The story has acquired, through repetition, an almost legendary cast; how Jan Garbarek, at the age of 14, heard Coltrane on the radio and experienced a kind of epiphany. He knew then what he had to do. He immediately bought himself a saxophone instruction book and learnt fingering positions - even before he had a horn. "When I got the saxophone I was really prepared for it. I was very, very eager."

Coltrane was a fortuitous choice of role model. Tracking that giant's progress opened new paths. Knowledge of Coltrane's interest in Ravi Shankar, for example, brought Garbarek to an awareness of Indian music (and thus of non-Western possibilities) as early as 1963. From the Coltrane Quartet, the young Norwegian learned about the dynamics of the band, and the internal relationship of the instruments. Coltrane's endorsement of the freest spirits of the New Thing fired Garbarek's appreciation of Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp and, especially, Albert Ayler. But there were other influences at work, too.

Scandinavia, in this period, was a haven for American musicians. Garbarek grabbed opportunities to hear (and learn from) Dexter Gordon, Ben Webster, Johnny Griffin. In 1966, he had a chance to play with Don Cherry, whose embracing of world folk traditions in his unique variety of free jazz was another significant influence. Most important in this formative period, however, was the association with American composer/pianist George Russell. Russell sat in with Garbarek at the Molde Festival in 1965, then invited the 18-year-old saxophonist to join his band. "He taught me such a lot of things. I knew nothing about music and still he had faith in me." Garbarek immersed himself in Russell's Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization and played on a row of the composer's recordings, some of which have only recently been released.

In 1969, Manfred Eicher, in the process of establishing ECM Records, invited Garbarek to record for the fledgling label. Afric Pepperbird was taped in Oslo in 1970 and effectively put the saxophonist on the international map, along with his fellow band members; in Norway, critics still refer to Jan Garbarek, Terje Rypdal, Arild Andersen, and Jon Christensen as "the Big Four", the players who defined what Norwegian improvisation might mean. By 1970, Garbarek had transcended the Coltrane influence and new ideas came into play. The use of echoplex and electronic devices with the guitar, for example, brought some of rock's colour into the synthesis, and the group was also alert to the new sounds of the AACM and the German free players. "It was a very natural music. It came out of what was in the air at the time."

Of the early ECM recordings, Garbarek regarded Triptykon (recorded 1972) as a turning point of sorts. The trio with Arild Andersen and Edward Vesala sounded at times like a European updating of the Ayler trio of the mid 60s, and its mastery of the free ballad, harnessing lyricism to free dissolved time, was a new development in creative music. Furthermore, the record contained the first instance in Garbarek's discography of an adaptation of Norwegian folk music, an important inspirational source in the years to come.

In 1974, the fruitful association with Keith Jarrett began. Belonging and Luminessence were recorded in one week in April. The former, a buoyant, songful album introduced Jarrett's Scandinavian band which was to have a second lease of life at the decade's end (documented on My Song, Nude Ants, and Personal Mountains). Luminessence was an intriguing departure for both parties: Garbarek was let loose to improvise solos within dark, severe soundscapes created by Jarrett's writing for strings. The following year, Jarrett presented a sunnier music on Arbour Zena where the pianist performed with Garbarek, Charlie Haden and a string orchestra. The work received its concert premiere at New York's Carnegie Hall.

Alongside the Jarrett projects, the saxophonist co-led the Jan Garbarek-Bobo Stenson Quartet which recorded two albums, Dansere and Witchi-Tal-To, and with its outgoing music (more easily placed within the "Jazz" tradition than most of Garbarek's work since) rapidly established itself as one of Europe's most popular touring bands. Garbarek, however, was hearing another sound. He retired from the road to prepare one of his most intimate projects, the album Dis. In time, Garbarek would come to view this 1976 recording as the first volume in a long-distance-stance "trilogy" that would include Eventyr (1980) and Legend Of The Seven Dreams (1988). All of these are in different ways reflections on aspects of Norway, its light and its landscape, its folk music traditions. In the mid 70s, Dis, a duet with Ralph Towner (augmented by the lonely plaint of the windharp) seemed shocking in its nakedness and its brooding, tensile qualities. There was a striking poetic compression in Garbarek's unadorned saxophone solos, persuasive proof of hi-5 contention that one sound, properly weighted, can have more emotional impact than the slickest note-crammed solo.

Part of the shared pleasure of ECM's first decade was the musicians, discovery of each others, capabilities. Through the 70s and early 80s, Manfred Eicher continued to bring together players of diverse backgrounds in special "production projects". Over the years, Garbarek has proved the player best able to deal with the challenge of reconciling his own conception with the widest range of musics, always finding something fresh to say. This exploratory work continues in the 90s: in autumn 1993, for example, ECM will issue an album by Jan and Tunisian oud virtuoso Anouar Brahem, accompanied by Ragas And Sagas tabla master Shaukat Hussain.

A not infrequent outcome of such production projects has been the formation of touring units. Solstice (1974), ostensibly a Ralph Towner record, brought Garbarek together with Eberhard Weber, sowing the seeds for a collaboration that goes on today. The Solstice band performed live to considerable acclaim, as did the "Magico" trio of Garbarek, Egberto Gismonti and Charlie Haden (their work is documented on Magico and Folk Songs, recorded in 1979). Garbarek had first played with Gismonti (and with future Garbarek group member Nana Vasconcelos) on 1977's Sol Do Meio Dia.

The overlapping of cultures achieved on such sessions was extended in Garbarek's own groups. Until singers and Mari Boine were brought in to augment the ensemble for selected performances and recordings (Boine did not appear on disc with the group until 1993's Twelve Moons), sightings of Norwegians in Garbarek groups were infrequent. The line-up has been multi-national since the late 1970s. American guitarists Bill Connors, Bill Frisell and David Torn contributed usefully to the development of Garbarek's group music (refer to the albums Photo With...., Places, Paths, Prints, Wayfarer, and It's OK To Listen To The Gray Voice) in the years 1978 to 1986. In the 80s drummers were also usually American, including Michael DiPasqua and (on tour only) Billy Hart. The decision to replace the drum kit with Nana Vasconcelos's Brazilian percussion (Legend Of The Seven Dreams) was perceived as a further, radical departure from jazz per se. And when the kit was reintroduced, on I Took Up The Runes, the drummer chosen, Paris-born Manu Katché, was a player closer to rock than to bebop (though, interestingly enough, Katché had listened closely to the recordings of Garbarek, Weber, and other ECM artists in his formative years). The line-up featured on Twelve Moons partners Katché with Danish percussionist Marilyn Mazur, alongside the long-serving German contingent of Eberhard Weber and Rainer BrÌninghaus. Garbarek: "I like to have strong players around me, musicians of contrasting temperaments but whose personalities are complementary. When I put a group together, I'm not looking for three of me. we're all very different."

Writing music to incorporate Garbarek's saxophones, Greek composer Eleni Karaindrou (see Music For Films) felt she heard a strong Balkan quality in Jan's playing ("It brings the 'Greekness' from my soul"). Indian violinist Shankar (Vision, Song For Everyone) was astounded by the ease with which the saxophonist approached Indian modes. Czech bassist Miroslav Vitous wrote specifically "Slavic" tunes for the duo album Atmos and attributes Garbarek's affinity with them to Jan's Polish ancestry. Garbarek: "You might say I live in a spiritual neighborhood which is scattered geographically around the world." However, his proven adaptability is based partly in the commonality, the "common tongue", of the world's folk musics which Garbarek has unearthed via his researches into Norwegian tradition.

These are most specifically stressed on Rosensfole, the album Jan made with traditional singer Agnes Buen Garnås: "The ornaments she is using in her music sound Middle Eastern Turkish or Arabic in a way. This really fascinates me, the connection between Norwegian music and that of India via the Balkans and Asia Minor ... I found the most 'exotic, music right in my own backyard, so to speak."

Norway being on the periphery of Europe and its rural valleys being narrow and closed, folk music has survived there almost unchanged through the centuries with very little influence from the world outside. "You can still find extremely old melodies and extremely archaic ways of singing."

This investigation of his "roots" was prompted, back in the 70s, by a feeling that jazz's experimental wing was drifting ever further from the cry-from-the-heart that had distinguished the music from Armstrong to Ayler. "It was like one abstraction was being piled upon another: contact was being lost to where the music came from. it was very important for me to listen to folk music from all over the world but especially from Norway. There are strong similarities, of course, in all folk musics. Well, instead of searching for roots in Mississippi, I was looking in the Norwegian valleys. What I found was purely Norwegian, yet for that matter, it does share some common ground with Mississippi."

The absorption of so-called ethnic musics has been a long process and by no means the saxophonist's sole preoccupation. And while Garbarek has gone back, in his musicological researches, to the medieval era and beyond, he has simultaneously remained au courant with technological developments in modern sound production. outside of his work with ECM he has provided music for Norwegian films, TV and radio plays, and numerous theater productions. Most of these projects have been realized alone, using synthesizers for orchestration purposes. The 1986 solo recording All Those Born With Wings grew out of one such project. The title track of Twelve Moons was originally created by Garbarek for the Norwegian film Around The Year -in borf)x-fjord, and he plays the synthesizers on the piece. His music for theater and film perhaps draws more consciously on non-jazz influences, including the classical and contemporary music traditions (in interview, he has spoken of his affection for composers as different as Beethoven, Chopin, Mahler, Sibelius, Lutoslawski, Penderecki, and Takemitsu), yet such influences may also be found in his group work. Twelve Moons, after all, includes an adaptation of Grieg.

Garbarek's wide-ranging listening habits and his willingness to confront new challenges in ECM production projects give notice that his music has retained its exploratory edge. He has done more than any other saxophonist to establish values for improvisation in which sensitivity to tone and space are of crucial importance, and views the shaping of his sound as a winnowing process. "Well, I started with Coltrane's 'Countdown', in which there are a lot of notes. I copied that and then had to 'weed my garden', you know? To take out what was superficial in my own playing. Finally you get to a very naked place and there, hopefully, you can cultivate something new." That "something" has found a response with a great many listeners and the Garbarek Group has built a substantial and loyal audience. Currently, the saxophonist's touring activities are split primarily between his work with the Garbarek Group and with the Officium project.

Officium, conceived by producer Manfred Eicher, provocatively placed Garbarek's improvisations within the context of Cristóbal de Morales' Officium defunctorum and other "early music" pieces, the saxophone moving freely as a "fifth voice" with the Hilliard Ensemble. As Garbarek told Gramophone: "Listeners not so preoccupied with early music or jazz might be able to see that these two things put together create something quite different. Quite a lot of my work involves performers from different cultures and I consider this new collaboration comes from a different culture - if not geographically then certainly in the sense of time. In our best moments I think that we managed to give something new, something unheard of before; something came into existence that was not there before." Elsewhere, Garbarek spoke of the immediate affinity he felt with both the Hilliard Ensemble and the material during the recording session: "Starting phrases together, meeting in different places, it was as if the music had been 'written' for us. It was a meeting in the most natural way, and one of the most challenging and complete recordings I have been involved with."

Officium figured in numerous albums-of-the-year listings and lodged itself securely in classical, jazz, "independent" and even pop charts around the world, proving to be a rare instance of music both unclassifiable and universal in its appeal. That appeal, moreover, shows no signs of diminishing. Currently, Garbarek's touring schedule divides itself into performances in the churches of the world with the Hilliard Ensemble and extensive concert activity with the Jan Garbarek Group. Group members Rainer BrÃŒninghaus, Eberhard Weber, and Marilyn Mazur also appear on Garbarek's Visible World and Rites, though neither is a "band album" in the conventional sense, the recording methodology having more in common with All those born with wings: in both instances Garbarek plays a majority of instrumental parts himself.

Rites, the first double-album to be issued under Jan Garbarek's name, is a magnum opus, and well-titled. "Rites" suggests initiations, rituals, the archaic, the magical, but also "rites of passage" and, in his choice of material, the saxophonist reflects upon pivotal episodes and influences in his own life and those of his associates. There is a tribute to Don Cherry, for instance, the musician who first inspired him to explore the potential of folk music for improvisational purposes. The folk traditions of the North, specifically, are mined on "It's high time" and "Her wild ways", but influences are drawn from all over the globe and the album begins with sounds taped by Jan in an Indian villlage. Guest musicians on Rites include Georgian conductor-singer Jansug Kakhidze, who performs his "The moon over Mtatsminda" with the Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra. On "We are the stars", a setting of a Native American poem, Jan's saxophone encircles the voices of singers from the choir SÃƒÂƒÃ…Åşlvguttene. He also revisits his own past, with new arrangements of "It's OK to listen to the gray voice" and "So mild the wind, so meek the water."

"His tone is clear, independent, ascetic and pure. Suddenly, out of an oscillating melody, Garbarek's horn emerges, keeping its sovereignty into the highest pitches, and without giving way to uncontrollable recklessness. The breadth of peacefulness and maturity in his music eliminates all question of stylish fashionability. He is an original stylist always searching for new realms for his intense and extremely visual music." -- Europe Jazz Network