Home » Jazz Articles » Extended Analysis » Jan Garbarek: Dansere
Jan Garbarek: Dansere
Bobo Stenson
pianob.1944
Keith Jarrett
pianob.1945
Arild Andersen
bass, acousticb.1945
Terje Rypdal
guitarb.1947
As much as Dansere traces Garbarek's rapid evolution from the greater extremes of free improvisation to a more form-based approach that would become the foundation of much of his life's work ever since, the three-disc box also documents the emergence of ECM's voice as a label. While label head/producer
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data-original-title="" title="">Manfred Eicher's initial goal with the label—to produce recordings of improvisation-based music (jazz, in the broadest possible definition of the term) with the clarity and transparency of classical recordings—was realized early on with recordings like pianist 
Marion Brown
saxophone, alto1931 - 2010
Jon Christensen
drums1943 - 2020
For those familiar with the breadth and depth of a catalog that now numbers over 1,200, whitewashing attempts to pigeonhole the label's "sound" in reductionist terms—whether it be actual sound, style or presentation—simply don't make sense. But what does emerge, listening to all three recordings here, is the clear sense of a label whose interest was in creating—whether occupying the unfettered and, at times, positively electric space of Sart or the more intrinsically lyrical and entirely acoustic bent of Dansere—a relaxed and fully transparent context in the studio, one where the musicians could hear absolutely everything going on about them. A small detail, perhaps, that many would consider a given—though it is not the case, more often than might be expected—but one that provides musicians the freedom to allow notes to decay to their inevitable conclusion, resulting in more space and, ultimately, music that breathes, even at its most extreme.
And there are plenty of extremes on Sart. While Garbarek had, by this time, begun moving away from the early influences of latter-day
John Coltrane
saxophone1926 - 1967
Albert Ayler
saxophone, tenor1936 - 1970
Miles Davis
trumpet1926 - 1991
If Sart is more about color and expression across its 42 minute duration and all-original set list—with Garbarek contributing four of its six tunes, one from Andersen (the bassist's dark but wryly titled, arco-driven duo with Garbarek, "Close Enough For Jazz") and one from Rypdal (his spacious, rumbling, solo electric guitar closer, "Lontano"), then Witchi-Tai-To reflects a number of about-faces. First, this debut from the Jan Garbarek-Bobo Stenson Quartet has no original music other than newcomer bassist 
Palle Danielsson
bass, acoustic1946 - 2024
Don Cherry
trumpet1936 - 1995
Carla Bley
piano1938 - 2023
Witchi-Tai-To also bears comparison to Keith Jarrett's then-nascent European Quartet with Garbarek, Danielsson and Christensen, which released Belonging on ECM later that year, and whose archival live set, Sleeper—Tokyo, April 16, 1979 (2012), has also just been issued by the label. Beyond the obvious difference of Jarrett's leadership versus the more egalitarian Garbarek-Stenson group, despite the largely American content of Witchi-Tai-To, and acknowledging the unmistakable Scandinavian influence that Garbarek, Danielsson and Christensen brought to Jarrett's music—while, at the same time, reflecting their undeniable American tradition cred, having supported a number of American artists touring their countries in the late 1960s/early 1970s—it's remarkable just how different these two recordings are.
Stenson may not have become the jazz giant that Jarrett has—though how much of that has to do with Jarrett's already significant name through his work with Miles Davis and 
Charles Lloyd
saxophoneb.1938
That Stenson is not a particularly prolific composer may also have something to do with his status, when compared to Jarrett (at least, at that time, since the American pianist has long since deserted formal composition). With the release of Dansere in 1976, the group was still called the Jan Garbarek-Bobo Stenson Quartet, but as it turned to all-original music, it was the saxophonist who contributed all but one of its six pieces. Even the sole non-Garbarek composition, "Lokk," was arranged by the saxophonist, based on a theme by Norwegian folk musician Thorvald Tronsg?rd (1892-1986). While, perhaps, the most direct indicator, it was ultimately just one sign on Dansere that Garbarek was intent on bringing Norwegian traditionalism into his music, a decision that has colored his career ever since.
As Michael Tucker—author of the definitive Garbarek biography, Deep Song (EastNote, 1998)—clarifies in the equally superb essay that accompanies the Dansere box, it was with Dansere, the album, that Garbarek crystallized a sound that can only be described as Nordic, and which would be a fundamental part of subsequent recordings, ranging from his wind harp-driven duet recording with guitarist 
Ralph Towner
guitarb.1940
"Skrik & Hyl (Cries and Confusion)," a duo featuring Danielsson's upper-register arco and Garbarek's tenor, may only last a mere 94 seconds and act more as an introduction to "Lokk," but its evocation of windswept landscapes and white-capped waters is as provocative as Garbarek's use of a folk musician's theme based on a cattle call in announcing a directional shift with Dansere. If Garbarek still managed to throw in a few visceral screams on Witchi-Tai-To—and they appear here, as well, but this time with a stronger sense of careful intent—by Dansere, his pursuit of tonal perfection with every note became even more definitive, as did an even greater allegiance to space. The 15-minute title track that opens the album unfolds with tremendous (and effective) patience, and Garbarek's solo, beginning halfway into the tune (and only a mere 80 seconds after both the composition's time and theme have finally emerged), develops with similar composure and control—a far cry from the abandon of Sart and what came before. Stenson, too, seems to focus more finely on the concept of development, while Danielsson and Christensen, if not exactly relegated to rhythm section status (neither musician ever straightjacketed to that extent), certainly adhere more to a concept of groove, and with greater nuance than ever before.
If an unmistakably Scandinavian approach to playing rubato—something Garbarek's Sart cohort, Terje Rypdal, was also investigating, but from a very different angle, on Odyssey—can be found on earlier Garbarek records, it's on Dansere that the saxophonist finally honed it to perfection, lending the intro to "Bris" such a sense of suspension that, when the quartet coalesces halfway in, there's a palpable sense of release, even as Garbarek delivers one of his most soaring solos of the set, bolstered by Danielsson's round tone and Christensen's ever-shifting approach to time. Dansere's title track is the one most often cited, but the shorter "Bris" may actually possess some of the album's strongest moments, with Stenson also turning in an early career-defining performance.
More than forty years after the release of Sart, the release of the Old & New Masters Edition Dansere box concisely documents a time when ECM and its artists were pushing the boundaries of what the word "jazz" meant. Arguments will, no doubt, continue to be had about whether the label has proven to be its savior, its antichrist or simply a forward-thinking participant in its evolutionary history, but what is impossible to deny is the innovation that was taking place as the label looked increasingly farther afield, recruiting musicians from cultures around the world to incorporate their own traditions within a broader inclusionary definition.
Dansere represents a time when this particular group of musicians was acknowledging the undeniable influence of the American jazz tradition on their musical development, while just as fervently declaring that their own culture was an equal participant in the shaping of definitive voices whose influence continues to be felt on subsequent generations—and, most significantly, beyond their own borders. That there are American jazz musicians who now cite Garbarek, Stenson, Danielsson, Christensen, Rypdal and Andersen as seminal influences on their development only speaks to the wonderful cross-pollination that defines not just jazz, but all music. It makes the release of Dansere all the more significant, then, as an indicator that the evolution of music is never a one-way street, and that as much as the American tradition continues to be felt in countries abroad, the music it has engendered in those far-away places is now coming home to roost in the land where jazz began...and that's exactly as it should be.
Tracks: CD1 (Sart): Sart; Fountain Of Tears—Part I and II; Song Of Space; Close Enough For Jazz; Irr; Lontano. CD2 (Witchi-Tai-To): A.I.R.; Kukka; Hasta Siempre; Witchi-Tai-To; Desireless. CD3 (Dansere): Dansere; Svevende; Bris; Skrik & Hyl; Lokk (Etter Thorvald Tronsgard); Til Vennene.
Personnel: Jan Garbarek: tenor and soprano saxophones, flute (CD1); Bobo Stenson: piano, electric piano (CD1); Jon Christensen: percussion (CD1), drums (CD2, CD3); Terje Rypdal: guitar (CD1); Arild Andersen: double bass (CD1); Palle Danielsson: double bass (CD2, CD3). ">
Track Listing
CD1 (Sart): Sart; Fountain Of Tears - Part I and II; Song Of Space; Close Enough For Jazz; Irr; Lontano. CD2 (Witchi-Tai-To): A.I.R.; Kukka; Hasta Siempre; Witchi-Tai-To; Desireless. CD3 (Dansere): Dansere; Svevende; Bris; Skrik & Hyl; Lokk (Etter Thorvald Tronsgard); Til Vennene.
Personnel
Jan Garbarek
saxophoneJan Garbarek: tenor and soprano saxophones, flute (CD1); Bobo Stenson: piano, electric piano (CD1); Jon Christensen: percussion (CD1), drums (CD2, CD3); Terje Rypdal: guitar (CD1); Arild Andersen: double bass (CD1); Palle Danielsson: double bass (CD2, CD3).
Album information
Title: Dansere | Year Released: 2012 | Record Label: ECM Records
Tags
Jan Garbarek
Extended Analysis
John Kelman
ECM Records
Bobo Stenson
Keith Jarrett
Arild Andersen
Terje Rypdal
Manfred Eicher
Marion Brown
Jon Christensen
John Coltrane
Albert Ayler
Miles Davis
Palle Danielsson
Don Cherry
carla bley
charles lloyd
Ralph Towner
Jan Garbarek: Dansere
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