Search - Jan Garbarek :: Photo With Blue Sky

Fantastic CD!! Example of great group improvisation from ECM

Thomas Gabuzda | 11/26/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I remember first hearing the song "White Cloud" from this album on the radio when I was in sophomore year in college, one evening at work making pizzas in a pizzeria. I was so moved by it that I could not work while it was playing and I was forced to focus deeply on the music! I tuned everyone and everything, including the hustle and bustle of the pizza shop, completely out!



This group was exceptional and spoke a common language improvisationally. The interplay between Jan Garbarek (Saxes), John Taylor (Piano), Eberhard Weber (Bass), Bill Connors (Guitar) and Jon Christensen (Drums) is fluid. Solos pick up, blend and compliment one another beautifully!! Jan's biting authoritative tone and style is complimented excellently with Eberhard's deep, subtle, grounded bass support with an uncanny use of space and silence to evoke extra feeling. In fact space is well understood by this entire group and it shows. This for me is the best work I have heard from Bill. Jon Christensen and John Taylor are so well matched for this project that I cannot imagine anyone else blending as well as they did in this group. All compositions are by Jan. They are great!



I highly recommend this CD to anyone looking to hear beautiful improvised music from a group that is "locked" in the same groove."

Extremely interesting recording

Thomas Gabuzda | Montco PA, usa | 12/16/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Beside bringing together a wonderfully sympathetic and sonorous ensemble (noted in an earlier review), this rec. has the intriguing device whereby each composition is inspired by an element in the cover photo... doubly interesting since it's a very ordinary photo of a house! The degree to which Garbarek succeeds in capturing something of those various elements is, frankly, astonishing (take "Wires" if you need proof). "Red Roof" I've always heard as evoking a Spanish, matador-like flavor. I'm aware of no other album built on this premise and the overall effect is highly coherent and musical, particularly if you enjoy ECM. I'm not the greatest Garbarek fan due to his tendency to not blend in an ensemble. But I've listened to perhaps 10 or 12 of his works and this is truly one of the best ("Red Lanta" and Towner's "Solstice" are others)). A great album is like a refuge... be assured this is a great one, an immaculate aesthetic work with superb contributions from all."

Very Unique Outing for Jan Garbarek

P. McKenna | Atlanta GA | 04/06/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This was an interesting and different premise for an album, and only Jan Garbarek could've pulled this off with such flair. Taking a perfectly ordinary yet very stark photo, Garbarek wrote several pieces based on components of the photo that will hold your attention quite easily. He also deserves extra kudos for putting together an ace band to pull it off, and ESPECIALLY for getting Bill Connors to play electric guitar again (his playing here has a very mercurial and silvery texture to it that fits the music perfectly!)!



Put this on and let it transport you to another world!



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