SELECTED RECORDINGS

I already had listened to many albums by Jan Garbarek when I borrowed this 2-CD compilation, and this turned out to be quite disappointing. The reason is entirely in the compiling policies, which has an emphasis on collaboration albums instead of Garbarek's "own" discography. (Snobb, I hope you don't mind that I edited the album info and separated musicians from the track listing! Therefor tracks are credited to Jan Garbarek [Group] if not mentioned.)

Of course on the other hand it's good to get a wide selection of various things Garbarek has been a part of, but in many cases it just turns out to be less enjoyable than his own albums. Unless you're fond of for example the marriageof exotic, ethnic music and jazz. Naturally also collaborations with The Hilliard Ensemble are included, and at least in them Garbarek is merely an extra ingredient (to the old vocal music) instead of the other way round. Somehow peculiar is also the large portion of KEITH JARRETT's output in which Garbarek plays. I mean, whose anthology this is supposed to be?

All in all this set has more value as a widener of horizon than as a sampler of GARBAREK music. It's so varied that it's a little bumpy listening experience per se. But my reaction could be a little exaggerated because most of the real Garbarek stuff here was already familiar to me and I tried hard to equally enjoy the different stuff too. Anyway, compared to the large discography of his own the choosing must have been difficult and helplessly inadequate, since there's so much that couldn't fit in. Either recommended or best to avoid, depending on your preferences. 2,5 stars.