5 Facts About Jan Garbarek’s Best-Selling Album Recorded in a Monastery

The album is Officium, a 1994 collaboration with the Hilliard Ensemble. It became one of ECM’s best-selling albums.

It was recorded at St. Gerold monastery in Austria. The setting is a medieval monastery, not a conventional studio.

The music blends Garbarek’s saxophone with medieval vocal chants. The Hilliard Ensemble sings Renaissance and medieval works.

The monastery’s acoustics shaped the album’s sound. The stone walls and high ceilings create a natural, resonant reverb.

The unlikely venue contributed to the album’s commercial success. A monastic recording studio is not typical for a jazz hit.