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Artist: Tord Gustavsen Trio
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Tord Gustavsen Trio:

Seeing

With Seeing, Tord Gustavsen begins an intricate new chapter in his series of acclaimed trio recordings, initiated in 2003 with Changing Places – an album that is today considered a classic. The new recording with its compact, concentrated song forms „reflects my personal development as I get older, going for the essentials in life and music“, says the Norwegian pianist. The album is also Gustavsen’s 10th release on ECM Records, an achievement worth noticing.

Throughout five Gustavsen originals, two chorals after Johann Sebastian Bach, a traditional Norwegian church hymn, plus the 19th century English chorale „Nearer My God, to Thee“ Tord together with long-time ally Jarle Vespestad on drums and Steinar Raknes on double bass digs deep into his unique blend of jazz, blues, gospel, Scandinavian folk and church music. „Cherishing the melodies“, as Tord puts it, the group’s interplay draws strength from restraint, patiently but concisely building the music toward its climaxes, while the pianist, meanwhile a seasoned master of the trio format, leads with his delicate touch and subtle gospel glow.

Thus Seeing is strongly characterised not only by an enchanting down home feel but also by what Gustavsen calls the “efficiency of shape”: ”On this record you won’t find much extensive soloing. Instead we tried to invest our musicianship in the interplay and the shaping of small improvised parts and to ‘maximising’ the fundamental details. This way the album offers a cool contrast to our live concerts these days, where we often go for more epic forms and extended suites, bringing several themes together and doing extended free improvisations. But what binds it all together, is 
that all about trying to go for what feels more vibrating and essential in the moment; and not following a plan or a script unless it feels really right to do it.” Of particular interest is the counterpoint work between the bass and the piano, and the warm, wooden full sound of the double bass, strikingly captured at the Studios La Buissonne, which the trio visited for the first time with this recording.

A Gustavsen original, “Seattle Song”, closes the album – its origin and development are a good example of how Tord and the trio aimed to keep things concise on Seeing: “The tune entitled ’Seattle Song’ came to me during sound check in Seattle February 2023. It happens quite frequently that promising ideas for melodies, grooves, riffs, or sound textures emerge while jamming during sound check or fooling around at the piano while the others are setting up. It can be that the material asks to be expanded into more elaborate forms with supplemental sections etc., but in this case, the almost simplistic basic idea demanded to be left just like that. First, I thought it would be just a piano solo interlude, but then Steinar and Jarle joined spontaneously, and played it so beautifully and subtly comforting that it indeed became a trio tune; and one that we cherish a lot.”

Tord Gustavsen Trio:

Opening

Tord Gustavsen’s album Opening develops the traits and styles explored on his earlier works, while introducing a broader spectrum of suppleness and a transformed sense of interplay to the trio’s repertory. It is the first Gustavsen Trio recording with Steinar Raknes on bass and the newcomer feels quite at home supporting his colleagues in the deep end, settling in quickly between Tord’s refined chordal studies and Jarle Vespestad’s delicate stick- and brushwork.

There’s a particularly striking openness to the music, marked by spacious improvisations and a tendency to reveal the secrets and melodies at their own pace. “The urge for saying something, be it abstract or lyrical, has to come from within,” Tord reasons. “During the recording of the album it felt better to do the breathing first, open up the soundscape in more organic ways and let the melody enter when it comes naturally.“

Multiple causes may account for the shift in temperament on Opening – the change in lineup certainly being one of them. Bassist Steinar Raknes establishes a firm counterpoint in the music. “He’s an extroverted bass player, who likes to take center stage, while also being an incredibly supportive and humble accompanist, so he moves very swiftly between background, collective and soloist roles.” An ideal counterbalance to the variable basslines, Jarle’s percussive rumination acts as a mediator, guiding his fellow musicians through alternating straight-ahead and rubato passages.

Here more than ever Tord dwells on minuscule fragments, brief chord chains and scarce hints of motifs, developing the material patiently: “It’s something I’ve been doing a lot in solo concerts. Having themes just appear out of the dark and disappearing back into a shady undercurrent…”

In a way picking up where the prior trio album The Other Side left off, album-opening „The Circle“ presents a hymnal refrain, fashioned with a humble design. “I was sitting at the piano and the first four bars just came to me. I worked out and developed the remaining structure deliberately, but more and more I find that the best tunes I’ve written over the years basically just came to me, like gifts. I then have the responsibility to shape the gift, make it grow and turn it into a complete piece”.