Visible World

Jan Garbarek

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 30, 1996)
• Original Release Date: June 1995
• Label: Ecm Records
• ASIN: B0000031ZR
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #92,876 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
This 1995 release followed closely on the heels of the enormously successful Officium, Jan Garbarek's meditative collaboration with the Hilliard Ensemble. The same tranquil aesthetic prevails on this release, but the methods and materials differ. Garbarek opts here for the recording studio over the monastery, building up many of the tracks himself with percussion and keyboards as well as the keening, resonant sounds of his soprano and tenor saxes. His compositions emphasize folk-like melodies and ethereal soundscapes, and there's effective work from pianist Rainer Brüninghaus and bassist Eberhard Weber. The often-dramatic percussion from Marilyn Mazur, Manu Katché, and Trilok Gurtu adds ceremonial and world-music touches to some superior work in the New Age genre. --Stuart Broomer

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I think I'm going to give Jan Garbarek a lifetime free pass . . ., February 26, 2007

By	Jan P. Dennis "Longboard jazzer" (Monument, CO USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Visible World (Audio CD)

. . . as far as I'm concerned, he can do just about whatever he wants and earn a five-star review from me.

I have a somewhat curious relationship to this disc of his. I remember purchasing it and being rather disappointed. No, not rather, MAJORLY disappointed. I thought it lacked rigor, soul, you name it. So much so that I sold it.

Then, after coming to my senses a decade later, I re-checked it out.

And was completely, absolutely, bowled over, estimating that it may, just, be his finest recording ever.

What happened in the interim? I'm not completely sure. I bought Rites and In Praise of Dreams. I revisited Legend of the Seven Dreams, I Took Up the Runes, and It's Okay to Listen to the Gray Voice, and concluded that here was a master of jazz elegiacism--perhaps the greatest and most important move of this alien yet homely music.

And I decided that Garbarek, on account of the hugely evocative move (the purely elegiac) that he makes on almost all his discs--but most decisively here--deserves a Lifetime Free Pass.

What does that mean? For me, it means that unless he makes a major misstep, everything he records merits utter musical absolution: No Purgatory for this master of the heart and soul of jazz melancholy.

Isn't that a little silly? I suppose so, but I can't help it. First off, his soprano sax concept and execution alone merit such exceptionalism. Has there ever been a player who gets so much pathos out of an instrument? I don't think so, and I also don't think there ever will be.

Second, he's somehow, magically, single-handedly bridged the gap between New Age and authentic jazz in his soprano sax playing and overall musical conception and soundscape. Tell me if you detect even the slightest hint of Kenny G in these grooves, and I'll retract everything I've said. But you won't. Trust me.

Third, I venture to say without contradiction that you'll hear here sounds and voices seldom if ever heard elsewhere. Take "Visible World - chiaro" as an example. What mystery! What pathos! What friendly weirdness! But "Desolate Mountains I" sustains and extends the aesthetic by leaps and bounds, and its successor, "Desolate Mountains II" somehow, magically, ups the ante.

Look. We're in the hands of a master here. No room for gainsaying. Nor second-guessing. Nor grousing.

Just accept it. Acknowledge it. And be grateful.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The work of a genius... again, October 12, 1999

By	Robert Moss (Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

Jan Garbarek has again blessed us with a thing of exquisite beauty. As you start the first track, Red Wind, you are overcome by an instant, ethereal atmosphere. It's like aromatherapy, on a CD. The CD then takes you on a journey, through powerful, poignant pieces like The Survivor, through detatched, lightweight pieces like the Desolate Mountains, Haunting, weird pieces like Visible World (chiaro -) and leaves you with the stirring, cool Evening Land.

It is in your best interests to buy this CD. It may change your life. Unfortunately if you're one of the poor saps who never discovers this music, it's too bad...

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The stuff of dreams, November 28, 1998

By	Peter White "Kitchen Slave Pete" (Scotland) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I was given Visible World as a present - I would never have picked it off the shelf because I had never heard of Jan Garbarek. From the first note through to the end of the album I found myself transfixed and transported to a wonderful place. This is one of the most mellow thought provoking pieces of work I have ever listened to.