Classical music and jazz: Jan Garbarek - BBC3 Jazz on 3 concert, Monday March 15
Published: 18 February 2010
by GEORGE FOSTER
DESCRIBING Jan Garbarek as a Norwegian jazz saxophonist is an understatement, like calling a hurricane an autumnal Caribbean wind. He draws heavily on folk tunes and peasant dances of his homeland, and his performances begin with the eerie sound of an arctic wind.
The trio who blew in with him to the Barbican recently were German keyboard player Rainer Brüninghaus, Yuri Daniel on bass guitar from Brazil and Trilok Gurtu from Mumbai, with a drum-kit surrounded by an intriguing forest of hand drums, bells, cymbals, tin cans and a metal bucket of water.
What emerged was an improvised music with jazz roots onto which were grafted many varieties of musical forms.
Invoked by the quartet were dances and songs of Norway, bossa nova, Beethoven, flamenco, Boots Randolph’s Yakety Sax, ragas, calypso, rock, tango, boogie-woogie and Scottish folk.
At the heart of the music was the breathy sound, in turn bluesy and funky, of the jazz saxophone. Garbarek is a great virtuoso who brought a packed Barbican audience to its feet, yelling for more.
• The concert will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 Jazz on 3 on Monday March 15