DAVID WAKEFIELD A standing ovation brought the jazz element of the festival to a close, and what a scintillating performance this was from one of the world greats of the genre.

DAVID WAKEFIELD

A standing ovation brought the jazz element of the festival to a close, and what a scintillating performance this was from one of the world greats of the genre.

In a musical form where origins and influences mean everything, this is one musician who is hard to pin down.

Jan Garbarek, highly influenced by John Coltrane, has also embraced a myriad of other musical forms, from Indian to Afro-Cuban, from Celtic to the Middle East.

His tonal colours on soprano and tenor saxophones can range from the icy cold of his native Scandinavia to the heat of a Saharan midday; but it is that ethereal soprano sound that is his trademark, and even the notorious St Andrew's Hall acoustics could not spoil it.

Garbarek's two-hour set, played straight through, gave his accompanying musicians plenty of scope to expand in a programme where no announcements were made, to maintain the continuity.

Although Rainer Bruninghaus (keyboards) and Marilyn Mazur (percussion) were mightily impressive, it was a quite incredible 10-minute solo by bassist Ederhard Weber that took the breath away.

This festival has set jazz standards that will be hard to follow.