Tord Gustavsen Trio - Being There
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Free Music Notes for Being There
Free Music Review: Aural pleasures
Hit: 5 Stars
I love what these guys do. I remember using words like "dreamy", "spacey", "uncluttered" and "beautiful" to describe Gustaven's piano playing when I reviewed the trio's 2004 release The Ground some time ago, and all of those words could equally be applied here. Manfred Eicher reprises his role as producer and in many ways this album could be described as more of the same. I'm not complaining though. I feel this is a good thing because while the calming & emotionally healing quality of the trio's music remains intact, these compositions are all fresh, new, very original and very individual. I just love to put this kind of music on, sit back and drift away.
Two songs on this album did make me sit up from my reverie though. The gospel-flavoured "Blessed Feet" is one, and as soon as I heard the unusually funky drum beat intro, I knew it was going to be something different. The other is "Karmosin", the only song not written by Gustavsen (it was written by drummer Jarle Vespestad), and it's a beautifully abstract and idiosyncratically arranged song. It definitely stands out.
But all 13 songs are originals and as that's always something special in itself. I could go on to try and use fancy words to describe the drummer's kicks, taps and touches or double-bassist Harold Johnsen's fluidity and lyricism but a: I'm really not that clever and b: even if I were, this is a review of a listening experience and not a thesis for a music degree. (Message!)
All in all, I would describe the album as a collection of aural pleasures and that's about the best I can do. These dudes are a flawless jazz trio and this CD is another great buy. ECM have gone and done it again.
Free Music Review: Astrological stars!
Hit: 5 Stars
Other reviewers have articulated appreciation for TG (and the trio)'s work so well. Thank you. This music is soothing, healing and enlightening - simultaneously familiar yet unique. I'll just add for those of an astrological bent that I found it interesting that astrology seems to support TG's aesthetic: with Venus (planet associated with one's sense of beauty and harmony)conjunct Neptune (higher transpersonal octave of Venus) in Scorpio (music as eroticism per TG's words) opposite Saturn (planet associated with ascetic discipline and essential structure of self) in Taurus (a sign associated with music, particularly the voice - metaphor for TG's spare while melodic sensibility). This is certainly an incomplete reading, but an interesting metaphor for the taut balance TG achieves between a freely sensuous, personal, upclose feeling and an austere spacious sensibility.Free Music Review: A new level of quiet rapture
Hit: 5 Stars
"Being There" somehow manages to take the quiet rapture of the trio's previous album (The Ground) to a new level.
There are beautiful slow pieces that gradually unfold with paradoxically crystalline warmth (At Home, Draw Near, Sani, Still There), an intriguing angular piece (Karmosin) and three up-tempo numbers - the funky Blessed Feet, the Spanish-tinged Where We Went and my favourite, Vicar Street. Half of the track is a tense, urgent build-up that then resolves into a gorgeous yearning theme.
I've seen some great drummers and percussionists in my time (e.g. Airto Moreira, Mike Shrieve of Santana, Zakir Hussein) and the trio's Jarle Vesperstad is up there with the best, but in his own distinctive way. In his hands a standard drum kit becomes a real instrument.
What I love about the Tord Gustavsen Trio is that they show masterfully how improvised music can be melodically accessible without being schmaltzy and technically satisfying without degenerating into ego-tripping clever-clever stuff. It takes outstanding musicians to play such apparently simple music.
This is another album from the trio that can appeal to people who like it "easy on the ear", but will richly reward more discerning music lovers.
Free Music Review: Great composer
Hit: 4 Stars
Tord Gustavson is a very spoecial composer of European jazz lineage. Not your action prone dynamic American style jazz at all. He takes you to your deeper side, the world of dreams and meditation. This is one of his finest. Free Music Review: As close to perfect as you're likely to get.......
Hit: 5 Stars
A bit like warm sun on a tropical island, Tord Gustavssen's music has the effect of purveying instant calm & contentment. Allow yourself NO distractions (headphones are perfect) & you will be transported into another space where anything & nothing is probable (another reviewer's "Dreamlike Adagio" title says it all!). The playing is at once masterful & spare, understated & yet quietly intense. Another bonus is it's 100% fully acoustic (ie. doesn't use reverb or other "tricks" of some jazz trios) & is totally relaxed & unhurried in its approach. As the first 3 tracks are immediate standouts, all you need do is have a quick listen to at least one of them & only the most hardened heavy-metal type audiophiles could fail to be moved. Even better, each track has its own distinct characteristics so there's no "heard this before" factor. For example, after you've listened to any or all of the first 3 tracks, skip forward to the attention grabbing intro to "Where we went". If I did have a minor criticism it would be that tracks 5 through 8 feature some slightly "heavy handed" chords & are therefore a little less subtle than the often sublime music that precedes & follows them. But overall, delightful stuff & worthy of 5 stars!
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