Wanderers through musical worlds – It’s been 50 years now since my brother and I drove from Sindelfingen to the Deutsches Museum in Munich in our rickety NSU Prinz to experience the new jazz superstar Keith Jarrett on piano with his band.
At his side at the time was an up-and-coming young Norwegian saxophonist named Jan Garbarek. When Garbarek founded his own group years later, the bass was played by a Stuttgart native who had already established himself in the jazz scene: Eberhard Weber.
His bass playing revolutionized the music scene over the decades, and Weber is still considered one of the pioneers of this new way of playing the instrument. Unfortunately, the musician has been unable to perform for several years due to illness. Weber is now 85 years old.
In his announcement, Theaterhaus director Werner Schretzmeier paid tribute to Eberhard Weber’s musical legacy, not least because the bassist was a regular accompanist of Jan Garbarek, who is now 78 years old, for decades.
According to Schretzmeier, Garbarek has performed on the stage of the Theaterhaus in Stuttgart countless times in a variety of musical ensembles.
Floating soundscapes and Indian percussion magic
The autodidact Garbarek, who, according to his own statement, was so fascinated by the playing of John Coltrane, whom he heard on the radio in 1961, that he began teaching himself to play the instrument. His first album was released in 1967, and countless recordings followed in a wide variety of constellations with an almost incredible musical range. For decades, his recordings have been released exclusively on the renowned ECM label.
With his clear, ascetic saxophone playing, he is now considered one of the most important contemporary jazz musicians in the world.
Two of his constant companions on this long musical journey were also present this evening: Rainer Brüninghaus on keyboards, who worked extensively in the fusion genre and, with his floating soundscapes, is considered an imaginative representative of “minimal art.”
In his musical career, he has accompanied a wide variety of jazz musicians, including Gary Burton, Bobby McFerrin, Jim Hall, Manu Katché, Albert Mangelsdorff, Paul McCandless, Alphonse Mouzon, Carla Bley, and Steve Swallow, to name just a few.
The second main performer this evening is the Indian percussionist Trilok Gurtu, who has appeared with Garbarek and Brüninghaus on various recordings for decades and has been a regular fixture in countless live performances.
Gürtu is best known as a mediator between Indian and Western musical traditions. The combination of jazz and world music is the specialty of the Bombay-born musician, who now lives in Hamburg. The “youngster” in the team is 59-year-old Brazilian bassist Yuri Daniel, who has also been a member of Jan Garbarek’s quartet since 2007.
Of the Brothers of the Wind, the Jungle, and the Metamorphoses
From the very first note, it’s clear that time hasn’t diminished the fascinating soundscape Garbarek conjures from his instrument. The first piece, “Brothers Wind March,” now a classic in his repertoire, has only grown in appeal and beauty.
The sound floats through the hall like an infinitely beautiful musical poem, discreetly accompanied by his fellow musicians, giving the audience goosebumps after just a few seconds.
Brüninghaus underpins these striking saxophone lines with wonderfully simple keyboard playing. Yuri Daniel plays a gentle and restrained bass at times, while at other times his instrument can be quite striking and percussive. Gurtu uses all his percussion instruments imaginatively and at times humorously.
The Indian percussionist creates soundscapes that transport you to the jungle, where the rustling of tree leaves intersects with the cries of birds. Elsewhere, a sound emerges that seems to rise directly from hell as he submerges the gong in a bucket of water and tortures it to the point of pain.
Gürtu is given a great deal of freedom in his playing, especially in his extraordinary solo, where he draws on all possible registers of drum technique. It’s also fascinating what percussion wonders Gurtu extracts from the cajon (box drum). Combined with his Indian chanting, a unique fusion emerges that is incomparable.
In Metamorphosen, Brüninghaus lays out a voluptuous, floating carpet of sound, minimalist but effective, as economical as all his movements this evening. His fingers move with dreamlike confidence over the keys in this solo, which could go on forever without becoming boring.
Garbarek repeatedly picks up these sound patterns, adds to them, and refines them, sometimes with soprano, alto, or tenor saxophone.
The Realms of Free Jazz
Garbarek and Gurtu depart from this floating harmony of world music for a few brief moments to immerse themselves in the realm of free jazz, which hits the listener completely unexpectedly, but demonstrates the diversity of this innovative and extremely high-quality band. You lose all sense of space and time when you allow yourself to be woven into this tapestry of sound.
When the final piece, “Pygme Lullaby,” floats into the Theaterhaus hall, everyone senses that after a good two hours, nothing more can come, and there’s no need to extend the concert evening. A wonderful, dreamlike concert that sends the listener into the Easter weeks with a deeply moving feeling.
Jan Garbarek (sax)
Rainer Brüninghaus (p)
Yuri Daniel (b)
Trilok Gurtu (perc)
