"This retrospective compilation represents 30 wonderful years of my life.... I hope as you listen that you will, in some measure, hear the joy I've had making each of these recordings." Approached to record for ECM at the very beginning of its history; Jan Garbarek has since appeared on more than 50 albums for the label, and along the way has changed perceptions of improvisation, living up to George Russell's early estimation of him as "the most uniquely talented jazz musician Europe has produced since Django Reinhardt." Garbarek's double album traces the growth of his own groups, his collaborations with a wide range of musicians - from Keith Jarrett to the Hilliard Ensemble - and his investigations of Nordic and other folk traditions. One of the first eight releases in ECM's new rarum: series, Jan Garbarek's Selected Recordings is a two-disc overview put together by the artist. Pulling material from a label legacy that is 30 years long and 50 albums deep, this is a great overview of the Norwegian saxophonist, whose sonorous tone can somehow be both fluid and brittle sounding. Jazz fans will no doubt be impressed with the list of jazz personnel featured here (Keith Jarrett, Bill Frisell, Charlie Haden, and others), but Garbarek has covered a lot of ground, recording material that also includes medieval choral music, Norwegian folk music, Indian music (featuring Trilok Gurtu, Shankar, and Zakir Hussain), and electronic music. No matter the context, Garbarek's music is forward looking, and his spare playing is as concise as it is tasteful. The sound has been remastered to the 24-bit 96-kHz format, making this already elegiac music sound as if it truly is coming from the heavens. --Tad Hendrickson