Jazz Articles about Bobo Stenson

Bobo Stenson/Anders Jormin/Paul Motian: Goodbye

by Jim Santella
December 11, 2005

Interpreting established pieces from the familiar repertoire along with creative originals, Bobo Stenson and his trio deliver a lyrical performance that emphasizes relaxed clarity. The pianist's deliberate manner looks deep within itself for inspiration. He intones meaningfully and allows each phrase to simmer to its fullest extent. Along with two like-minded musical partners, bassist Anders Jormin and drummer Paul Motian, he explores sonic fullness with slow and deliberate care. The trio discovers each inhibited theme only after exhaustive soul-searching and ...

Bobo Stenson/Anders Jormin/Paul Motian: Goodbye

by Renato Wardle
September 18, 2005

Somewhere bewteen the worlds of twentieth century classical music, the music of Ornette Coleman, minimalism, and Scandinavian folk music exists the world of the Bobo Stenson Trio. Since the early '70s, pianist Bobo Stenson has been a vital member of several groundbreaking ECM groups, including those with Charles Lloyd and Tomasz Stanko, as well as the Jan Garbarek/Bobo Stenson quartet. However, it has been with his own trio that he has most completely established his own voice. On Goodbye, his ...

Bobo Stenson/Anders Jormin/Paul Motian: Goodbye

by John Kelman
September 8, 2005

Five years have passed since Swedish pianist Bobo Stenson released his last disc on the ECM label, the sublime Serenity. It's not that he's been quiet or absent during that time, having recorded albums like last year's duet with saxophonist Lennart Aberg, Bobo Stenson/Lennart Aberg. But the limited availability of his Swedish releases has meant that for the most part, and with the exception of appearances on a number of ECM's :rarum compilations, he's been out of the eye of ...

Day Two: 2005 Cape Town International Jazz Festival

by AAJ Staff
March 31, 2005

Day 1 | Day 2 | The Aftermath Cape Town The city of Cape Town is located in the area where Portuguese navigators first made the open water connection between Atlantic and Indian Oceans over four hundred years ago. In subsequent development by the Dutch, it became an outpost for East-West trade routes, and it's still an important port for the region. All that international activity over the years meant that Cape Town would quickly become a cosmopolitan ...

Bobo Stenson: Rarum: Selected Recordings of Bobo Stenson

by AAJ Staff
July 1, 2002

Listeners familiar with Bobo Stenson's most popular work might count him out as a hopeless romantic, but the Swedish pianist can have sharp edges at times, too. That's why this particular set bears so much interest: Stenson accents his more mellow recordings with some powerful angular energy. For example: his 1993 trio rendition of Ellington's “Reflections in D" bears only shadowy relations to the original, and the understated urgency here emits a sharp glow. And of course, Ornette Coleman tunes ...

Bobo Stenson Trio: Serenity

by C. Andrew Hovan
September 1, 2000

One of the great European jazz units, the Bobo Stenson piano trio has held its eminent position among the heady stable of ECM artists since the early '70s. Stenson and drummer Jon Christensen partnered as early as 1969, appearing together on Bobo's 1971 ECM date Underwear. Recent endeavors have included the critically-acclaimed 1997 recording War Orphans and a prominent role in several of Charles Lloyd's latest albums.

Serenity is a two-disc set chock full of the kind of ominous and ...

Bobo Stenson Trio: Serenity

by Glenn Astarita
July 1, 2000

The 'Bobo Stenson Trio' pursues lucid expressionism akin to an artisan, as every pluck of the bass and well-placed note combined with master drummer Jon Christensen's acute stylistic approach, provides the optimum in group sensitivity and keen interplay. With this 2-CD set titled Serenity, pianist Bobo Stenson, bassist Anders Jormin and Christensen continue their artful and at times all encompassing approach to modern music as they harmoniously tackle Charles Ives, Wayne Shorter, Swedish folk songs and Cuban folk/pop amid several ...