Customer Reviews

Strange Place for Snow

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

E.S.T. has quickly moved themselves up into my top two or three most "listened to" piano-based trios (Keith Jarrett will hold that top spot for a long, long time). They play with energy that few others bring to the table without resorting to just plain being loud. I love The Bad Plus, but they rely on the loud part more; I've just discovered Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, and they bring a lot to the table, too. Medeski, Martin & Wood are much more electric and abstract than E.S.T. I love Keith Jarrett, solo and with his trio, but that's a different kind of energy going on. Tord Gustavsen is so ECM-cool, and Lynne Arriale is less cutting-edge than these guys. Fred Hersch bring a whole different sound into the mix--much more traditional.

These guys, E.S.T., sell me with their spectacular pacing, working and building up sometimes repeated themes to almost a manic crescendo at times. Track 4, "Behind the Yashmak," is the perfect example. Nice slow beginning, but, at about 2:15 or so, the pace picks up, and we are off on an 8-minute "race" that gradually picks up speed, energy, and intensity. The ending is just spectacular--great payoff for my patience through 10+ minutes of the song. The left hand on Track 7, "When God Created the Coffeebreak" is one of the more impressive pieces of playing that I can think of off the top of my head. Track 8, "Spunky Sprawl," brings a similar feel to the table. Track 9, "Carcrash," reminds me of Karl Shapiro's poem "Auto Wreck"--a horrible image masked in soft sounds and pleasant "language."

The other thing that impresses me about these guys is the importance and prominence of the "other" two instruments in the trio. The piano might be in the lead much of the time, but the bass takes over a couple of tracks, as do the drums. They are all willing to share the spotlight and be three very equal sides of the triangle that another reviewer spoke of.

Bottom Line: I have no idea why these guys did not catch on in the U.S. better than they have, but it's our loss. They are as good as anybody else going out there and deserve a look/listen. I have gone back and purchased their early titles (From Gagarin's Point of View, Good Morning Susie Soho, Plays Monk, and several more) from a Swedish distributor (Skivhugget Records) for great prices. The CD after this one, Seven Days of Falling, is in the ball park and now comes with a bonus DVD that is pretty cool (the entire DVD is available only for play on non-U.S. DVD players. . .). Their very newest, Viaticum, is probably five-star material, as well, but I'm still getting to know it. If you like Jarrett, Bad Plus, MMW, JFJO, and/or Brad Mehldau, then you should like this crew. Buy one used and go from there. . . .

I first heard this trio in 2003 at the Denver Botanic Gardens when they opened for K.D. Lang. As big of a fan of K.D.'s as I am, this band made the biggest impression that evening. As they played, I got up and walked the gardens until their set was almost done. I was in my own little world! These guys have taken jazz and put a slight twist on it. A very nice and refreshing one. I bought this CD from one of the band members right after their set. I plan to own more of their music. If you like Jazz at all (And I would say if you are a Pat Metheney fan) Get this CD as well as their CD "Seven Days of Falling". (Which I can't find on this site!)

If you thought there wasn't much left to explore in "old style" contemporary jazz then think again for E.S.T.'s "Strange Place for Snow" is exactly what its title suggests - something beautifully familiar in a very different landscape. Working off a standard piano, double bass & drum acoustic line-up and carefully constraining their "explorations" within the well-proven structures that work with it, they conjure up that most difficult of things: something radically new from a conventional format.

With more than a passing nod to Bill Evans' evocatively lilting piano style, backed up by some wonderful bass and drum playing, they mix-in odd electronic hooks and surprisingly powerful melodic structures without losing the laid-back feel of this essentially romantic style of music. Clever?... yes, but not too-clever and, as a result, brilliantly restrained and wholly effective. Another example, alongside Bugge Wesseltoft's and Jaga Jazzist's more avant-garde outings, of the quite extraordinary jazz that is now pouring out of Scandinavia.

This is the new release from one of, I dare say, the worlds most intresting and updated jazz-groups. The compositions are aesthetic, beautiful and creative with a strong emotional content. The Swedish trio have already released 5 strong CDs and they keep on developing. "Strange place for snow" is possibly their best one to date and it's the trendiest record you will find around. It is jazz for a new century and a-must-have for anyone intrested in new, fresh and experimental sounds...

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.

Sometimes it's very irritating 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!

In a time when most of the new releases in jazz sound eerily similar to most of the other new releases in jazz, EST's Strange Place for Snow is one of the most astonishing jazz records in years. Their unusual and magical compositions, vaguely reminiscent of several musicians cited in previous reviews, also stubbornly sticks to EST's own idea of jazz. Even though it is not American, EST's Strange Palce for Snow takes an important innovative step in the evolution of contemporary jazz music. Its lyrical qualities are more Swedish (not Icelandic) than they probably would like to admit themselves, but that only adds to the surprising combination with atonalities not unlike Monk. Dreamlike, magical, unnerving, and never cheap or sentimental: this is EST's best record so far. Oh, and please: don't turn off the CD player after the last track, but just let it play silence for another half hour. You'll be surprised.

Better than most being played today. Pink Floyd meets Bill Evans. Actually at a refreshing level beyond "smooth jazz" or "new age".

Yesterday, I've listened them in a club in Istanbul. Before the concert, I had listened four of their albums (my favorite is "EST Plays Monk").

It was a 70 percent a pop-rock concert (it's enough for punishment in a traffic accident!) and the young audience was very happy. There was a "spirit" in the saloon whispering "at the end, we've found the music that we're looking for, that old jazz was boring now its vivid and funny"

Is that right? It seems like the "flower revolution" of Charles Lloyd in 1968 (with Keith Jarret and Cecil McBee in "Forrest Flower" album with a sales over 1 million). Now "the revolution" comes back with modern rock and dance sounds.

The drummer exactly does not know the "jazz drum" but he plays in accordance with the band. Compositions are so easy, but Esbjörn Svensson's solos are sometimes jazzy. The bassist sometimes play like Jimi Hendrix, sometimes like Mingus.

If it's a "show-business" they're on the right way. But, if it's "art", then questions arise.

My answer to that possible questions is; "Their music is not smooth jazz but sometimes closer to that 'pulp'. And the question of 'identity' sometimes can not be solved in jazz. It just snows..."

The triangle is the simplest geometric figure, one with properties that make it useful, stable, strong, and versatile. R. Buckminster Fuller used triangles as the core building block in his geodesic domes because they evenly distribute stress and provide a high strength-to-weight ratio for further expansion.

I'm not versed in music theory or skilled in playing anything more than a CD (my piano instructor in college encouraged me to quit), but I know enough to appreciate a generous does of talent and creativity permeates "Strange Place for Snow." E.S.T., short for the Esbjörn Svensson, Trio, exploits all the strengths of a trio, allowing each member opportunities to take the lead role, to play the sideman, to function equally.

Pianist/keyboardist Esbjörn Svensson, bassist Daniel Berglund, and drummer Magnus Öström create a sensational melding of sound that taps into experimental tones, right-on improvisation, and layers of sound and melody. Sometime the music seems to be going two directions at once, like an icicle freezing on one side and melting on the other. What seems a facile melody evolves (or devolves depending on one's perspective) into a complex interplay, a weaving together of what might sound unconnected in the hands of lesser performers.

The songs sometimes startle in their starkly different tones, leaving one not quite ready to let go of the fading chords of one song as the next begins to unfold. (The bonus track here, like the one on E.S.T.'s 2001 release Somewhere Else Before is a bit odd, some of like a thumb in your ear.)

There is something of the bright, cold north infused in this jazz, but nothing like a sluggish complacency. E.S.T. takes the possibilities of what a trio can accomplish and delivers a well-burnished montage. This is a trio of equals, each able to handle the stress and joy that comes with cutting edge creativity.

The jazz world is mourning the death of Swedish pianist Esbjorn Svensson, who died in a scuba-diving accident on Saturday. He was 44.

Reuters reports that Svensson's manager Burkhard Hopper said he died on Saturday in the Stockholm archipelago.

Paying tribute, Hopper said: "Musically, he was the light that lit the world because in what he did he was pushing boundaries. Himself, he said he was following the music inside himself. His music inspired people in all corners of the world."

Svensson's group, the Esbjorn Svensson Trio (e.s.t.), had received global acclaim and won the European Jazz Award and the BBC Jazz Award.