Steve Wyzard THE BEST ECM SAX WITH ORGAN ALBUM

For many years, this album was not available on CD, and was very hard to find. Now that it has been re-issued, listeners and collectors can finally hear this very successful pairing of the saxophones of Jan Garbarek with the organ of John Taylor. This album was recorded in December 1977, mere weeks after the very prolific Garbarek played on Keith Jarrett's My Song. He also appears on Gary Peacock's December Poems and Bill Connors' Of Mist and Melting, both of which were recorded at the same time. That's four full-length albums in less than three months, and Places is definitely the best of the four.

There is no double bass on Places, but the album doesn't suffer for it. Three of the four lengthy compositions open with Taylor's ethereal organ. "Reflections" is a two-part epic: "part one" features Garbarek's slow-building phrases, Bill Connors' softly picked acoustic guitar, and Jack DeJohnette's mystical cymbals. Suddenly the tempo picks up for "part two". Taylor contributes background colors over Garbarek's best blaring tone while Connors takes a solo over DeJohnette's louder, more vibrant drums. "Entering" is the shortest and most accessible track. Garbarek plays plaintively, nostalgically over Connors' acoustic guitar. DeJohnette enters halfway through, and the song closes peacefully with a short coda. In spite of brilliant performances, "Going Places" is just a little unfocussed, with a few too many mood changes. After a busy DeJohnette opening (this is his best playing on the album) and much shrill Garbarek soloing, this track moves into much slower, more atmospheric territory. There's also a great Connors solo and a drum-and-organ duet before Taylor switches to percussive piano for the only time on this album. "Passing" has Connors introducing the melody before Garbarek joins in over Taylor's organ cadences. This more subdued, almost bluesy track closes the album with Garbarek's best deep guttural groans and DeJohnette playing military drum patterns.

So where does Places fit within the Jan Garbarek catalog? It's not an earth-shaking, all-time classic like Witchi-Tai-To, or an openly experimental album like Dis or All Those Born With Wings. It's not as accessible as Photo with... or It's Okay to Listen to the Gray Voice, or as introspective as Paths, Prints. There's a similar feel on Places to some of Terje Rypdal's work from the same time period without ever digressing into the early-1970s avant-garde sound. And it's much better than Dansere, Eventyr, or Wayfarer. All this adds up to...highly recommended!

Moshkiae Jan Garbarek Places 1978

I'm not sure that I would call these 4 pieces in this album ... something called jazz. I kinda think that this is more "mood music" than it is something that could be called "jazz", although it is easy to think that it is so, simply because of Jan Garbarek. And, this is a rather difficult album to review, in that we just about have to "see" what the ideas/thoughts might be coming from the music, and in this sense, "jazz" makes sense, since it is not always anything other than just folks meandering together sometimes together, and sometimes apart.

But, in this case here, the difficulty is trying to match the titles to the actual music, and then see if they come together in your imagination ... kinda ... for me! But the listening is neat, quiet and nice all around ... and you never feel like a lot of jazz, where ... more of this or that is not really necessary, but it is added all the same, with another instrument or even the same player adding a different touch.

"Going Places" is the one that you wonder the most, specially as it has a repeating theme, and you wonder what is that happens (visually) in between the themes ... and it is a cool exercise of your mental abilities, though you and I have to remember that jazz is not as strong proving a "movie moment" as classical or rock music can be ... but sometimes it works, specially when it is to demonstrate a mind broken in parts or at least making an effort to come together, but still very apart.

With an organ sound all the way through the album, it almost feels like the rest of any instrumentation is just an addon, but it does not deter from the moods. And more often than not is actually makes tings interesting, although, for example, the ending of "Going Places" is probably the only part that you end up saying ... now that is jazz! But you know what? Compared to the rest of the stuff, it's almost like it doesn't fit ... but you accept it as a part of the music as it returns to the soft and meandering style of this album.

"Passing" has a bit of a somber tone, and feels like a dirge at the start ... and the tough part is when it ends suddenly ... and I think it is meant to be intentional ... as an image of death, if you will ... gone! And here, the solo guitar is absolutely a treat and neat, and the better part is that Jan Garbarek allows him to do his thing and not join in as a lot of jazz folks do ... and when it does it feels fine, except you don't want the guitar to stop, but it does. From that point on the themes repeat and the piece continues, until the saxophone leads them to another area. And it is very tasty and pretty, with the somber organ in the background and never coming to the front to let you know ... this is an organ, probably one of the nicest things in this album altogether, which helps define a lot of moods.

A very nice album, and compared to a lot of Jan's earlier work, it is a lot less "jazz" than it is ... simply ... great and enjoyable music, though I suppose that some folks in the audience are going to fall asleep on it ... gosh, we still have the kid stuff and feel in us! And we allow the music to take us away with it!

Very nice album ... not exactly a "jazz" standard, but a wonderful experiment of some of the things that jazz folks can do that help take jazz a bit further than just the cacophony of instruments all screaming for attention. There is no such detail here at all, and it makes this album special!