It's hard to believe that after recording as a leader for 40 years, DRESDEN: IN CONCERT is Jan Garbarek's first-ever live album. For those who think that Garbarek abandoned jazz some time ago, this will be a shock. DRESDEN is an engaged, kinetic, double-disc, two-hour performance of his quartet playing in the modern jazz idiom and using all of its tenets--from complex harmonics and rhythmic invention to extended lyric improvisation--to create a tour de force that honors all the music he holds dear. Garbarek plays tenor, soprano, and selje flute here, and is accompanied by his regular group that includes drummer Manu Katche, pianist/keyboadist Rainer Brüninghaus, and electric bassist Yuri Daniel. There are 16 compositions that include tracks from previous albums -- some of them radically but exquisitely revamped for this quartet and performance. There are also tunes by his bandmates, and an extended, stellar reading of Milton Nascimento's gorgeous "Milagro Dos Piexes," that features some of the most inventive and dynamic dialogue between Garbarek and Brüninghaus on record. Recording information: Alter Schlachthof, Dresden (10/20/2007). Photographer: Guri Dahl. Arranger: Jan Garbarek. Personnel: Jan Garbarek (soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone); Rainer Bruninghaus (piano, keyboards); Manu Katché (drums). Audio Mixers: Jan Erik Kongshaug; Jan Garbarek; Manfred Eicher. JazzTimes (pp.60-61) - "Garbarek, naturally, puts a lot of space in his playing; on 'Heitor' he even clips the notes of his soulful solo."
Disc: 1 1. Paper Nut 2. The Tall Tear Trees 3. Heitor 4. Twelve Moons 5. Rondo Amoroso 6. Tao 7. Milagre Dos Peixes
Disc: 2 1. There Were Swallows 2. The Reluctant Saxophonist 3. Transformations 4. Once I Dreamt A Tree Upside Down 4. Fugl 5. Maracuja 6. Grooving Out! 7. Nu Bein 8. Voy Cantando
Recorded at Dresden's Alte Schlachthof in October 2007, this 2CD set is the first live album to be issued under Jan Garbarek's name and the quartet's first recording of any sort since 1999's Rites (EC M1685). "Dresden", a fiery, powerful performance and a fine document of the Norwegian saxophonist's exceptional improvising capacities, captures his group in a period when it was reformulating its approach. Earlier in the year bassist Yuri Daniel had been drafted into the band to help Garbarek fulfil commitments when Eberhard Weber, a unique component of the Garbarek ensemble's core sound for three decades, had been sidelined by illness. The new group tackles its repertoire head-on, with the interaction between Garbarek and drummer Manu Katch‚ at the centre of the music. Brazilian bassist Daniel, helps to anchor the pulses and rhythm patterns, while piano & keys man Rainer Br?ninghaus, a Garbarek Group member since 1988, maintains his established role as colourist-in-action.