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Scandinavian jazz

A Swedish trio plays it with smoke and mirror balls
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November 7th, 2007 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
Just don't call them a pop band: e.s.t. mixes it up with special electronic effects.
e.s.t.

When: Wednesday, Nov. 14, at 9
Where: Lucerna Music Bar
Tickets: 300 Kč, available through Ticketpro and Ticketstream

By Patrick Sisson
For the Post
The catalyst for any great jazz trio is amazing chemistry, fluid and wordless interplay between artists honed from years of gigging together. Few performers started forming that musical mind meld as early as Swedish pianist Esbjörn Svensson and drummer Magnus Öström of the Esbjörn Svensson Trio (e.s.t.), who met as 3- and 2-year-old boys growing up in the rural village of Skultuna.
“I can’t really figure it out, but we just got into music quite early,” Svensson says. “We actually started playing without teachers when we were about 12. We sounded really amateurish, but there was a lot of joy. Sometimes, I think we can find that feeling again and find that source.”
Since that idyllic beginning, the band members — including powerhouse bassist Dan Berglund, who completed the trio in 1993 — have played hundreds of shows, recorded nearly a dozen albums and become luminaries of the European jazz world. Not many jazz groups get airplay on MTV Scandinavia or take a live light show, complete with dry ice, on the road. But e.s.t.’s trappings of rock stardom don’t diminish from the real action. As the group demonstrates on its soon-to-be released live album, e.s.t. Live in Hamburg, you can still hear that “very special language” as Svensson puts it, at work on stage.
Famous for being the first European act to make the cover of American jazz bible Downbeat, the group plays tightly wound songs that weave strong improvisational passages within intricate melodies and hooks. Svensson’s cool, crisp style, inspired by masters like Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett, compares with players like American Brad Mehldau. Considering the band’s knack for integrating feedback and effects pedals into their performances — Berglund sometimes utilizes growling feedback to create a ferocious low end — you might even compare them to artists like Bad Plus or classical pianist Christopher Reilly, whose acoustic covers of Radiohead songs have bridged the pop divide. But that comparison would slightly obscure the roots of Svennson’s rich compositional style.
“I get more inspiration from Beethoven, Schubert or Bach than from today’s music,” says Svensson, who composes all the group’s music. “Today’s pop music has a tendency to be very simple, verse-chorus-solo-bridge, and sometimes today’s jazz is the same way. But composers 200 to 300 years back, they really knew how to compose. Music shouldn’t all be in the same form and be predictable. Where are you going and how is it going to end? A really good movie with a story that makes you think twice, that’s what fascinates me.”
The distortion and feedback effects add a modern touch, but don’t alter the group’s jazz foundation. “We aren’t an electronic band that plays music from the jazz tradition,” Svensson says. “The effects don’t change the music much, but add more possibilities. We always try to focus on the interaction. Maybe we add some sounds, but we never create machine music.”
The seasoned band’s latest studio release, Tuesday Wonderland, flowing with lyrical passages, captures a sense of nonstop playfulness and exploration that hearkens back to the group’s roots. Svensson, currently at work composing new pieces for the band’s next album, doesn’t foresee falling out of sync or straying far from that source.
“I would like to try to stay in this musical paradise, to still have fun playing together with Dan and Magnus,” he says. “I don’t have any better visions.”
Patrick Sisson can be reached at features@praguepost.com


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