E.S.T. - Studio 1, Ljubljana Slovenia 2003

E.S.T. - Studio 1, Ljubljana Slovenia 2003
Bootleg
Brane Roncel Izza Odra
Live In Studio 1
Ljubljana, Eslovenia, 2003

Jazz

Esbjorn Svensson- Piano
Dan Berglund- Bass
Magnus Ostrom- Drums
**
01.Strange Place For Snow
02.Intro The Rube Thing
03.The Rube Thing
04.Carcrash
05.Behind The Yashmak
06.Serenade For The Renegade
07.Bowling
08.When God Created The Coffebreak
09.Dodge The Dodo
10.From Gagarin’s Point Of View
**

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Esbjörn SVENSSON Trio - When Everyone Has Gone 1993

Esbjörn SVENSSON Trio - When Everyone Has Gone 1993

Jazz

Clearly it's difficult to listen to any jazz recording without making comparisons with other great artists who have gone before them. In the last couple of decades, the position occupied by Keith Jarrett's Standards Trio has almost demanded that such comparisons should be made with them, and those who are fans of Jarrett will not be disappointed here.
But this 1993 (and also pre-ACT) recording in the wide-ranging catalogue of the Esbjorn Svensson Trio not only establishes them as artists who march to the beat of their own orignal drum, but offers the listener a signpost to how the trio would emerge over the next decade or so.
Already present in Svensson's piano playing are the funky and driving rhythmic foundations which provide him with a basis for his lightning melodic runs, as well as the almost telepathic interplay between all three members of EST. For it must never be forgotten that without Dan Berglund's underpinning bass, and Magnus Öström's skitterish and vibrant drumming, EST would never have achieved the greatness that they rightly deserved.
If there are two tracks that display the wide spectrum of what EST were capable of, they are the achingly beautiful Waltz For The Lonely Ones (also recorded later with vocals by the long-time associate of Svensson, Viktoria Tolstoy) and the simply joyous Tough Tough which displays Berglund and Öström at their supportive best.
Fortunate enough to have not only seen EST on a number of occasions, but also to meet the band and talk about their music after much appreciated concerts (and what humble, generous, and humourous guys they all were!) the loss that the jazz world suffered when Svensson died in a tragic scuba diving accident in June 2008 continues to be felt, and will do for many years to come
This is a great album in itself, and and also a signpost to the future splendours that EST would achieve.
**
Like so many American players, Sweden's Esbjörn Svensson has backed his share of pop artists but is essentially a jazz improviser at heart. Svensson's enthusiasm for improvisation came through loud and clear on his Dragon dates of the 1990s, one of which was the decent When Everybody Has Gone. Backed by fellow Swedes Dan Berglund (bass) and Magnus Ostrom (drums), Svensson favors the piano trio format and draws on post-bop influences like Chick Corea, Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett on the standard "Stella By Starlight" and originals ranging from the pensive "4 a.m." to the melancholy "Waltz for the Lonely Ones" and the Middle Eastern-influenced "Mohammed Goes to New York." Much of Svensson's work tends to be introspective and impressionistic, but things get surprisingly funky and almost Horace Silver-ish on "Tough Tough." This CD was released by the Stockholm-based Dragon label, but made its way to some U.S. stores as an import.
By Alex Henderson, AMG.
**
Esbjörn Svensson- Main Performer, Fender Rhodes, Oberheim, Piano (Grand), Roland D50
Magnus Ostrom- Percussion, Drums, Vocals
Daniel Berglund- Whistle (Human), Double Bass
**
01. When Everyone Has Gone
02. Fingertrip
03. Free Four
04. Stella By Starlight
05. 4am
06. Mohammed Goes To New York
07. Mohammed Goes To New York
08. Waltz For The Lonely Ones
09. Silly Walk
10. Tough Tough
11. Hands Off
**

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Esbjörn SVENSSON Trio - Good Morning Susie Soho 2000

Esbjörn SVENSSON Trio - Good Morning Susie Soho 2000

Jazz

Traditionally, jazz is by invitation only. Those in the know guard their secrets tightly, and deviants are regarded with a certain amount of suspicion. To be commercial is to sell out and if you sell out you'll loose the hard core fans.
Not so with Esbjörn Svensson Trio. The trio has sold three times as many albums as jazz acts normally do, but they still manage to stay on the good side of jazz aficionados and critics. The trio plays upwards of 100 shows each year to a very varied audience. Besides the usual jazz audience you'd be as likely to spot a little old lady as an advertising exec or high school kids. This year, the trio will include matinees on their tours to give their younger fans a chance to see them live. Their favourite moments are spent improvising on stage, and this is how they keep their material fresh and ever evolving. No two shows are the same and to a large extent, the band tries to capture this loose, improvisational vibe on record, and they rarely do more than one take in the studio.
The recording process that led to "From Gagarin's Point of View" (ACT 9005-2), that also became the first Swedish jazz video shown on MTV, is significant to how the band works: "We were working on another project, and had a few hours to spare, so we sat down and played a few songs", Esbjörn says. "Those songs make up about half the album, with the other half recorded in two similar sessions".
"Keeping the spontaneity is extremely important to us", explains Magnus.
ACT 9009-2 "Good Morning Susie Soho" is another step to the top of innovative jazz trios.
**
I'm impressed by by how varied the influence of this music is: The traditional piano/bass/percussion combination is used in a completely new and creative way. The music is playful, exploring new areas on each track. These people are truly good ambassadors for Scandinavian jazz.
**
Esbjörn Svensson (piano),(Keyboards)
Dan Berglund (bass)
Magnus Öström (drums),(Percussion),(Tabla)
**
01. Somewhere Else Before 5:35
02. Do The Jangle 5:58
03. Serenity 1:50
04. The Wraith 9:21
05. Last Letter From Lithuania 4:10
06. Good Morning Susie Soho 5:51
07. Providence 4:53
08. Pavane (Thoughts Of A Septuagenarian) 3:43
09. Spam-Boo-Limbo 4:39
10. The Face Of Love 6:51
11. Reminiscence Of A Soul 11:59
**
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Esbjörn Svensson Trio ( E.S.T.) - Viaticum 2005

Esbjörn Svensson Trio ( E.S.T.) - Viaticum 2005

Jazz

The Esbjorn Svensson Trio is (one of) the best piano-trio's in the world. They prove the statement that it's impossible for jazz to renew itself, without changing it into something completely different to be totally wrong. The trio has been together for a long time, and that you can hear: they really listen to each other.
They have to, because they tend to put so much space or silence in their music, that it would be very hard to play when they didn't.
A lot of jazzcombinations change their strength a lot, and not always in their advantage. At jazzfestivals you here a lot of theme-solo-solo-solo-boringdrumsolo-theme-jazz, and that's allright when the individuals are interesting enough, but a lot of times it's simply not good enough. Somtimes the reason of that is that the bands are so good that they can change their personal a lot, but it doesn't always do the music good. And this is one of the differences between E.S.T. and some other jazzbands you could hear live.

And then there's their tendency to use 'classical' or folkthemes in their music. E.S.T. does that right too: they're not trying anything but to make great music. They're not playing Bach on a banjo (wich is nice, but doesn't really get to you), but they just look (or listen!) for good themes as a base for their music. That's what they do best and that's what makes all of their albums since From Gagarin's Point Of View worth bying.

What makes the music even better is that they seem to bring a lot of elements of their own Scandinavian musical culture into jazz. Maybe that's the explanation of the feeling you get when you see them play live: they really feel what they're playing. And that makes it possible for the audience to feel it to.

E.S.T. is a piano-bass-drums trio, but they sound bigger than a normal trio. Together with the great sound of acoustic instruments they sometimes put in some electronic elements, but they never overdo it. Most of the time they use it as a contast, to keep the balance between 'the beauty and the beast'. A slightly distorted piano can sound like a recording from 1920 and that effect should even be a plus for the traditional jazz-audience.

Esbjorn Svensson is a great pianoplayer. He can set a mood; he plays real good solo's; he almost lives his music. He's able to play very quietly and very loud and sometimes he does both thing within one tune but than a few times. He's very divers in his playing.

The drummer always gets to you. Sometimes he starts of unobstrusively but somewhere he likes to take the song over to give the tune a groove that can't be denied. By Thor, it's not all silence and quietness! Once again it's about the contrast.

On the album Strange Place For Snow you can hear a tune that has the bassplayer doing a very fast riddle together with the piano. The man on the bass used a line 6 pod (for guitar) on the two live shows I saw in Den Haag and Amsterdam to get some special effects. Very normal, considering what's being done in popular music. Also a great musician!

If you don't know anything about E.S.T. it doesn't matter what album since From Gagarin's Point Of View you buy. The ingredients are the same: beautifull themes, contrast, silence, some electronics, acoustic jazz, building up to climax etc.
All this is found on Viaticum too. What apeals to me on this album is the subtlety in the pianoplaying: every note is in the right place, and there's a great balance between free and melodic parts. The band as a whole sounds a bit more like a traditional jazz-band then on the other albums, but still in the unique EST-vocabulary. The classical or folkthemes you can hear on the other albums are a little less prominent on this album. The drumming is a little bit more laid-back, if possible.

Sometimes it's very sad to see that good musicians don't get recognised enough for the things they are doing. And most of the time not because of the people being to stupid to recognise greatness or beauty, but because of comercial and not cultural considerations. When a lot of American jazzmusicians have that problem, what about Scandinavian? E.S.T. must be heared. Buy the album (or another one of E.S.T.) and spred the gospel of Scandinavian jazz!
By  A.J.H. Woodcount.
**
Esbjörn Svensson- Piano;
Dan Berglund- Bass;
Magnus Öström- Drums.
**
01. Tide Of Trepidation 7:12 
02. Eighty-Eight Days In My Veins 8:22 
03. The Well-Wisher 3:47 
04. The Unstable Table & The Infamous Fable 8:32 
05. Viaticum 6:51 
06. In The Tail Of Her Eye 6:55
07. Letter From The Leviathan 6:56 
08. A Picture Of Doris Travelling With Boris 5:40 
09. What Though The Way May Be Long 6:20
**
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Esbjörn SVENSSON Trio - Live in Paris 2005

Esbjörn SVENSSON Trio - Live in Paris 2005
Bootleg
All Credit Goes to (GatoMedio)

Jazz

Pianist and composer Esbjörn Svensson looms among the most influential and innovative figures in contemporary jazz, drawing on inspirations spanning from Baroque to techno to create a body of work that earned both commercial and critical approval. Svensson was born in Västeras, Sweden, on April 16, 1964 -- his mother was a classical pianist and his father a die-hard jazz buff, but in spite of his classical training he first gravitated toward pop, playing in a series of amateur rock & roll bands alongside high-school classmate and drummer Magnus Öström. After studying music at Stockholm's Kungliga Musikhögskolan, Svensson worked as a session player, and in 1985 formed a bop-inspired duo with drummer Fredrik Norén. In 1993, he reconnected with Öström, and together with bassist Dan Berglund they formed the Esbjörn Svensson Trio, which would become universally known by the acronym E.S.T. Although the group's debut LP, When Everyone Has Gone, earned scant attention, the trio quickly emerged as a fixture of the Swedish festival circuit in addition to backing singers including Viktoria Tolstoy and Louise Hoffsten -- while Svensson's piano balanced the structural complexity of his classical background with the improvisational daring of postwar influences like Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett, Öström's powerhouse drumming channeled more mainstream influences like rock and funk, and in time E.S.T. earned a fan following that extended far beyond the confines of the conventional jazz cognoscenti.
By Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide.
**
Esbjörn Svensson- Piano
Dan Berglund- Bass
Magnus Öström- Drums
**
CD1
01 (intro announcer) 0:40
02 Seven Days of Falling 10:33
03 Eighty-Eight Days in my Veins 9:32
04 Mingle in the Mincing Machine 13:49
05 (intro by Esbjörn) 1:53
06 In the Tail of her Eyes 9:48
07 The Unstable Table & the Infamous Fable 10:20
08 Viaticum 6:59
09 When God created the Coffee Break 9:29

CD2
01 Behind the Yashmak 16:46
02 Believe Beleft Below 9:07
03 A Picture of Doris travelling with Boris 7:52
04 Spunky Sprawl 9:39
**
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Esbjörn SVENSSON Trio - Live In Stockholm 2003 (AVI)

Esbjörn SVENSSON Trio - Live In Stockholm 2003 (AVI)

Jazz

When Amazon get round to including in their music category "life-changing stuff", almost everything E.S.T did will be included in it. The point I'm making is that whilst Esbjorn Svensson Trio's CDs are stacked on the "jazz" shelf, their music transcends all that simplistic and somewhat crude categorisation. I have known people who have never bought a jazz record in their lives be mesmerized by the sheer beauty of an E.S.T tune. I know it is easy to be overly gushy and sentimental when it is still less than a year since the untimely death of Esbjorn Svensson, but the fact remains that the body of work created by this trio is truly awesome. And the "Live In Stockholm" DVD is a superb visual document of that work. Those who have been to an E.S.T. concert will, I'm sure, testify to the fact that this DVD manages to capture the essence of the trio's ability to create an unbelievably atmospheric evening - something that is very rare indeed in a filmed jazz concert. Although this was shot in 2000, the sound quality, lighting, camera-work and editing combine to create a glorious event. Esbjorn's playing on the DVD is sublime, but what also comes across so clearly is the massive contribution to the trio's sound by Dan Berglund and Magnus Ostrom - simply listen to the first two tunes and you'll see what I mean. At a memorial event held in honour of Esbjorn Svensson last year, Dan Berglund told us that he was having great trouble finding a reason to play - it is this reviewer's most ardent hope that both Dan and Magnus will, in time, find projects that will enthuse them to share with us more of their immense talents. If you never buy another jazz DVD - no......if you never buy another music DVD, buy this one......5-stars doesn't even begin to do it justice.
By  Mike L.
**
Esbjörn Svensson- Piano
Dan Berglund- Bass
Magnus Öström- Drums
**
01. Good Morning Susie Soho
02. From Gagarin’s Point of View
03. Definition of a Dog
04. The Face of Love
05. Intro Bowling
06. Bowling
07. Dodge the Dodo
08. Round Midnight
09. Bemsha Swing
**
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Esbjörn SVENSSON Trio - E.S.T. Tuesday Wonderland 2007

Esbjörn SVENSSON Trio - E.S.T. Tuesday Wonderland 2007
Label: Act

Jazz

E.S.T. like to play with expectations, and they begin Tuesday Wonderland as you might assume, with a spare solo piano line hinting at a delicate baroque counterpoint. It's the kind of feather-stroked chamber jazz they've been working for a few years now. But just as you settle in, crushing drums and fuzzed arco bass drop in a groove from the apocalypse. This ominous track, "Fading Maid Preludium," and its second half, "Fading Maid Postludium," frame Tuesday Wonderland, setting in bas-relief an album of careening, intuitive improvisation. E.S.T. are frighteningly varied in their technique and deep in their understanding of jazz lore. You can hear echoes of Keith Jarrett and Ahmad Jamal in pianist Esbjörn Svensson, from whom the trio take their name, but he also embraces a more modern vocabulary, hinting at Cecil Taylor while dancing gospel vamps and dropping rock power-chords. Drummer Magnus Öström can lay down the shuffling brush strokes of "The Goldhearted Miner," pour out a progressive rock fusillade, or do a ballet of polyrhythmic shadings and colors that recall the late Steve McCall. The real chameleon of the group is bassist Dan Berglund. He plays soulful, muscular double bass lines, but he also triggers a synthesizer for both subtle shading and the hellion roar heard on that opening track. E.S.T. remain a group exploring the edges of jazz improvisation, managing to be free and intuitive while also maintaining melodic and rhythmic touchstones. Tracks like "Brewery of Beggars" are multipart journeys shifting from gentle lyricism to electric storms. E.S.T. have evolved from being the most ECM-like band that wasn't on ECM into their own natural and thoroughly modern hybrid.
By John Diliberto.
**
Esbjorn Svensson- (Piano);
Dan Berglund- (Bass);
Magnus Ostrom- (Cymbals).
**
01. Fading Maid Preludium (4:10)
02. Tuesday Wonderland (6:32)
03. The Goldhearted Miner (4:51)
04. Brewery of Beggars (8:22)
05. Beggar's Blanket (2:56)
06. Dolores in a Shoestand (8:53)
07. Where We Used to Live (4:27)
08. Eighthundred Streets by Feet (6:48)
09. Goldwrap (4:02)
10. Sipping on the Solid Ground (4:36)
11. Fading Maid Postludium (12:29)
**
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Esbjörn SVENSSON Trio - Live at the Pizza Express London 2002

Esbjörn SVENSSON Trio - Live at the Pizza Express London 2002
Bootleg, BBC3 broadcast
Pizza Express Jazz Club, Soho London, UK
All Credit Goues to (GatoMedio)

Jazz,

There are ordinary jazz piano trios and there is E.S.T. — the group led by the Swedish pianist Esbjörn Svensson. Not many trios travel with dedicated lighting and sound engineers, nor take such comprehensive control of their environment, ensuring that their skilful interaction with electronics and with one another is perfectly managed. No other group in the world have such a commanding interaction between the grooves of 21st-century dance and the acoustic jazz-piano tradition.

Already a cult in Europe, the only jazz act on the Swedish pop charts, and with an MTV video to their credit, the trio are firm favourites at London’s Pizza Express jazz club.
*
The Esbjörn Svensson Trio doesn't really need any introduction. However, if you need some more information you can find a comment in my earlier post here. There is also the "Discography & more" post by glagoljica here.
This recording is a BBC3 broadcast of the launch party for the "Strange Place for Snow" album by the Esbjörn Svensson Trio which took place at the Pizza Express in London on March 9th, 2002.
**
Esbjörn Svensson- Piano
Magnus Öström- Drums
Dan Berglund- Bass
**
01. The Message 6:57
02. When God created the Coffeebreak 9:02
03. Strange Place for Snow  16:574.
04. Behind the Yashmak  16:35
05. Spunky Sprawl 7:35
**
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