DRESDEN: IN CONCERT

All fans of this Norwegian saxophonist/composer and the standout artist in the fantastic ECM label, take notice. This 2-disc set is his only live release, and it's a very good one. Well, I can imagine it being even better if there had been some more musicians from the Garbarek catalogue involved (such as percussionist Marilyn Mazur or violinist Kim Kashkasian), but one really can't complain about this line-up featuring pianist Riner Brüninghaus, drummer Manu Katché and bassist Yuri Daniel.

As it apparently is more typical in jazz than in rock, there are many tracks new to a listener familiar with Garbarek's studio albums. Some compositions are credited to his fellow musicians, one each, and there are tracks originally written by L. Shankar and Milton Nascimento, one each. But surprisingly many Garbarek compositions too were new to me, who have listened to quite a many of his studio albums.

As I'm usually not that keen to have multiple versions of the same music, that's pretty suitable, but on the other hand, a little more familiarity with the compositions would probably have made the impression greater. Besides the differences between studio and live tracks are surely bigger than in rock music. To me the most familiar track here was 'Twelve Moons' - and it's not a carbon copy of the studio version. I also had heard at least 'Voy Cantando' from 1988's Legend of the Seven Dreams before, but without really memorizing it. Anyway, what counts is that the playing here is excellent, and the concert in its entirety is well balanced and enjoyable.

Manu Katché's drum solo 'Grooving Out!' is nice but I bet he could have done something more adventurous too (or maybe Neil Peart's breath-taking solo numbers on RUSH concerts make everything else seem tame in comparison).

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