E.S.T
Today Allaboutjazz posted a previously unpublished interview by pianist Esbjörn Svensson made around 2006 – “Requiem“; in homage to his work and life. Esbjörn died prematurely last June in a dive accident on the coast of Stockholm; and also a extended preview of they’re final album “Leucocyte”. The Esbjörn Svensson Trio recorded 12 albums since they inception in 1993 and have made several significant landmarks in the universe of jazz and improvised music. Although they were not a stricktly improvised group per se; this was the element that unified the influences on their music.
And their music was really something fresh. A blend of Pop, Rock; Classical, Jazz, and Eletronica unified by a jazz aesthetic; that never ceased to amaze the ones who luckily saw them in concert. To understand the magnitude of their success is important to say that their were fully booked for concerts to the end of 2010!; witch is something you have to think about for a second.
But i think that the secret of their success is the fact that they worked as a single unit, and this is a “rare” thing. This might seem something difficult to understand for people who are not musicians but it happens all the time. And it happen for various reasons. The main one is ego; but there are others, as lack of conscience, lack of attention, and the inability to “ear” the other musicians.
It seems almost impossible to conceive or imagine but it is the plain truth: there are musicians that don´t listen to what the other ones are doing; and i am not referring this at a amateur level; but at a professional one.
Listening is undoubtedly one of the most important qualities in a musician; and the absence of it one of the worst, but this is not always perceived by the public in general; because it is a very subtle nuance. A group of musician can perform without barely listening to each other, and might pass along unnoticed by the public; but when they do; the music projects itself immediately for another plateau: the plateau of excellence; and it “resonates” along with the universe. Esbjörn Svensson on piano, Dan Berglund on double bass and Magnus Öström on drums functioned as a unique organism. The communication was almost telepathic and it showed for everyone to see at their concerts. Rest in peace wherever you might be.
Discography:
- E.S.T. Live ’95
- EST plays Monk (1996)
- Winter in Venice (1997)
- From Gagarin’s Point of View (1999)
- Good Morning Susie Soho (2000)
- Strange Place for Snow (2002)
- Seven Days of Falling (2003)
- Live in Stockholm (2003, DVD, recorded December 10, 2000 including videos, an interviews and more)
- Viaticum (2005)
- Tuesday Wonderland (2006)
- Live in Hamburg (2007, recorded november 22, 2006)
- Leucocyte (2008)
Visit: http://www.est-music.com/
Magdalena
says:Fantastic post!!! Cheers!
Jesica
says:I found your site on google and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work.
Anders Chan-Tidemann
says:Hi Nuno, I found your take on what made E.S.T such a special band very succinct. In fact I think the fact that they sounded like a true band, because they were listening to each other on a deep level, is a very big part of what made them so popular.
True, the audience might not be able to state that this is what they are hearing, but my guess is that this is the core point about them more than their use of electronics or any other single thing that defined E.S.T.
Nuno
says:Exactly Anders, they functioned as a 3 part organism, and there is another aspect that i didn´t focussed at the time i wrote this entry that is: They never occupied the space of each other “rhythmically” speaking, and that makes the music immediately very “open” with a great cense of space and a beautiful “ensemble” playing.
Ginevra
says:Man, that’s great…Thanks for providing such a good info.
PiterJankovich
says:My name is Piter Jankovich. I Only want to tell, that your blog is really cool
And want to ask you: is this blog your hobby?
P.S. Sorry for my bad english