Customer Reviews

It's OK to Listen to the Gray Voice

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've had this album since 86 and it is as refreshing now as it was when I first heard it. I have a half dozen Jan albums and this is definitely the best. I also have every David Torn album and this is his best work too. Theres some fantastic solos and bass work by E Weber. Great melodies, atmospheric and edgy at the same time. Definitely start here!

Gray Voice contains all the hallmarks of a great Jan Garbarek disc- the mystery, the passion, the bridging of many worlds. It, however, remains my favorite. It contains some of the best ensemble playing of any Garbarek album that I can recall. A lot of these tracks seem to materialize slowly out of thin air and then take you on a journey that will leave you breathless. Special kudos to guitarist David Torn, who has never been more suited to his surroundings. A lot of the powerful mood of this disc is a direct result of his interaction of Garbarek's compositions. And Eberhard Weber's fluid yet substantial bass never disappoints, as always. All the tracks seem knitted intricately to one another; yet all maintain an individuality on their own. This is a great place to start if you don't own any of Jan Garbarek's music.

. . . from experimental Nordic jazz-rock of a Terje Rypdal-ish sort-- David Torn nicely filling the Rypdal role--to his major career move, folk/jazz of the highest order.

I have to say, in light of his later recordings (Legend of the Seven Dreams, I Took up the Runes, Visible World, Twelve Moons, Rites, In Praise of Dreams), this disc sounds somewhat inchoate, transitional, and primitive. What's going on here, I think, is that he's got a foot in two worlds: that of his "old skin" jazz-rock orientation, and of his "new skin" world folk/jazz. But this is clearly one of those cases of you can't get there from here. Would he have been able to access that transcendent vibe brilliantly on display on those later discs without having first tested the waters with this one? I don't think so.

Anyway, there're plenty of goodies here: Eberhard Weber's post-Jaco e-guitar bass; David Torn's space-folk guitar, the leader's emerging keening sax voicings; Michael DiPasque's pre-Manu Katche drum stylings. If it doesn't all quite add up, that's OK: It's still a major statement by a master.

Entirely worth picking up, if only for the leader's fascinating grope toward later mature sax stylings.

Thanks to my new portable cassette player , i was just able to revisit this 1984 GROUP set with Tavid Torn on guitars , Eberhard Weber on bass and Michael DiPasqua on drums . DiPasqua was the drummer from Weber's excellent LATER THAT EVENING recording . It's great work to my mind . I'll concede a sure bias for Garbarek over many saxaphone player/composer/leaders . To me he's so ecocative , emotional and thoughtful on most of his recordings (regardless of the setting) that i find few modern peers . Everyone plays brilliantly here . I just can't think of many (any) folk/jazz/world/classical musicians who consistantly tranport me to as many thoughtful , challenging and wonderful/beautiful places as Jan (tenor and soprano here) as routinely .

you know , sometimes it is said that one can really hear an artist enjoying themselves . having listened to a lot of jan's recordings and having read many self appointed experts characterize sessions in which they felt jan was particularly inspired (don't we read that too much from critics) , i'm pleased to report that all involved commited a wonderful and truly joyous project to the ages . it's not about pinning jan's style down . if you dig it or are curious because jan touched you while doing one of his many ecm sideman gigs , come on in . in the tradition of other excellent garbarek projects (see: i took up the runes , star , rites , ect) this is a truly collaborative effort . there is ample room for all to strech out and do what they do best . unlike some other exclusively reflective albums jan has either led or participated in , the sounds here range from grooving to joyous to searching to jangling to spacily lilting , with lots of terrific comping and passion from all the clearly thrilled members . this touring band was together for some time , and it shows . not just great playing , with lots of contrasting style , but highly enjoyable songs too . all fans of ecm and jazz and especially jan should have this gem in one format or another . rockin' , jazzin ' jammin' , wonderous , i can assure you this will reward many listenings . a different and essential jan outing that captures good friends playing great tunes . highly recommended .

This is perhaps Garbarek's most wonderful album: atmospheric, mysterious and at the same time passionate.

All pieces on the record are titled after quotes from poems by Tomas Tranströmer, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2011.

The music sounds like this:

The summer evening is grey.
The rain steals down from the sky
and lands quietly as if
it had to overpower someone sleeping.

The water-rings jostle on the bay's surface
and that is the only surface there is -
the other is height and depth
soar and sink.

Two pine-stems
shoot up and end in long hollow signal-drums.
Gone are the cities and the sun.
The thunder's in the tall grass.
It's possible to ring up the mirage island.
It's possible to hear the grey voice.
Iron-ore is honey for the thunder.
It's possible to live with one's code.

By the way: Tranströmer also plays the piano (which informs the imagery of some of his poems) and composers have since 1990 written left-hand piano pieces especially for him to play, because of the stroke in that year which deprived him of most of his speech and partly inhibited movement on his right-hand side:

I play Haydn after a black day
and feel a simple warmth in my hands.

The keys are willing. Soft hammers strike.
The resonance green, lively and calm.

The music says freedom exists
and someone doesn't pay the emperor tax.

I push down my hands in my Haydnpockets
and imitate a person looking on the world calmly.

I hoist the Haydnflag - it signifies:
"We don't give in. But want peace.'

The music is a glass-house on the slope
where the stones fly, the stones roll.

And the stones roll right through
but each pane stays whole.
- `Allegro'