Jan Garbarek

Jan Garbarek

SEARCHING FOR THE KEY
An Interview with Jan Garbarek
In 1994, ECM Records chief Manfred Eicher had the odd notion to bring together the Hilliard Ensemble (an acclaimed, all-male vocal quartet specializing in early music) and the visionary Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek. The five musicians met for the first time at the monastery of St. Gerold in the Austrian mountains and -- without any rehearsal -- recorded OFFICIUM. This haunting fusion of ancient music and soaring improvisation became a runaway hit, selling close to a million copies.

In 1998, Garbarek and the Hilliards returned to St. Gerold to record MNEMOSYNE (pronounced neh-MOH-seh-nee), a two-disc set that is more than a mere follow-up. Where OFFICIUM focused exclusively on medieval and renaissance music, MNEMOSYNE spans some 22 centuries, from an ancient Greek hymn to a Peruvian folk song to a pair of Garbarek's own compositions. And this time around, the Hilliards show off their improvising talents, too. Andrew Farach-Colton, barnesandnoble.com's classical music editor, asked Jan Garbarek how the musicians make their magic.

barnesandnoble.com: You made both recordings with the Hilliard Ensemble -- OFFICIUM and MNEMOSYNE -- without any rehearsal?

Jan Garbarek: Yes. When we met at St. Gerold, I didn't know anything about the music; every note the Hilliards sang I was hearing for the first time. I just play.

bn.com: So, how do you choose what music to perform? What do you look for in a piece that will make it work for this approach?

JG: I wish I knew that. [laughs] It would make it much easier to choose! The Hilliards usually bring in some music and sing it to me. After I hear it I might very quickly say: No, I know for sure this will not work for me. It's usually my own limitations; I feel very strongly that there's no chance for me to find a key to this piece. And then there will be times when I say: I would very much like to try to do something with this music, but after playing for a few minutes, I have to break off.

When we are on tour we also take chances. The Hilliards might bring a new piece for a sound check before a concert. They will be singing through a piece and I will say, Let's try this tonight. Sometimes it works, sometimes it fails, but that's what we face when we're dealing with improvisation.

bn.com: Your playing doesn't seem to use any conventional jazz techniques. Is this what makes your collaboration with the Hilliard Ensemble so successful?

JG: There's a certain phraseology involved in jazz, and I've moved away from that. I think that is what's made this collaboration possible at all. You just have to react to what's around you in the moment, whatever the music is. Just think of it as some place you have to enter and you need to find the key. And if you feel you have that key, you try to make some phrase or sound that will fit -- not think about what you practiced. What musicians tend to practice is things from a certain phraseology, whether that's scales, bebop phrases, or whatever. If I tried to force that into this context, it would be meaningless.

bn.com: Does the term "jazz" describe what you do when you play with the Hilliards?

JG: No. In fact it doesn't really describe what I do anymore at all. I have a great love and respect for jazz music, but for me that's something very different from what I'm doing now. The only element of jazz that I keep is improvisation -- but the rhythms and certain types of chords and sonorities...no, I don't do that anymore. I love to listen to jazz: Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Erroll Garner, John Coltrane, but even Coltrane was moving out of jazz into something else. And certainly Miles was doing the same thing.