Praise of Dreams is his latest foray into a music that reaches for the mystical. With just Garbarek, some keyboard pads, light percussion from Manu Katché and haunting viola by Kim Kashkashian, In Praise of Dreams is instrumentally sparse, yet deep in emotion and atmosphere. Based mostly on rhythm loops, there's a hypnotic trance quality to Garbarek's compositions, but also a tinge of nostalgia with Kashkashian's wistful violin. You could be in a mediaeval stave church in Norway or a Parisian café circa 1890. Atop it all are Garbarek's saxophones. He builds many of his improvisations off Kashkashian's viola, echoing her melody lines, then spiraling off with his keening soprano saxophone hailing lamentations like a rainstorm and his tenor calling out in a torrent of emotion barely leashed. This isn't a jazz album in the traditional sense, but a tone poem of memory and dreams. --John Diliberto

In Praise of Dreams,Jan Garbarek,Ecm Records,Jazz,Pop

Average customer rating: Needs Another Instrument to Shake Things Up Ambient Jazz Dreams Integrating a career and distilling new joy Romantic and ravishing even if a commercial offering Smooth jazz.

In Praise of Dreams Jan Garbarek Manufacturer: Ecm Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Jazz | Styles | Music General | New Age | Styles | Music ECM Classical | ECM Records | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music ECM Jazz & World | ECM Records | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music Similar Items: Twelve Moons Witchi-Tai-To The Triangle Mnemosyne / Garbarek, Hilliard Ensemble I Took Up the Runes ASIN: B0002IVZ2W Release Date: 2004-09-21

Tracks:

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

Amazon.com

Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek cut his teeth emulating John Coltrane and blowing gales through the muscular compositions of George Russell and open improvisations of Keith Jarrett. But since the mid 1980s, the saxophonist has been making an increasingly rarefied and composed music full of chords suspended in space, harmonies echoing in gothic recesses, and always, wrenching saxophone melodies. In Praise of Dreams is his latest foray into a music that reaches for the mystical. With just Garbarek, some keyboard pads, light percussion from Manu Katché and haunting viola by Kim Kashkashian, In Praise of Dreams is instrumentally sparse, yet deep in emotion and atmosphere. Based mostly on rhythm loops, there's a hypnotic trance quality to Garbarek's compositions, but also a tinge of nostalgia with Kashkashian's wistful violin. You could be in a mediaeval stave church in Norway or a Parisian café circa 1890. Atop it all are Garbarek's saxophones. He builds many of his improvisations off Kashkashian's viola, echoing her melody lines, then spiraling off with his keening soprano saxophone hailing lamentations like a rainstorm and his tenor calling out in a torrent of emotion barely leashed. This isn't a jazz album in the traditional sense, but a tone poem of memory and dreams. --John Diliberto

Customer Reviews:

Needs Another Instrument to Shake Things Up.......2007-05-11

After jazz fusion left a lot of great musicians high and dry on the plateau of New Age jazz, they putzed around for awhile and came out with some good stuff (Garbarek's "Visible World" is one), but generally they couldn't avoid succumbing to the superficiality of their environments and so passion and intense compositional fecundity gave way to this over-the-top mood music that just sits there like a reptile.

On one level, this release meets the objective of pairing the elegant, forlorn lines of classical viola with the various sounds Garbarek can make with his saxophones. The light lounge lizard tenor touch works very well with the viola, for example. So, it's probably more of a 3 than a 2. But, emotionally, this music doesn't do very much for me and, though I know the viola is hard to play, Ms. Kashkashian's musicianship skills could be better in many cases. Garbarek showcases his virtuoso talents, but I often think this is to make up for a lot of other elements that are missing.

Also, there are only three instruments here: viola, sax and percussion. I think a fourth one (not piccolo) might have helped, as it does on "Places." Maybe an electric guitar in the background, with lots of reverb and wah-wah would have been good - another voice to prevent the sax and viola from getting too chummy, which is something of a drawback here.

Ambient Jazz Dreams.......2005-11-17

Right up front, I don't know a whole lot about Jan Gabarek, how long he's been around, his body of work, or if this album is typical of his musical style or not. I know more about jazz in general than Jan Gabarek in particular. I heard Mr. Gabarek's "In Praise of Dreams" on "Echoes," and was significantly impressed enough to purchase the album. I am not disappointed with what I have heard beyond the title song, either; the songs range musically from a lazy flow of ambience to a catchy, urgent upbeat to slower,somewhat darker music - kind of like the nature of our dreams, the full range. I enjoyed this album and if you enjoy the NPR program "Echoes," I believe that you will, too.

Integrating a career and distilling new joy.......2005-10-27

I had not intended to join in the flock of reviews, but I really want to make sure that no potential listener is put off by the few negative remarks. This is not "smooth jazz" or MOR classical/world beat. "De gustibus non disputandum", tastes are unarguable perhaps, but dispute I nonetheless must. This is my single "desert island" CD, and I don't say that lightly. The interplay between Kashkashian on viola and Garbarek on sax brings together two great currents of music, the "classical" compositional with improvisational jazz. The dialogue between the viola and the tenor sax are amazing in the closeness of their ... their ... is it tone? Texture? Timbre? I'm not fluent in the terms of musical description, but certainly I listen, and say to myself, "Here comes the sax!" only to realize a moment later that it is Kashkashian's viola.

The sound is often mournful, but not sad; it's uplifting. It is a clear sound, although Garbarek's usual coldness is tempered by the viola. The sax-viola duets are augmented by gentle keyboard work as well as a great performance by the drummer, Manu Katche, who has to be mentioned. He builds patterns that go a long way to providing a framework for the music.

Garbarek has had other opportunities to improvise over classical compositional structures - most famously, his lovely sessions with the Hilliard Ensemble, but he also joined on the CD "Monodia", where Tigran Mansurian composed expressly for Kashkashian and him. But here, on "In Praise of Dreams", Garbarek is both composer/arranger and improviser, and this CD gives him the opportunity to emphasize his strengths in composition. His strengths here are remarkable.

If you are looking for the soulful jazz sax in the sparse Nordic tradition of Garbarek's earlier work, you will still find it here - although the context may seem odd. But this is not MOR, nor world beat, nor a commercial sellout by an aging artist. This is an artist integrating the experience of a lifetime in music, and finding something new to synthesize from it all. I wish long life to Mr. Garbarek, and more opportunities to distill wisdom from his years. For anyone who has a love for the great traditions of western music, this disc is one great joy.

Romantic and ravishing even if a commercial offering.......2005-08-04

I have to give this 5 stars even though I find myself agreeing with some of the judgments made by the negative reviewers on this page, because the appeal of this album is so instantaneous and goes so directly to the heart.

Yes, this is in the mould of "Visible World" and "Rites," both of which are hugely enjoyable albums, but also unashamedly commercial. It is a Garbarek whose icy fires have dwindled somewhat and who seems to be enjoying a comfortable middle age by the hearth, rather than the shattered, King Lear-like wilderness which some other jazz musicians have groped through, and which one might have predicted would be Garbarek's eventual destination, extrapolating from the haunted, haunting artist of the 80's.

But his playing is as magisterial as ever, and the wonderful Kim Kashkashian tugs at the heartstrings with each soaring note, helping greatly to lift this album higher. If this is New Age schlock, it is at the very top of the genre.

Garbarek's discography is so vast, and his qualities as a musician so profound, that he can never be casually dismissed. The reviewers who seem not to know his work have wonderful discoveries to make.

The fact is that I cannot imagine any general listener who will not love this album. And as a long-time Garbarek fan who tries to buy everything made by this great artist, I feel that there is room in his oeuvre for a few comfortably commercial albums. This is one of the best of those, his best in years, and highly recommended. If you feel it may be beneath you intellectually, take a listen to the samples before you buy (try tracks 5 and 6 for a good idea of the flavour of this album).

Smooth jazz........2005-03-08

I know some like this style, but it is the one form of music that I truly cannot see any value in, no matter how well executed.

So, if you share the same feeling, I am warning you. I don't follow the jazz press much or know all the technical terms to describe what is wrong with this music, but it was not what I was expecting from Mr. Garbarek after all I'd heard. I happened on some very positive reviews-- comparisons of his tone to the primal sea, earth and forests of Scandinavia, that sort of stuff. And by actual jazz critics for reputable publications. However, they neglected to describe what it actually SOUNDED like. Given the new-agey title, I was wary, but I decided to take a chance. This is on ECM... they put out Charles Lloyd, right? And Garbarek must be a reputable figure in the jazz world. After all, he was sort of a cult musician. I'd never heard him mentioned in the same breath as certain unmentionable frizzy haired superstars.

But I put this on. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with tasteful synths in rock and pop music, and even, on occasion, in jazz... Weather Report or Herbie Hancock, for instance. But the style of composition here is not up to those standards. I can't comment on the soloing, really, except to say it's as manipulative, schlocky, and painful as any other smooth jazz sax player I've heard. Coltrane? Gimme a break. I don't see how this is any better than Kenny G. More artsy perhaps (wooooh, what a meaningful album cover, how about some "world music" beats along with our slick new-agey wash of electronic sound?), but equally tasteless.

Either this man is attempting to "sell out" here, or he was never up to his reputation. Or maybe he never had one. Maybe he doesn't even pretend to be anything other than what I'm saying he is.

Really, I don't think this is necessarily "bad art," objectively. Don't bother saying I wasn't helpful because you happen to like it. But it is smooth jazz, which for me is unlistenable, regardless of talent involved (and Manu Katche is a great drummer in general). Some people go for it, and that's perfectly fine.

But if your relationship with this genre is anything like mine, avoid Jan Garbarek at all costs.

Average customer rating:

Cloudy Dreams Manufacturer: Eternal Destiny Recordz ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music ASIN: B000CADED8 Release Date: 2004-06-22

Tracks:

1. Intro
2. Cloudy Dreams
3. Tha Devil's a Punk!
4. Times Like These
5. Prayer Interlude
6. Pray Wit Me
7. Zombiez
8. 4 My Homies
9. Thru Tha Storm
10. Call My Name
11. Ridin 4 Christ (Old School Mix)
12. Every Tear
13. Outro

Average customer rating:

In Praise of Dreams Jan Garbarek Manufacturer: Universal ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Jazz | Styles | Music General | New Age | Styles | Music ASIN: B0002T1ZVC Release Date: 2004-10-04

Tracks:

1. As Seen from Above
2. In Praise of Dreams
3. One Goes There Alone
4. Knot of Place and Time
5. If You Go Far Enough
6. Scene from Afar
7. Cloud of Unknowing
8. Without Visible Sign
9. Ice Burn
10. Conversation With a Stone
11. Tale Begun

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