The collaboration between saxophonist Jan Garbarek and the a cappella vocal quartet Hilliard Ensemble is an avant-garde blend of modern European jazz and early music. On "Mnemosyne," their recent collaboration, the origin of their songs extends back to the second century B.C. with a Greek hymn to Delphic gods and ranges through ancient, obscure musical traditions as diverse as Quechuan folk songs, Estonian lullabies, Iroquois dances and Christian chants.
The Hilliard Ensemble specializes in this early music, often captured only on small written fragments of unknown origin. Garbarek, meanwhile, is one of the most prolific European sax players connected to the ECM label, having produced some 30 recordings since the early '70s under his own name and contributed to over 40 recordings with other jazz and world-music artists, most notably Keith Jarrett. The two, however, are well-suited.
Garbarek's saxophone adds a fifth voice and a different sensibility to the quartet's otherworldly sound. His improvisations at times blend in with the meditative power of the vocals and at other times rise up above their harmonies or swoops through them.
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