Jan Garbarek Quartet: Afric Pepperbird (ECM, 1970)

I'm not a massive fan of Jan Garbarek, but when I herd this album all notions I had of a "Kenny G Vibe" were wiped clean. This album was recorded in 1970, and yet sounds like it might have been recorded in 2008. I don't know if this is an indication of the state of innovation in jazz today or not. The title track Afric Pepperbird reminds of Eric Truffaz's music with Arild Anderson's smooth baseline and Terje Rypdal's tremolo smothered guitar licks. What I liked about this album was his use of African instruments, rather than incorporate traditional African rhythms and music he uses them as atmospheric tools to invoke a feeling.

Jan Garbarek (tenor & bass saxophones, flute, clarinet, percussion)
Terje Rypdal (bugle, guitar)
Arild Anderson (bass, xylophone, African thumb piano)
Jon Christensen (percussion)

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