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Jan Garbarek

When Jan Garbarek was in his early teens he heard saxophonist John Coltrane on the radio, an experience that was to shape his life from then on. Norman Meehan describes how Garbarek moved from the free jazz he was immersed in, in the 1960s, to develop a unique compositional voice based on melody and folk music.

The Jan Garbarek Group has been around since the 1970’s but Garbarek has never restricted himself to just one style of music. He has collaborated with a huge range of artists and leant his distinctive tone to a variety of performances, from more traditional jazz to his highly successful recordings with the Hilliard Ensemble.

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