Dansere – 50th anniversary

Recorded in November 1975 in Oslo and originally released in 1976, Dansere brought freshly intelligent and invigorating perspectives to bear on the questions of dynamics, group sound, interaction and swing in the improvised music landscape of the 70s.

“Crystal-clear sounds from the piano, a vibrating bass, shimmering drums and subdued-sounding percussion, and above all three the saxophone soars like a dreaming buzzard, tracing its beautiful melancholic phrases.” – Manfred Sack, Die Zeit (1976)

The Norwegian-Swedish quartet of Jan Garbarek, Bobo Stenson, Jon Christensen and Palle Danielsson were a force to reckon with in the European jazz landscape of the 70s. Reviewing Dansere in teh year of its release, Melody Maker called it “one of the most democratic and quietly outrageous acoustic music groups this side of the Atlantic.”

“The Long piece ‘Dansere’, I always consider that a breakthrough point for me, in trying to find the material I feel most at home with…” – Jan Garbarek

“That was really such a great, even crazy, time, with so much energy in the air… We all knew each other’s playing so well, we only needed a note or two from someone and off we would go, sometimes really ‘out’, but never forgetting the lyrical side of things.” – Jon Christensen

Listen to the album or get the 3-CD box-set of which it is part here.

Photographs: Andreas Raggenbass (group),
Roberto Masotti (Jan Garbarek) and Gérard Amsellem (Jon Christensen)