Esbjörn Svensson Trio profile
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
EST, or the Esbjörn Svensson Trio, have become a huge phenomenon in the realms of the crossover jazz scene as they continue to defy easy categorization mixing a heady combination of jazz, dance, rock and classical influences into a cohesive whole.
Such is their success they are now capable of playing large, non-jazz venues and festivals as they emphatically break away from the conventions of jazz orientated music. Hailing from Sweden they are lead by pianist Esbjörn Svensson with bassist Dan Berglund and drummer Magnus Öström they first established themselves with their debut recordings ‘When Everyone Has Gone’ (Dragon): then in 1995 the live recording ‘Mr. & Mrs. Handkerchief’, later re-released on ACT in the 2001 as ‘EST Live '95’. Yet it was their ‘EST Plays Monk’ propelled them to wider acclaim going on to sell over 10.000 copies in Sweden alone.
EST have been no strangers to accepting awards, namely several BBC Jazz Awards for Best International Group, but from their inception they garnered high praise from many quarters like in 1995 and 1996 Svensson was awarded Swedish jazz musician of the Year and 1998 Songwriter of the Year. When ‘From Gagarin's Point of View’ was released in 1999 it was to be a turning point for the group’s career as they began to show the various influences of subtle electronica, dance beats, raucous funk and rock bass from Berglund, classical motifs and extended song forms that would become their trademark sound. Releasing ‘Good Morning Susie Soho’ a year later Jazzwise magazine named them Trio of the Year. Another on a tour of all major festivals preceded the release of the amazing ‘Strange Place For Snow’ which then saw them set out on a 9-month world tour in 2002.
The last four years have seen the band continue their astonishing consistency and musical inventiveness honing and refining both their recorded output and their increasingly focused live shows. Following releases for ACT include 'Seven Days Of Falling' and 'Viaticum', the latter also re-released with an astonishing live CD recorded in Berlin on a sadly limited double-disc edition. The group’s latest album Tuesday Wonderland shows no sign of a diminishing ability to construct compelling narratives that stretch the definitions of both the piano tri and the music it is capable of producing. Continuing to perform on bigger and bigger stages like that of the main stage of the Big Chill Festival to a feverish reception, EST potential to reach out to music fans of all persuasions means they are currently one of the most important piano trios working today.
EST have been no strangers to accepting awards, namely several BBC Jazz Awards for Best International Group, but from their inception they garnered high praise from many quarters like in 1995 and 1996 Svensson was awarded Swedish jazz musician of the Year and 1998 Songwriter of the Year. When ‘From Gagarin's Point of View’ was released in 1999 it was to be a turning point for the group’s career as they began to show the various influences of subtle electronica, dance beats, raucous funk and rock bass from Berglund, classical motifs and extended song forms that would become their trademark sound. Releasing ‘Good Morning Susie Soho’ a year later Jazzwise magazine named them Trio of the Year. Another on a tour of all major festivals preceded the release of the amazing ‘Strange Place For Snow’ which then saw them set out on a 9-month world tour in 2002.
The last four years have seen the band continue their astonishing consistency and musical inventiveness honing and refining both their recorded output and their increasingly focused live shows. Following releases for ACT include 'Seven Days Of Falling' and 'Viaticum', the latter also re-released with an astonishing live CD recorded in Berlin on a sadly limited double-disc edition. The group’s latest album Tuesday Wonderland shows no sign of a diminishing ability to construct compelling narratives that stretch the definitions of both the piano tri and the music it is capable of producing. Continuing to perform on bigger and bigger stages like that of the main stage of the Big Chill Festival to a feverish reception, EST potential to reach out to music fans of all persuasions means they are currently one of the most important piano trios working today.