One of the biggest stars and most consistent staples of ECM Records, Jan Garbarek has shifted from free jazz and fusion to folk music, choral music, classical music, new age, and whatever other sounds tickle the part of his brain that stokes his creative fire. Originally released in 1998 and on vinyl for the first time, Rites finds the saxophonist and composer exploring electronica, taking on synthesizers, samples, and percussion alongside his usual horn duties.
With assistance from his regular sidekicks, including keyboardist Rainer Brüninghaus, bassist Eberhard Weber, and percussionist Marilyn Mazur, plus extra electronics and accordion from Bugge Wesseltoft, Garbarek casts an especially distinctive and alluring spell. Drawing both from Norwegian folk melody and his own brand of lush, jazz-inflected tuneage, Garbarek paints misty backdrops, all smoky synths and sedate yet insistent grooves, over which his horn floats and swirls, like a crow flying across a mountaintop enshrouded in pre-dawn fog. Melodic and moody, the title track and “When the rivers meet” open side 1 with an air of mystery. The sun breaks through on side 2, with “Song, tread lightly” and “It’s OK to listen to the gray voice” (reclaimed from the album of the same name) greeting the morning sunrise with refreshing smiles. Things get even more relaxed on side 3 – “One Ying for every Yang” and “Pan” feel like a post-lunch doze in the pre-twilight hours, with perhaps a touch of melancholy underneath the heavy eyelids.
The record takes an unusual turn at this point, with a boys choir augmenting the keys and soprano sax on “We are the stars.” That song serves as a prelude to “The moon over Mtatsminda,” written and performed by Georgian singer/composer Jansug Kakhidze and the Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra, on which Garbarek features not at all. An undeniably beautiful song, it somehow fits in the narrative – a song on the radio during the afternoon drowse, perhaps? Side 4 picks up as night falls and we move back out into the world, the stars peeking through the clouds of “The white clown” and “Evenly they danced.” The journey ends on “Last rite,” a return to the world introduced by “Rites” at the top of the record.
Falling somewhere between Jon Hassell and Tangerine Dream, Rites takes us on a ride through the most enigmatic parts of Garbarak’s country – not so much Norway as the palace inside his mind. Inside is darkness and light, grey and green, tension and peace, with a sense of storytelling that makes the album far more than just a slideshow of pretty pictures. In its own quiet style, Rites beckons us into its world, revealing secrets along the way.
