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| Track list: 1. At Home 2. Vicar Street 3. Draw Near 4. Blessed Feet 5. Sani 6. Interlude 7. Karmosin 8. Still There 9. Where We Went 10. Cocoon 11. Around You 12. Vesper 13. Wide Open Running time: 59 minutes Released: 2007 |
So I have already confessed an interest in Scandinavian jazz through Esbjörn Svensson Trio - though I did not love 301 much. E.S.T were a gateway which I went through to discover more. Well, I say "discover"; I mean "randomly bought off Amazon and hoped to like".
As you might expect, this approach - and to be fair it is one I have used a lot in different genres over the years - can be a bit hit or miss. I honestly cannot remember which of those categories Gustavsen fell into so I am looking forward to diving into this one and establishing whether this was a master-stroke, a misstep or something in between.
It starts quietly, a solo piano softly opening, a slow lament of a tune, then joined by brushed drums, hints of structure. Bass eventually arrives and the track takes on the form of a jazz piece, albeit a very laid back one. I could lose myself quite happily in the wandering tune though, conjuring pictures of the 40s, black and white of course, whisky in hand. This is a good beginning - despite the potential in this disc, I had to push myself to start the listen; I am running out of days before I go away, and have had a number of things to take up my evenings. A strongly enjoyable opening track then is a shot in the arm to my resolve. It is not a busy piece but it is a very, very nice one. If the whole disc is of the same ilk as At Home then I should think I will listen to this a fair bit more.
Soft sounds seem to be order of the day, nothing overly stated or raising the volume, but Vicar Street has more intent, purpose and pace. Compelling - the percussion and structure more noticeable here, driving the piece along to begin with. Unfortunately the piece loses some of that drive over its length (and it is not a long track) but it is continued encouragement. Most of these pieces are a fairly standard 3.5-6 minutes in length, but there are a couple of surprisingly short numbers listed which promises some interest - a potential shake up.
Piano, bass and drums. It's a good combination and a versatile one. EST, Tord Gustavsen, Ben Folds (Five) and probably more acts in my library that I cannot think of from the top of my head after a long day, a glass of wine and a bleeding impossible episode of Only Connect. What? Don't look at me like that. Just because it crosses out from jazz and ditches the double-bass for an electric bass does not mean that Folds' preferred form is not relevant here. Bottom line, I like piano, and this combination provides all the structure you could want to show it off - whether in laid back Scandinavian jazz or haphazard rocky style. The bass takes the pressure off the pianist, allowing him to concentrate on melody over structure, which makes for both an interesting top end and a solid base over which to show it off.
I am a little disappointed that the first of the two short pieces - which arrive back to back - is not really energetic and changing the overall tone. It's a nice piece, don't get me wrong, but with a slow wandering melody it does not take advantage of its limitations in time. No space to build a theme, a sense of direction; by the time it does it has peaked and is in denouement. Actually the wind down is better than the climb up, and I notice now (blind, me!) that the second short piece is titled Interlude. I could have dashed my own hopes before getting them all up with a bit more attention. Oh well.
The thread of soft - though not distant - sounds is still largely with us. Even when the percussion takes centre stage it is gentle, deadened rather than bright and loud. From the promising start I feel that the album has drifted to a lower ebb. Too slow, too low, too laid back to excite, too relaxed to entice, too mellow to demand more air time. Each piece alone remains nice - well constructed and performed, enjoyable and musical. However they are much of the same ilk, and this is somewhere that I think Svensson was so much stronger in varying tempo, in raising the roof alongside the softer more reflective pieces. For all that I am lamenting the uniformity, Still There is a really gorgeous track. A slow, deliberate trip around one's own living room. It feels intimate, loving, special.
Finally the tempo lifts, and the injection of a little volume stirs me out of reflective stupor. Purpose again - deliberate striving for something, and a darker tone without swamping it with grimness. The difference is the introduction of more bass register keys, conscious wanderings into the left hand's domain, or even just the middle of the keyboard. Where We Went is the outlier that brings definition to everything that came before, providing greater context to what has been and what is to come. Oh, sure, the track slows to a crawl as it concludes, but its job has been done, its race well run, by then. The soaking bucket of active interest emptied over the nodding head that the earlier themes had brought on. The pace does not last into the next track, but the volume remains higher, the sound richer, as the Cocoon is built around me whilst I listen. There are more than shades of Svensson's playing in the latter half of this track for me, but overall the musicianship has been very different from that, emphasising different traits, strengths of the players.
The second half of the disc, then, has had more life than the first; it would be hard to have less and still be enjoyable. There is a stately air about some of it, Vesper in particular. A more measured elegance than the soft sound sculpting of the early tracks. One could also say that it drifts into much more traditional forms as the final track could almost be anyone, a world away from the soft and gentle application on the opener which was like nothing I had heard before. All in all it is a decent disc, although having gone through it in full once I don't think I would want to listen in order again. I did like everything, but I feel it would be better appreciated to sprinkle these in and amongst some livelier fare so I'll keep them with that in mind.
It starts quietly, a solo piano softly opening, a slow lament of a tune, then joined by brushed drums, hints of structure. Bass eventually arrives and the track takes on the form of a jazz piece, albeit a very laid back one. I could lose myself quite happily in the wandering tune though, conjuring pictures of the 40s, black and white of course, whisky in hand. This is a good beginning - despite the potential in this disc, I had to push myself to start the listen; I am running out of days before I go away, and have had a number of things to take up my evenings. A strongly enjoyable opening track then is a shot in the arm to my resolve. It is not a busy piece but it is a very, very nice one. If the whole disc is of the same ilk as At Home then I should think I will listen to this a fair bit more.
Soft sounds seem to be order of the day, nothing overly stated or raising the volume, but Vicar Street has more intent, purpose and pace. Compelling - the percussion and structure more noticeable here, driving the piece along to begin with. Unfortunately the piece loses some of that drive over its length (and it is not a long track) but it is continued encouragement. Most of these pieces are a fairly standard 3.5-6 minutes in length, but there are a couple of surprisingly short numbers listed which promises some interest - a potential shake up.
Piano, bass and drums. It's a good combination and a versatile one. EST, Tord Gustavsen, Ben Folds (Five) and probably more acts in my library that I cannot think of from the top of my head after a long day, a glass of wine and a bleeding impossible episode of Only Connect. What? Don't look at me like that. Just because it crosses out from jazz and ditches the double-bass for an electric bass does not mean that Folds' preferred form is not relevant here. Bottom line, I like piano, and this combination provides all the structure you could want to show it off - whether in laid back Scandinavian jazz or haphazard rocky style. The bass takes the pressure off the pianist, allowing him to concentrate on melody over structure, which makes for both an interesting top end and a solid base over which to show it off.
I am a little disappointed that the first of the two short pieces - which arrive back to back - is not really energetic and changing the overall tone. It's a nice piece, don't get me wrong, but with a slow wandering melody it does not take advantage of its limitations in time. No space to build a theme, a sense of direction; by the time it does it has peaked and is in denouement. Actually the wind down is better than the climb up, and I notice now (blind, me!) that the second short piece is titled Interlude. I could have dashed my own hopes before getting them all up with a bit more attention. Oh well.
The thread of soft - though not distant - sounds is still largely with us. Even when the percussion takes centre stage it is gentle, deadened rather than bright and loud. From the promising start I feel that the album has drifted to a lower ebb. Too slow, too low, too laid back to excite, too relaxed to entice, too mellow to demand more air time. Each piece alone remains nice - well constructed and performed, enjoyable and musical. However they are much of the same ilk, and this is somewhere that I think Svensson was so much stronger in varying tempo, in raising the roof alongside the softer more reflective pieces. For all that I am lamenting the uniformity, Still There is a really gorgeous track. A slow, deliberate trip around one's own living room. It feels intimate, loving, special.
Finally the tempo lifts, and the injection of a little volume stirs me out of reflective stupor. Purpose again - deliberate striving for something, and a darker tone without swamping it with grimness. The difference is the introduction of more bass register keys, conscious wanderings into the left hand's domain, or even just the middle of the keyboard. Where We Went is the outlier that brings definition to everything that came before, providing greater context to what has been and what is to come. Oh, sure, the track slows to a crawl as it concludes, but its job has been done, its race well run, by then. The soaking bucket of active interest emptied over the nodding head that the earlier themes had brought on. The pace does not last into the next track, but the volume remains higher, the sound richer, as the Cocoon is built around me whilst I listen. There are more than shades of Svensson's playing in the latter half of this track for me, but overall the musicianship has been very different from that, emphasising different traits, strengths of the players.
The second half of the disc, then, has had more life than the first; it would be hard to have less and still be enjoyable. There is a stately air about some of it, Vesper in particular. A more measured elegance than the soft sound sculpting of the early tracks. One could also say that it drifts into much more traditional forms as the final track could almost be anyone, a world away from the soft and gentle application on the opener which was like nothing I had heard before. All in all it is a decent disc, although having gone through it in full once I don't think I would want to listen in order again. I did like everything, but I feel it would be better appreciated to sprinkle these in and amongst some livelier fare so I'll keep them with that in mind.
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