CD ECM Records Jan Garbarek Group: Wayfarer

1983

Jan Garbarek - saxofon sopran si tenor
Bill Frisell - chitara electrica
Eberhard Weber - bas electric
Michael DiPasqua - tobe, percutie

ecmreviews.com:
"That being said, Wayfarer tends to meander as much as its eponymous protagonist, although who’s to say this wasn’t the intention.

Gone is the full-on dreaminess of Paths, Prints. In its place: a session that walks in a half-sleep through picturesque territories without ever really looking at them, never quite knowing which reality it is committed to.

Drummer Michael DiPasqua gives us hope in the inaugural “Gesture,” carrying over the cymbal rides one misses in Jon Christensen’s absence, but his surroundings only seem to wander in circles. “Gentle” is another case in point, though Weber manages to enliven this piece into something beautiful. At ten and a half minutes, “Pendulum” is the album’s central epic and gives Frisell plenty of room to stretch.

But the ponderousness wears thin, and one loses sight of the destination. Likewise, “Spor” seems more like a studio warm-up to something that never made the final cut. The album’s reigning exception is the title track, which from a brooding crawl through dimly lit catacombs bursts with DiPasqua’s incredible frenzy as Frisell sharpens his axe along the periphery. It also gives us a taste of the old Garbarek."