| I Took Up the Runes | |
| Type: | Album |
| Artist: | Jan Garbarek |
| Cover: | I Took Up the Runes.jpg |
| Released: | 1990 |
| Recorded: | August 1990 |
| Genre: | Jazz |
| Length: | 60:46 |
| Label: | ECM ECM 1419 |
| Chronology: | Jan Garbarek |
| Prev Title: | Legend of the Seven Dreams |
| Prev Year: | 1988 |
| Next Title: | Ragas and Sagas |
| Next Year: | 1990 |
I Took Up the Runes is an album by Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek recorded August 1990 and released on ECM later that year. The quintet features pianist Rainer Brüninghaus, bassist Eberhard Weber, percussionist Nana Vasconcelos and drummer Manu Katché, with keyboardist Bugge Wesseltoft and singer Ingor Ánte Áilo Gaup.[1]
In a contemporaneous review for Keyboard, Jim Aikin described the album as a "hauntingly evocative Euro-jazz session" and identified "Gula Gula" as "especially memorable".[2]
The AllMusic review by Mark W. B. Allender awards the album 3½ stars and states "A more eclectic release than his preceding releases, Jan Garbarek's I Took Up the Runes satisfies listeners who had been more or less impatient for something with some meat and some muscle... A sign of good things to come."[3]
All compositions by Jan Garbarek except as noted.