I Took Up the Runes

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There's a stately splendor in much of this 1990 recording, whether it's infused with a broadening calm or a welling tension as Garbarek synthesizes his disparate inspirations into frequently compelling music. Mari Boine Persen, a Lapp singer, contributed the first tune, an evocative musical call that summons Garbarek's frequent use of folklore, an element that's further developed by singer Ingor Ántte Áilu Gaup on the traditional song "His Eyes Were Suns" and his own "Rahkki Sruvvis." The five-part "Molde Canticle," at more than a half-hour, is the CD's centerpiece. It's a shifting tableau with a startling change of pace for "Part 4," a rock-driven piece that fully unleashes Manu Katché's driving drums and Garbarek's always potent tenor saxophone. Garbarek synthesizes elements in his saxophone playing as well. His distinctive tenor sound can assume elements of King Curtis and the R&B stream, while it adds expressionist touches from his roots in the jazz avant-garde to the title track. There are fine contributions from Garbarek's regular associates, including Rainer Brüninghaus, who plays piano throughout, and the virtuosic Eberhard Weber, whose electric upright bass, both bowed and plucked, is a distinctive upper-register voice. --Stuart Broomer

I Took Up the Runes,Jan Garbarek,Ecm Records,Jazz,Jazz Music,Pop,Post-Bop

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