Jazz breaking news: Magnus Öström looks to the light at Ronnie’s
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Headlining your own show after more than 15 years of drumming with an internationally celebrated piano trio such as e.
s.t. must be a daunting prospect. Nevertheless, the sell-out crowd at London’s Ronnie Scott’s was obviously expecting good things from the second of two nights by the Swedish Magnus Öström Band, and they certainly weren’t disappointed.
Performing just weeks after the release of Searching for Jupiter – Öström’s second album as leader – the group began with the opening track, ‘The Moon’, luring the audience in on Daniel Karlsson’s captivating piano introduction. As, one-by-one, Öström, Andreas Hourdakis on guitar and Thobias Gabrielson’s bass fall subtly into the piece’s soulful abyss, so do the audience.
Heartfelt, but by no means insipid, the concert is endlessly exciting. Dark and twisting becomes fun and quick moving, and genre-hopping compositions range from prog ballads to high energy jazz-rock, via electronic soundscapes, drum ‘n’ bass rhythms, heavy-rock influenced passages, free improvisation, interwoven chordal cadences and – oh! was that a bit of blues that just slipped in there?
With absolute empathy throughout these sometimes gradual, often rapid developments, each musician manages to retain individuality and his own temperament, playing exactly as a group should. Individually, Magnus Öström’s own voice also shines, both as drummer and composer. Interestingly, while the pieces are bound with improvisation the drummer’s own full-blown solo only appears at the end of the concert. When it does, an almost cathartic myriad of sounds and textures transfixes the crowd, and musicians.
‘Weight of Death’, a powerful, melodic, elegy-like composition from his preceding album Thread of Life, is clearly influenced by the death of Öström’s childhood friend and e.s.t. leader Esbjörn Svensson five years ago. Live, the piece developed into unexpectedly energetic, playful improvisation, culminating in what can only be described as dancing African rhythms. “Maybe it was a tunnel of light!” Öström exclaims. The pertinence seems clear, not only with regards to the band’s performance, but also to Öström’s own progression as he assumes the role of leader. While his past is by no means forgotten, his new position is certainly developing in diverse and exciting ways.
– Celeste Cantor-Stephens