e.s.t. 30 (ACT)
Dan Berglund / Magnus Öström
Released May 30, 2024
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About:
Love remains…
In 1993, three musicians from Sweden, Esbjörn Svensson, Dan Berglund and Magnus Öström formed the band e.s.t.. Svensson and Öström had known each other ever since their first steps into music as children. Neither of them could have anticipated that e.s.t. would become the most influential band in European jazz of the noughties. And when the band formed they probably didn’t think they were particularly ‘jazz’ either; all they wanted to do was to play the music which united their passions: rock, pop, classical, folk, improvisation. In the following 15 years, e.s.t. would play thousands of concerts worldwide, release ten studio albums and several live recordings, win awards, gold discs. We all know how the story ends.
Or did it really end? And will it ever end? To mark the 30th anniversary of e.s.t., Magnus Öström and Dan Berglund combined forces with close musical friends Joel Lyssarides, Magnus Lindgren, Verneri Pohjola and Ulf Wakenius to give two major concerts, one at the Kölner Philharmonie and other at the Filadelfia church in Stockholm. They played a selection of quintessential pieces from the timeless e.s.t. repertoire, but in a way that has never been heard before. The six musicians, each one a solo artist of international renown, treat the original melodic and rhythmic contours of these tunes with tenderness and affection.
The iconic melodies and rhythms are all there, but we also hear how they are opened up again and again, as the musicians immerse them in unexpected warmth and light. These players react to each other in fascinating ways, and there is also a definite tingle in the air as the audience listens to the music in pin-drop silence, then bursts into uninhibited applause atthe end. Magnus Öström reflects on how it feels to play this music today: “The emotions we experience have many layers, the depth of a lifetime. Firstly, it feels like coming home. There is sadness, gratitude, and happiness. And it seems unreal or even surreal and ever so natural at the same time. And you can’t stop marvelling at how great this music is. Esbjörn’s compositions and the arrangements that we did together as a trio back then, feel timeless.” And he concludes: “In the end, what remains above all is the conviction that this music should be played and not lying around in a drawer.”
“e.s.t. 30” zooms in from the widest of panoramas to the intimacy of the close-up. And from the total silence and weightlessness of space in the opener “From Gagarin’s Point Of View” to the heartfelt sincerity of the final track “Believe, Beleft, Below”, or as it is called in the later version with vocals: “Love is Real”. “If we meet again, I’d tell you how I feel, I’d tell you from the start, I’d tell you love is real.”
Love remains.
Track Listing:
1. From Gagarin’s Point Of View 8:27
2. Seven Days Of Falling 6:15
3. Eighthundred Streets By Feet 9:21
4. Tuesday Wonderland 10:14
5. Elevation Of Love 6:19
6. Believe, Beleft, Below 6:36
Personnel:
Magnus Öström: drums
Dan Berglund: double bass
Magnus Lindgren: tenor saxophone, flute
Joel Lyssarides: piano
Verneri Pohjola: trumpet
Ulf Wakenius: electric guitar
Recorded at the Kölner Philharmonie, Germany, on 14 October 2023.
Mixed by Rémi Bourcereau
Mastered by Classe Persson
Photography BybyVera Marzinski
Cover Art by Shoshu
Produced by Dan Berglund and Magnus Öström
Review:
2023 marked the 30th anniversary of the Esbjörn Svensson Trio’s (E.S.T.) debut album, When Everyone Has Gone. It introduced a group sound rooted in jazz but equally embraced classical, pop, rock, folk, electronics, and improvisation. Their studio recordings and hundreds of concerts resonated with global audiences beyond jazz’s neighborhood, making most of the albums international best-sellers. Since the accidental death of Svensson in 2008, there have been several E.S.T. live outings and the posthumous studio offering 301, containing the remaining sessions from Leucocyte. E.S.T. rhythm section, drummer Magnus Öström and bassist Dan Berglund, remain active sidemen and recording bandleaders. On e.s.t. 30, they’re aided by pianist Joel Lyssarides, saxophonist/flutist Magnus Lindgren, trumpeter Verneri Pohjola, and electric guitarist Ulf Wakenius. The quintet played two concerts in 2023, at the Philharmonie in Cologne, and Filadelfia Church in Stockholm. The repertoire comprised essential pieces from E.S.T.’s catalog and performed in a welcoming new way. These internationally recognized musicians treat the lyric, harmonic, and rhythmic elements of these pieces with tenderness, sensitivity and, above all empathy. While the core melodies remain recognizable, they are continually reinterpreted and renewed as the musicians react to the work and to one another in the moment. e.s.t. 30 continually evokes musical memories by expressing them through these lyric traces offered with lilting melancholy. It allows audience and musicians a shared experience in real time.
“From Gagarin’s Point of View” is introduced with soft tom-toms and bowed upright bass. Lyssarides illuminates with elegant, pristine glissandos. When the bass vamp pushes the melody to the fore, the interplay between individuals becomes nearly instinctual, each individual statement reflects a unified response to the collective improvisation. “Seven Days of Falling” is a vehicle for Wakenius’ elegant electric work. Warm and seamless, he meets Öström’s shuffle and Lyssarides’ airy arpeggios inside the harmony, then all three expand it in rounds in a graceful swing. Pohjola’s solo intro to “Eighthundred Streets by Feet” offers a treated trumpet sound à la Arve Henriksen, answered by Lindgren’s sweet flute and Öström’s malleted tom-toms. A bleating low-register tenor saxophone introduces tempo and key shifts as the band gels under his lines, entering and exiting along the lyric vamp. The rockist piano riff in “Tuesday Wonderland” gives way to breezy, intricate, post-bop interplay from Lindgren, Lyssardries, and Öström. A sprightly yet knotty, scalar, piano, bass, and drum intro paints “Elevation of Love” in progressive contemporary jazz, it extends to modal post-bop when Pohjola enters and Wakenius soars in the margins. Closer “Believe, Beleft, Below” emerges from Svensson’s lifelong love of liturgical and gospel music. Lindgren and Pohjola offer a simple melody over the piano progression in rounds. Wakenius introduces a melancholy blues that Lyssardries picks up and colors in his solo. The quintet eventually winds around that gospelized theme, closing together in resonance. e.s.t. 30 reflects the trio’s musical legacy, true. As evidenced here, it is alive, well, and continues to evolve.
Thom Jurek (AllMusic)
