Jazz Articles about Alboran Trio

Alboran Trio: Near Gale

by John Kelman
April 25, 2008

Groups like e.s.t. and The Bad Plus have undeniably given the decades old piano trio format a much needed kick-in-the-ass but, as innovative as they've been and continue to be, some of their founding premises run the risk of inherent self-limitation. Still, despite e.s.t.'s ever-increasing pop sensibility and integration of electronics and sound manipulation, the extended tracks of Live in Hamburg (ACT, 2007) demonstrate that its improvisational acumen and longstanding chemistry remain intact.

In some ways, however, it's the trios ...

Alboran Trio: Near Gale

by Chris May
April 18, 2008

Since 1995, when they began recording for the ACT Music label, Sweden's Esbjorn Svensson Trio (e.s.t.) has played a key role in rejuvenating the acoustic piano trio tradition, along with its audience. Svensson and his crew have liberated both from--or at least offered an alternative to--an overly familiar, standards-based repertoire and a precisely codified approach to performance. And if its own music, over the course of thirteen years, has itself become somewhat predictable, e.s.t. will always deserve a medal for ...

Alboran Trio: Meltemi

by Chris May
July 19, 2006

The German ACT Music label is a strange one. Fitfully brilliant--as with the Esbjorn Svensson Trio's ongoing canon, and with recent discs by Nguyen Le and Julia Hulsmann--it has also released numerous bland, MOR-pitched albums which have precious little to do with creative jazz. Many of these have been produced by the slick but featherweight trombonist, vocalist and arranger Nils Landgren. Significantly, the EST, Le and Hulsmann albums were all self-produced by the artists.

Label director Siegfried Loch would probably ...