We have been a fan of Jan Garbarek ever since Mary's copy of the Rough Guide to Jazz kept falling open at his entry so we went and bought a copy of Invisible World knowing nothing of his music. "There's an intensity here borne of deep concentration and commitment to beauty." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visible_World.
Several other purchases followed including Officium in which he collaborated with the Hilliard Ensemble in a mixture of Jazz and Gregorian Chant. We have also been lucky enough to see him twice at previous Jazz Festivals in 2007 and 2012.
We snapped up tickets as soon as we heard about this concert and got the best seats in the house - along the central aisle.
Atmospheric is the best word to describe the venue and the sounds. The Ensemble sometimes wandered around the church, sometime stood at their music stands while Jan prowled around at the back of the nave, rarely visible apart from odd glimpses. The church was almost a sixth member contributing echoes and resonances.
The Guardian's John Forham said "Garbarek and classical music’s Hilliard Ensemble are winding up a 20-year partnership, and Temple Church’s unusual circular nave was the perfect echo chamber for this quintet’s ethereal sounds." Full review...
Jazz Journal's Michael Tucker wrote "Garbarek and his colleagues were able to exploit the startling, clear and resonant – yet also intimate – acoustic offered by Temple Church. [...] An ultra-attentive audience [...] were treated to around 75 minutes of (largely) meditative magic from an ensemble shaping up to call time on what has been a remarkable 20-year journey into and across worlds as seemingly disparate as Gregorian chant and the blues, the sublimated drive of jazz and folk tropes and the hushed aura of a spare Arvo Pärt chart." Full review...
Given that the Hilliard Ensemble are about to retire this was probably the last ever chance to hear this magical combination - a rare treat indeed.
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