Jan Garbarek is a saxophonist who was become well known throughout the world for his contributions to the genres of classical, jazz and world music.
Jan Garbarek was born in Mysen, Norway in the year 1947. His birthday is the fourth of March. Jan Garbarek's parents were Norwegian and Polish. Most of Jan Garbarek's recordings have been released by the well known jazz label ECM, that was founded in Munich, Germany in 1969. After growing up in Oslo, Norway Jan Garbarek signed with ECM in his twenties. He released several avant garde albums with ECM before becoming famous during the seventies among jazz aficionados for playing with the "European Quartet" founded by jazz pianist Keith Jarrett. Later he would release one of the most popular ECM albums ever with 1993's "Officium", which took advantage of the growing interest in Gregorian chants and actually ranked on some international pop charts.
Jan Garbarek has collaborated with many leading jazz and world musicians, including Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, Zakir Hussain, Charlie Haden, Ralph Towner, David Torn, Egberto Gismonti, John Christensen, George Russell and Bill Connors. One of his most successful recordings was "Dis", a minimalist combination of saxophone, guitar and wind harp that has been used in many instances for scoring films.
Over the years, Jan Garbarek music has changed from being very bare bones and avant garde, to incorporating folk melodies and textural ambient elements, to using synthesizers and instruments from all kinds of international musical traditions.
As of early 2007 Jan Garbarek continues to produce music. Recently he has been nominated for a Grammy for the 2005 album "In Praise of Dreams". His long career with ECM from the label's inception has associated his saxophone tone and general style with the label itself. His last released album was "Neighbourhood", a collaboration with jazz drummer Manu Katche.