Esoteric Circle

Esoteric Circle is the second album by Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek, originally released under the band name "The Esoteric Circle" on Bob Thiele's Flying Dutchman label but re-issued under his name on the Freedom imprint, performed by Garbarek with Terje Rypdal, Arild Andersen and Jon Christensen.^[1]

Esoteric Circle
Studio album by Jan Garbarek
Released	1971
Recorded	October 1969
Studio	Henie-Onstad Kunstsenter, Bærum
Genre	Jazz
Length	45:08
Label	Flying Dutchman
Producer	George Russell
Jan Garbarek chronology
Til Vigdis (1967) Esoteric Circle (1971) Afric Pepperbird (1971)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide	[2]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings	[3]

Reception

The Allmusic review by Brian Olewnick awards the album 4 stars and states, "a highly successful and enjoyable effort, one that can stand comfortably with work being done at that time by Tony Williams or John McLaughlin... Garbarek's own playing, here entirely on tenor, come largely out of Albert Ayler as well as Coltrane, and his general attack is much more raw and aggressive than the style for which he would eventually become more widely known through his recordings for ECM".^[1]

Track listing

All compositions by Jan Garbarek.

1. "Traneflight" – 2:51
2. "Ralbalder" – 8:15
3. "Esoteric Circle" – 5:22
4. "Vips" – 5:40
5. "Sas 644" – 8:49
6. "Nefertite" – 2:05
7. "Gee" – 1:10
8. "Karin's Mode" – 7:30
9. "Breeze Ending" – 3:39

Personnel

• Jan Garbarek – tenor saxophone
• Terje Rypdal – guitar
• Arild Andersen – bass
• Jon Christensen – percussion