Between 1993 and 2008, Sweden's
Esbjorn Svensson Trio (E.S.T.) shifted the argument for the jazz piano trio's continued relevance while expanding the landscape for contemporary jazz's slipstream, wholesale. Like the previous volumes in the series, including Live 1995,
Live in Hamburg, and Live in London, this marks the testament of a band of gifted improvisers and communicators who turned previously held notions about the formation on their head. Each of these men -- pianist
Svensson, bassist
Dan Berglund, and drummer
Magnus Öström -- was a frontline player in the late pianist's compositions.
Captured during the Somewhere Else Before tour in 2001, this gig at the Gothenburg Concert Hall was regarded by
Svensson as a personal favorite because of its fleet and fluid connectivity with his bandmates. Given how much this band toured -- never with a setlist or a plan -- this is no small assertion. Opener "Dating" reveals why. Its structure floats at the midpoint between the jazz pianism of
Vince Guaraldi circa his Charlie Brown themes, and the euphoric musicality and precision of the Pat Metheny Group circa
Speaking Of Now. While "The Rube Thing" (one of the trio's live standards) commences as an intricate solo inquiry of
Bach by
Svensson, it opens into a sprightly, playful, slightly knotty groover with a fat, fleet, bass solo, chunky snare breaks, and tight vamps; it eventually evolves into an intense bebop jam. While "From Gargarin's Point of View" is built around
Berglund's mournful, low-register arco playing (deeply informed by
Shostakovich's 15th string quartet), it becomes a balanced and pointillistic ballad when his bandmates join in. "Good Morning Susie Soho" weds a wah-wahed upright rockist bassline to a bluesy, soulful piano and a funky snare strut. "The Second Page" opens with an evocative pastoral beauty before turning itself into one of E.S.T.'s most hummable and poignant ballads. The set's closer is a 12-and-a-half-minute version of "Dodge the Dodo" that contains all the drama and pathos of
Kid A-era
Radiohead and
Marillion-esque prog rock, with the instinctive modal sophistication of
Bobo Stenson and the improvisational canniness of
Keith Tippett! Over two discs and a hundred-plus minutes, E.S.T. Live in Gothenburg is the best of the four posthumous concert releases from the band's archive. It's a reminder of just how much this group opened up jazz for the 21st century to influence groups such as the
AMP Trio,
Marc Cary's Focus Trio, and the
Neil Cowley Trio. This is a must for all E.S.T. fans. While it's a bittersweet reminder of just what we lost when
Svensson passed away, it is a guidepost for those younger and postmodern jazz fans who may not yet have encountered the trio's sophisticated, accessible, and life-affirming music. ~ Thom Jurek