Is this some of the finest moments from EST? Quite probably the verdict visited by posterity will be yes, as they reveal a side of themselves never before heard on record. The seven performances on this album were recorded during some downtime during their tour of Australia in 2007. The idea was to go into the recording studio and just play, a risky venture for any jazz group. But this band had been performing together for so long that they had the knack of making even spontaneously conceived material sound as if it was instead the result of assiduous rehearsal and careful preparation. Yet the revelation is perhaps not the high level of interaction the group achieve (those who saw the band live may recall it had become an aspect of their performance either as an improvised introduction or to segue between numbers), but in the playing of Svensson himself. Here his virtuosity is less masked, his playing unbuttoned in a way that he had never hitherto revealed in concert or recording studio. Pieces like the dynamic ‘Three Falling Free Part II’ or the thoughtful ‘Inner City, City Lights’ show the pianist in a fresh light, and serve to underline what an absolutely huge loss at the peak of his powers this young man was to jazz.