Jan Garbarek - In Praise Of Dreams

Following a six-year break from recording, with only a guest appearance on bassist Miroslav Vitous' "Universal Syncopations" ('03) and "A Rarum compilation" ('02), Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek returns with his first album of new material since" Rites" ('98). "In Praise of Dreams" continues along the path established by such recordings as " Legend of the Seven Dreams" , "I Took Up The Runes" , and " Visible World". But while Garbarek demonstrates the same penchant for deceptively simple pieces with almost anthem-like themes, his collaboration with violist Kim Kashkashian and drummer Manu Katche results in something richer, something deeper than what has come before.

"In Praise of Dreams" issued for the first time on vinyl, features two musicians with whom the great Norwegian saxophonist shares some history - American-Armenian violist Kim Kashkashian and African-French drummer Manu Katché. Garbarek, Kashkashian and Katché span a lot of idioms between them, but the music sings with a focussed sense of purpose, in the context that Jan has shaped for it. If dreams are movies for the mind, the album is aptly titled - its atmospheres are evocative and decidedly 'filmic'.

"From the very first track ... the saxophonist serves notice that this is going to be a very different album to anything he has done before. The haunting electronically generated sounds seem to hang in the air like an early morning mist and are penetrated, like the early morning sun, by the sharp, almost crystalline definition of Garbarek's saxophone, and, on subsequent tracks by Kashkashian on viola. The multiplicities of meaning conjured between them on pieces like "Knot in Time And place" or "Scene from Afar" take this album to a place where no Garbarek album has gone before. … A major statement, possibly among his finest, by a major artist." - Stuart Nicholson, Jazzwise

In Praise of Dreams is a jazz album by Jan Garbarek released in 2004 on ECM. In 2005, it was nominated for the Grammy for Best Contemporary Jazz Album.

Features

• Vinyl Double LP 

Side 1

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

Side 2

1. Cloud Of Unknowing
2. Without Visible Sign
3. Iceburn
4. Conversation With A Stone
5. A Tale Begun

Notes