Jan Garbarek
            
 
Jan Garbarek born March 4, 1947 in Mysen, Norway
 a Norwegian tenor and soprano saxophonist, active in the jazz, classical, and world music genres. Garbarek was the only child of former Polish prisoner of war, and a Norwegian farmer’s daughter. Garbarek grew up in Oslo. At 21, he married Vigdis. Their daughter Anja Garbarek is also a musician.
Garbarek’s sound is one of the hallmarks of the ECM record label, which has released virtually all of his recordings. His style incorporates a sharp-edged tone, long, keening, sustained notes strongly reminiscent of Islamic prayer calls, and generous use of silence. He began his recording career in the late 1960s, notably featuring on recordings by the American jazz composer George Russell (such as Othello Ballet Suite and Electronic Sonata For Souls Loved By Nature). If he had initially appeared as a devotee of Albert Ayler and Peter Brötzmann, by 1973 he had turned his back on the harsh dissonances of avant-garde jazz, retaining only his tone from his previous approach.
As a composer, Garbarek tends to draw heavily from Scandinavian folk melodies, a legacy of his Ayler influence. He is also a pioneer of ambient jazz composition, most notably on his 1976 album Dis. This textural approach, which rejects traditional notions of thematic improvisation (best exemplified by Sonny Rollins) in favor of a style described by critics Richard Cook and Brian Morton as “sculptural in its impact”, has been critically divisive. Garbarek’s more meandering recordings are often labeled as new age music, a style generally scorned by more orthodox jazz musicians and listeners, or spiritual ancestors thereof.After recording a string of unheralded avant-garde albums, Garbarek rose to international prominence in the mid-1970s playing post-bop jazz, both as a leader and as a member of Keith Jarrett’s successful “European Quartet.” He achieved considerable commercial success in Europe with Dis, a meditative collaboration with guitarist Ralph Towner that featured the distinctive sound of a wind harp on several tracks. (Selections from Dis have been used as incidental music in several feature films and documentaries.) In the 1980s, Garbarek’s music began to incorporate synthesizers and elements of world music. In 1993, during the Gregorian chant craze, his album Officium, a collaboration with early music vocal performers The Hilliard Ensemble, became one of ECM’s biggest-selling albums of all time, reaching the pop charts in several European countries. (Its sequel, Mnemosyne, followed in 1999.) In 2005, his album In Praise of Dreams was nominated for a Grammy.
In addition to the selections from Dis, Garbarek has also composed music for several other European films, including French and Norwegian films. Also his song ‘Rites’ was used in the American film The Insider.
Sources: last.fm | Wikipedia

Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek's icy tone and liberal use of space and long tones has long been perfect for the ECM sound and, as a result, he is on many recordings for that label, both as a leader and as a sideman. He had won a competition for amateur jazz players back in 1962, leading to his first gigs.Garbarek worked steadily in Norway throughout the remainder of the '60s, usually as a leader but also for four years with George Russell (who was in Scandinavia for a long stretch). Garbarek began recording for ECM in the early '70s and, although he had opportunities to play with Chick Corea and Don Cherry, his association with Keith Jarrett's European quartet in the mid-'70s made him famous, resulting in the classic recordings My Song and Belonging. In the '80s, Garbarek's groups included bassist Eberhard Weber and at various times, guitarists Bill Frisell and David Torn. Garbarek, whose sound has remained virtually unchanged since the '70s, collaborated with the Hilliard Ensemble in 1993 (a vocal quartet singing Renaissance music) and the result was a surprisingly popular recording. Visible World followed in 1995, and four year later he resurfaced with Rites. In April of 1999, Garbarek and the Hilliard Ensemble returned with Mnemosyne. He issued In Praise of Dreams in 2004, and finally released his first live album as a leader, Dresden, in 2009. In 2012, ECM released the live archival recording Magico: Carta de Amor, by the Magico trio that also included guitarist Egberto Gismonti and bassist Charlie Haden.
Artist Biography by Scott Yanow - Source: allmusic

Watch and listen the videos: Burghausen Wacker, Live
(Poland 2006), Sart (full album), Witchi-Tai-To (full album), Hasta Siempre, Sull Lull, Live @Arena Santa
Giuliana, Red Wind, To Be Where I Am, Dis, Twelve Moons, He comes from the North, Desireless, Plays in the Wedding, Rites, Live at Parc Floral, I Took Up the Runs part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, Where the rivers meet, Conversation, Dansere, with Mari Boine:
Evening Land,Gula Gula,Twelve Moons,Mix (51 videos)
with The Hilliard Ensemble: Officium(15 tracks),
Officium Novum, Agnus Dei, Mnemosyne, Ravenna Festival, Remember Me My Dear, Parce mihi domine,  
Music Festival Prague 2010 and Mix (39 videos).