Jan Garbarek Group Trilok Gurtu / Hungary 04.07.2025 Complete Soundboard Edition

Jan Garbarek, a solitary saxophonist and one of the greatest jazz musicians in Europe, not just Norway. He plays with a transparent tone and beautiful melodies that no one else can produce, and his group sound, which makes full use of grand orchestration, is also one of a kind. The second installment of Garbarek Group’s amazing live performances in 2025 is now available for the first time in astonishingly high fidelity sound! Eberhard Weber, who continued to lead his own group while also occupying a crucial position as the core of the sound in his close friend Garbarek’s group, suffered a stroke in early 2007 that made him unable to play, and Yuri Daniel has been his hasty successor for almost 20 years now. Now, with Daniel, Rainer Brüninghaus on piano/keyboards, and Trilok Gurtu on drums/percussion, the unshakeable Jan Garbarek Group has reigned as the pinnacle of jazz quartets for a longer period than even Wayne Shorter’s quartet. Amazingly, they continue to evolve and always provide fresh and progressive sounds, and we have received a 2-disc set featuring their sublime live performance from April 7, 2025, at the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall in MPA, Hungary, recorded in the finest, ultra-high-quality stereo soundboard format with the label’s unique and meticulous mastering, for over an hour and a half! This release perfectly captures every inch of the Garbarek Group’s stage performance, which is said to be the most beautiful on earth, a performance so beautiful that it is beyond words! The Garbarek Group’s magnificent and dignified performance, perfectly suited to this stage, features beautiful and grand melodies imbued with an invisible energy that evokes images of majestic, ancient landscapes, and a romanticism that is difficult to put into words. Throughout the performance, Garbarek uses his beloved Selmer tenor saxophone and his trademark curved soprano saxophone equally, perfectly infusing his distinctive, instantly recognizable, transparent, and endlessly expansive tone. At times, he also showcases his interplay with Grutu using the fingerless Serie flute, a Norwegian folk instrument. Garbarek has stated that he was greatly influenced by percussionist Gurtu when it came to this quartet format, and Gurtu’s role in this group is extremely important. He constructs a sound that is hard to believe is being played by just one person, using a drum set including bass drum, snare, and hi-hat, along with a percussion set that includes tabla, djembe, shaker, bells, various cymbals, gongs, chimes, and even a bucket of water. Furthermore, he creates his own unique world with a distinctive approach, bringing an important color to the music that Garbarek currently aspires to. Bassist Daniel must have felt considerable pressure when he first joined, as he succeeded the highly individualistic Weber, but he has now grown remarkably and has become an indispensable part of the Garbarek group. In his solos in the middle of live performances, he even displays virtuosic playing that surpasses the shocking technique of Victor Wooten and Jaco Pastorius in their prime. Daniel’s contribution to the group is also remarkable; his masterful use of rhythm with Gurtu creates a dynamic and thrilling development reminiscent of mid-period Weather Report, bringing a new sensibility to the group and forging new ground that looks towards its future. And we mustn’t forget Rainer Brüninghaus, the German keyboard treasure who has been playing with Garbarek’s group for over 20 years. The beauty of his piano playing surpasses even that of Keith Jarrett! Furthermore, he manipulates all kinds of keyboards, supporting Garbarek’s music with sampling and loops, building magnificent orchestrations that make this group special. In his solo in the middle of the set, he delivers a dazzling and decadent performance with an otherworldly, fantastical beauty. This is truly the epitome of the ECM sound, a perfect performance brimming with ultimate beauty and dynamic rhythm.