Jazz Articles about Esbjorn Svensson

Esbjorn Svensson: Leucocyte

by Ian Patterson
October 19, 2008

The Esbjorn Svensson Trio's album Leucocyte was to have been a musical turning point in the band's career--marking a before and after. It was a brave leap into territory which the trio had previously only hinted at, and at the same time it probably marked what was to be a point of no return. In many respects this change, and the bold new sounds which don't always make for comfortable listening, are reminiscent of the transformation that Radiohead underwent between ...

Esbjorn Svensson: Leucocyte

by John Kelman
September 30, 2008

It's too easy to fall into the trap of calling the last recording by a recently deceased artist “his best ever" or “a fitting end to his recorded legacy," but in the case of the final release by Swedish jazz superstars e.s.t. before their titular leader, pianist Esbjörn Svensson, died in a tragic diving accident in June, 2008, it's the only way to describe it. Leucocyte is an album that's like nothing the trio has released before, yet it possesses ...

Esbjorn Svensson: Requiem

by AAJ Staff
September 1, 2008

Founder of the Swedish jazz trio, e.s.t., pianist Esbjorn Svensson and his trio were well-known for their jewel-like compositions and varied musical textures with albums including Seven Days of Falling (ACT, 2003) and Strange Place for Snow (ACT, 2002). Topping pop charts as well as garnering awards in Germany, the U.S. and Japan, e.s.t.'s lyricism and elastic imagination bridged both generations and genres since its inception in 1993.

Here, in a previously unpublished interview conducted during ...

Remembering Esbjorn Svensson

by Ian Patterson
June 17, 2008

The shocking news of the death of Swedish pianist Esbjorn Svensson in a diving accident off Stochholm, on Saturday 14th June, will surely deeply sadden music lovers everywhere. I say music lovers, as opposed to strictly jazz lovers, as Svensson himself was neither restricted nor confined by categories, and was perhaps rather perplexed by the need of some to constantly attempt to define what jazz is. The music he recorded and played alongside drummer Magnus Ostrom and bassist ...

Esbjorn Svensson Trio (e.s.t.): Live in Hamburg

by John Kelman
November 24, 2007

A lot has happened to e.s.t. since its last live album, Live '95 (ACT, 2001). By the time that album hit the streets the trio had already become one of Europe's most successful jazz acts and was beginning to make inroads into the North American market. But e.s.t was still young and hungry when it was recorded back in 1995, having released only When Everyone Has Gone (Dragon, 1993). Live in Hamburg, a full concert recorded in November 2006 shortly ...

Esbjorn Svensson Trio (e.s.t.): Tuesday Wonderland

by John Kelman
May 10, 2007

For its first release to be distributed by a major label since Strange Place for Snow (Columbia, 2002), the Esöjorn Svensson Trio (e.s.t.) continues to mine and expand the road traveled on Seven Days of Falling (215 Records, 2004) and Viaticum (215 Records, 2005). Tuesday Wonderland doesn't exactly break new ground for e.s.t., but equally it's a gradual evolution of the pop sensibility-meets-jazz improvisation aesthetic that's been a fundamental since the trio first emerged in 1993.

As the group has ...

Esbjorn Svensson: Viaticum

by Renato Wardle
April 9, 2006

The Esbjörn Svensson Trio, a self-proclaimed “pop group that plays jazz," exists in between the musical realms of the ECM juggernaut Bobo Stenson Trio and art rockers Radiohead. Viaticum represents a culmination of years of relentless cooperative musical discovery for the group, which has been together since 1993. This music, possessed of a cinematic quality, unfolds in a decidedly un-jazzy way. Rather than resorting to traditional jazz forms that merely serve as a jumping-off point for blowing, the ...