ESBJÖRN SVENSSON TRIO — Winter In Venice (1997) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Esbjörn Svensson has stood not only once on stage in Montreux. He was already a guest in the summer of 1998 at the jazz festival on Lake Geneva. At that time he was a member of the Nils Landgren Funk Unit. He had left his piano in Sweden in favor of the Fender Rhodes. Svensson's feel for the right sound at the right moment and artful ease of style helped make his trombone-playing countryman's concert a success. Lots of applause, ample praise, and a refreshingly direct jazz-funk CD were the reward for all the work (Nils Landgren Funk Unit: „Live in Montreux“, ACT 9265-2).

The line-up's crisp, concise work is only one side of Svensson's talent. Born in 1964 in the Swedish town of Västeras, the pianist and composer belongs to the handful of original stylists of the modern jazz piano. He digs into the mountain of tradition with the curiosity of a musical prospector, and with clarity and wit sifts through its ringing fragments. Some motives seem to be familiar, some changes are commonplace; nevertheless, the musical effect is unique, occasionally eccentric, emotional, impulsive. Svensson only hints at his connection to players from Bill Evans to Keith Jarrett as he adds their innovations to his own inventory of improvisational styles. The rest comes from intuition based on solid musical analysis,which allows his musical world to evolve on solid, self-sufficient ground.

Svensson enjoys experimenting with the details. Besides that, he has the good luck of working with a trio that shares his enthusiasm for taking paths seldom traveled. Already in his youth Svensson, along with his childhood buddy Magnus Öström on drums, had extensively honed his skills in the rock idiom, and had developed a symbiotic surety playing together with Magnus.
That's why Öström was also an original member of the Esbjörn Svensson Trio (EST), which was formed in 1990. Bassist Dan Berglund joined three years later. The musicians use the fortuitous occasion of their similar tastes to fuse their personal qualities into a coherent overall form. The strength of a working band gives them a relaxed naturalness which is a far cry from the
glitzy artificial sheen of being hip. EST shines through concentration, precision, and above all through the spirit of a joint aesthetic framework. Jazz is again an experimental adventure where parallel paths and innovation, false turns and success are allowed.

So in July 1999 the pianist found himself once again in Montreux, this time as leader of his own band. In the late hours of the evening, as most of his colleagues were already cavorting with their drinks at the bar, Svensson, Berglund, and Öström climbed onto the stage. As they had already done weeks before at the Jazz-Baltica Festival in Salzau, they were able to quickly create a bond between themselves and the people in the Miles Davis Hall. With the material of their recent CD „From Gagarinís Point of View“ in tow, they invited the late-night audience to a delightful, colorful spectrum of sounds, alternating between groove and modern, contemplation and freedom, contrast and harmony. Once again they were greeted with a storm of enthusiasm, despite the late hour.

With the success of the live performances and the enormous media response to the release of „From Gagarinís Point of View“, ACT determined to make an earlier album of EST available. Originally released in 1997, „Winter in Venice“ (ACT 9007-2) is the band's fourth CD, following „When Everyone Has Gone“ ((Dragon, 1993), „Mr. And Mrs. Handkerchief“ (Prophone, 1995), and „EST Plays Monk“ (BMG, 1997). „Winter in Venice“ is at the same time the group's first CD, in that it is the first independent profile that exhibits the three musicians in their present form. The 13 original compositions show them as sensitive masters of communication with the penchant for transforming simple, pretty melodies into complex networks of motifs. Sometimes balladic, sometimes joyously swinging, „Winter in Venice“ lays out a lively tonal tapestry which, despite its suggestive title, seems to have little to do with the morbid feeling that exists in Venice during that dark time of year. It received the Swedish Grammy in 1998 as best jazz album of the year, and on top of it all, it helped Svensson to the title of Songwriter of the Year. And like „From Gagarinís Point of View“, it is a collection of chamber-jazz rhapsodies that leaves the listener a lot of room for internal and external impressions, associations, and discoveries. ACT
Tracklist :
1    Calling Home    4:58
Written-By – Esbjörn Svensson
2    Winter In Venice    5:24
Written-By – Esbjörn Svensson
3    At Saturday    6:10
Written-By – Esbjörn Svensson
4    Semblance Suite In Three Or Four Movements
Written-By – Dan Berglund / Esbjörn Svensson / Magnus Öström
4    Part I.    6:00
5    Part II. 3:39
6    Part III. 3:50
7    Part IV. 5:56
8    Don't Cuddle That Crazy Cat    2:36
Written-By – Esbjörn Svensson
9    Damned Back Blues    4:14
Written-By – Esbjörn Svensson
10    In The Fall Of Things    5:46
Written-By – Esbjörn Svensson
11    As The Crow Flies    5:29
Written-By – Esbjörn Svensson
12    The Second Page    5:02
Written-By – Esbjörn Svensson
13    Herkules Jonssons Låt    3:16
Written-By – Gunnar Svensson
Credits:
Bass – Dan Berglund
Drums – Magnus Öström
Piano – Esbjörn Svensson

ESBJÖRN SVENSSON TRIO — From Gagarin's Point Of View (1999) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

The first album by e.s.t. to be released outside Scandinavia - the beginning of their international breakthrough CD of the Month July 1999 (STEREOPLAY) ACT
Tracklist :
1        Dating    5:32
2        Picnic    5:00
3        The Chapel    4:15
4        Dodge The Dodo    5:25
5        From Gagarin's Point Of View    4:03
6        The Return Of Mohammed    6:30
7        Cornette    4:16
8        In The Face Of Day    6:53
9        Subway    3:31
10        Definition Of A Dog    6:06
11        Southwest Loner    4:31
Credits :
Esbjörn Svensson - Piano
Dan Berglund - Double Bass
Magnus Öström - Drums

ESBJÖRN SVENSSON TRIO — Good Morning Susie Soho (2000) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

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.

Esbjörn Svensson can't imagine life without music. He's been making noise for as long as he can remember; on pots, pans, tabletops and briefly playing the mandolin before settling in by the piano. Grade school was spent planning tours and designing album covers for the bands he was in, most of them including drummer Magnus Öström. 1993 Dan Berglund joined the band, and the three of them have since held what they call a "musical conversation" ­ the critics call it "breathlessly beautiful", "the most touching moment I've ever heard on record", "a brutal force" and "jazz at it's best". The critical acclaim and awards haven't changed how the three good friends view their musicianship. “We set the highest standards for ourselves. What anybody else thinks is secondary”, Dan states. “We are still inspired by any and all music; Björk is one of my personal favourites”, says the former metalhead. No surprise then, that the collaborations that the trio has been involved in have spanned a wide variety of Sweden's most successful artists. Their 1997 recorded album "Winter in Venice" (ACT 9007-2) received the Swedish Grammy

1999 EST has participated in Cool Sweden at Midem in Cannes as well as the Swedish Jazz Extravaganza in London. The same year the group also has played at the Kongsberg Jazz Festival, the Montreux Jazz Festival along with Eagle Eye Cherry and Nils Landgren, at the Red Sea Jazz Festival in Israel together with Viktoria Tolstoy and at the Hultsfreds Festival. Besides that there have been tours to Germany, Switzerland, England, Nothern Ireland and South Africa, and the group has shared the stage and master classes with Chick Corea, John Scofield, Brad Mehldau Trio and others. ACT
Tracklist :
1    Somewhere Else Before    5:31
Composed By – EST
2    Do The Jangle    5:54
Composed By – EST
3    Serenity    1:50
Composed By – EST
4    The Wraith    9:18
Composed By – EST
5    Last Letter From Lithuania    4:05
Composed By – EST
6    Good Morning Susie Soho    5:48
Composed By – EST
7    Providence    4:50
Composed By – EST
8    Pavane ›Thoughts Of A Septuagenarian‹    3:42
Composed By – EST
9    Spam-Boo-Limbo    4:31
Composed By – EST
10    The Face Of Love 6:50
Composed By – D. Robbins, N. Khan, T. Robbins
11.1    Reminiscense Of A Soul    6:08
Composed By – EST
11.2    (silence)    1:00
Composed By – EST
11.3    Dark Water    4:47
Composed By – EST
Credits:
Arranged By, Performer, Producer – EST
Double Bass – Dan Berglund
Drums, Percussion, Tabla, Ektare [Gopichand] – Magnus Öström
Grand Piano, Keyboards – Esbjörn Svensson

e.s.t. — Seven Days of Falling (2003) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Available for quite some time as an import before the tiny Philadelphia-based indie 215 Records finally released it stateside, complete with a bonus live DVD, 2003's Seven Days of Falling is every bit the equal of E.S.T.'s earlier records. Misguided American media comparisons to the highly overrated the Bad Plus have done pianist Esbjörn Svensson, bassist Dan Berglund, and drummer Magnus Ostrom a grave disservice, as their music is far more wide-ranging and much less gimmicky. Despite occasional forays into rock influences like "O.D.R.I.P." and a few brief passages that skirt the edges of outside free improv, there's an elegance and shapeliness to the trio's work that has more in common with the cerebral cool of Bill Evans (particularly on the quietly gorgeous opener "Ballad for the Unborn") or the effortless melodic grace of the Vince Guaraldi Trio ("Evening in Atlantis," "Believe, Beleft, Below"). Seven Days of Falling is a ravishingly beautiful, musically captivating album. Bonus track alert: hidden after the nervy "O.D.R.I.P." is the Sinatra-like ballad "Love Is Real," featuring guest vocals from Josh Haden, son of Charlie and brother of Petra. Stewart Mason
Tracklist :
1        Ballad For The Unborn    5:31
2        Seven Days Of Falling    6:29
3        Mingle In The Mincing-Machine    6:48
4        Evening In Atlantis    0:55
5        Did They Ever Tell Cousteau?    6:02
6        Believe Beleft Below    4:51
7        Elevation Of Love    6:46
8        In My Garage    4:16
9        Why She Couldn't Come    6:32
10        O.D.R.I.P.    8:19
Credits :
Esbjörn Svensson - Piano
Dan Berglund - Double Bass
Magnus Öström - Drums