22/03/2007

The rise and rise of e.s.t. over the last decade or so has been one of the most remarkable stories in contemporary music. The Swedish trio have become superstars in jazz terms and have also seduced adventurous rock listeners thereby accruing a healthy crossover audience. After establishing a following in their homeland e.s.t. set out to conquer the rest of Europe and they have even won over the notoriously insular American audience. They were famously the first European band to grace the front cover of Downbeat magazine.
What is even more remarkable about the e.s.t. story is that they have achieved this without in any way compromising their music. Indeed their career has been an organic process of consistent artistic growth.
In many ways e.s.t. are the European equivalent of the Pat Metheny Group. They have built up a word of mouth following by constant touring and by sheer hard work and professionalism. Initially the concerts sold the records and both e.s.t and Metheny have put the hours in and gone the extra mile to achieve their present lofty status.
e.s.t and Metheny have incorporated rock elements into their music without diluting the jazz content and both have learned a great deal from the rock world about presentation. Both groups make a conscious effort to project their music and put on a show, but never at the expense of the musical content. It is a pleasant change from the shambling vagueness of many jazz gigs. In the case of e.s.t. even the band name reflects this, snappier and more memorable and of course more marketable than the regulation (for jazz) Esbjorn Svensson Trio . This simple but perceptive move by the group’s management has brought them enormous benefits, but without diluting the actual music.

Nominally e.s.t are a piano trio but they have totally reinvented the concept of what that instrumental unit can be expected to achieve. This is partly due to the use of the electronic elements that form an integral part of the band’s sound. However this is no mere gimmickry. The e.s.t. sound is a perfectly organic mix of the electric and the acoustic; they switch seamlessly from one to the other in a process that seems as natural as breathing. That this process seems so unforced reflects the fact that this is a working band that have played together for fourteen years over the course of ten albums and hundreds, maybe thousands of gigs.
e.s.t have introduced the electronic elements incrementally over the course a number of albums. They are now a vital factor in the group’s signature sound. No other piano trio, indeed no other group sounds remotely like them. Some groups such as the American piano trio The Bad Plus and the UK’s Neil Cowley Trio have adopted aspects of the e.s.t style but neither group are straight copyists (and have no wish to be I’m sure) and therefore the e.s.t. sound remains unique.
It is founded on Svensson’s unfailing idea for a good tune. Like Metheny he is a great melodicist and it is this that is the foundation of the band’s success. The writing on e.s.t.‘s records is of a consistently high standard and without the material the band’s other attributes would lose their relevance.
The group’s latest album “Tuesday Wonderland” presented something of a challenge to the band. Critically it was well received with most writers praising it’s craftsmanship but suggesting that with their sound now fully established it left the band at something of a crossroads. As the singer Peter Hammill once put it they now have to dice with the questions “What’s my style? What’s my cliché? What’s my experiment?”
As regards live performance the answer seems to be to throw themselves more openly into improvisation. This Birmingham show is the fourth time I’ve seen e.s.t. The halls have got progressively larger and the presentation, in terms of lighting etc. steadily more elaborate. However it is some three years since I last saw the band and I seem to remember the previous shows as being relatively straightforward presentations of tunes from the relevant album of the time. This time they were more freely into improvising and manipulating their own material.
Taking to the stage in a swirl of purple dry ice pianist Esbjorn Svensson and his cohorts Dan Berglund (double bass) and Magnus Ostrom (drums) embarked on an amazing half hour excursion that segued together three tunes from three separate albums. The title track from 2005’s “Viaticum” merged into “800 Streets By Feet” from their latest album before metamorphosing into “Definition Of A Dog” dating back to 1999’s “From Gagarin’s Point Of View”. If the tunes come in the main from Stensson the evocative (and sometimes provocative) titles come from the fertile mind of drummer Ostrom.
This sequence incorporated Svensson’s virtuoso acoustic piano playing revealing his classical leanings alongside jazzier influences such as Keith Jarrett. At times he manipulates his sound by placing objects within the piano or using his hands within the instruments innards.
Berglund’s hundred year old double bass has a broad, deep, sonorous acoustic sound that sounds almost cello like when bowed such is the richness of it’s tone. However when this venerable instrument is hooked up to Berglund’s array of foot pedals it becomes a cutting edge 21st Century instrument capable of distortion, reverb, wah wah etc. More than anything it is Berglund’s bass that gives the sense of dynamics so vital to e.s.t’s music as he switches effortlessly between acoustic and electric modes and from pizzicato to arco. It has been said that Berglund plays the bass like Jimi Hendrix such are the guitar like qualities of his sound. However it turns out that his role model in this field was in fact former Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore.

As a drummer Ostrom is a superb colourist. He is a busy player but he never imposes on the music or becomes overbearing. Ostrom can create a groove and sense of propulsion with brushes alone but never resorts to the stock jazz rhythms. Always sympathetic and inventive his unique drumming style is an integral part of the group sound. Like his colleagues he also uses electronics to colour his sound and these are heard to good effect in his solo passage during this opening sequence.
At several points over the course of the performance Svensson stands back from the piano to admire the solo efforts of his colleagues.
During the evening subtle lighting effects project impressionistic images of the players onto to a black backdrop in a style that owes something to the “Tuesday Wonderland” album cover. Meanwhile the dry ice continues to swirl.
There are those who would decry e.s.t. and claim that they are all smoke and mirrors but Svensson’s wonderfully lyrical playing on the lilting and melodic “The Gold Hearted Miner” totally undermines that argument. I have little time for jazz musicians who use rock effects to dumb down the music but this has never been the case with e.s.t. Their electronic effects add rather than detract and provide contrast, colour and dynamics and have been introduced in a spirit of adventure and exploration. These three players have technique to burn but rather than play safe with straight ahead jazz they have moved the music on to another level that reflects their influences. As teenagers in the 70’s they grew up with rock music and have incorporated that influence into the group sound. There is something perverse about young neo conservative jazz musicians such as Wynton Marsalis who seemingly deny the existence of rock and pop music altogether and play jazz as if it was pickled in aspic during the bop era of the 50’s. The best jazz musicians have always looked to contemporary culture and adapted it or subverted it to keep jazz moving forward. The music should not be a museum.

Svensson seems to talk less between numbers than of yore and several tunes go unannounced. This newly found reticence seems to be born from the urge of just wanting to get out there and play. And play they do, incorporating elements of Bach style classicism, joyous free flowing improvisation, metallic bass riffs and impossibly dark and gloomily gothic passages of arco bass. It is heady stuff but succeeds brilliantly as everything is based around the initial starting point of a strong melody.
The audience response is such that the band are called back for two encores with Ostrom eliciting an audience clap along from behind the drums on “Dolores In a Shoestand”- not something I’ve seen him do before but which has probably been a feature of this tour.
The audience had to work hard to get them back twice. Sadly there were a number of empty seats in this magnificent hall. The acoustics were excellent as they always are in this venue and I suspect that e.s.t soundman Ake Linton had a fairly easy time tonight. Linton and his lighting counterpart are acknowledged by Stensson as part of the band.
The show had been opened by The Tomorrow Band, a trio led by local alto saxophonist Chris Bowden accompanied by Ben Markland on bass guitar and Neil Bullock on drums. These three had been the support slot for the whole tour and playing in venues of this size must have given them some valuable exposure. Bowden is a gifted player and is keen to incorporate contemporary elements into his music. Both he and Markland played occasional keyboards and Markland also had a laptop. However unlike e.s.t.‘s electronics these seemed to be grafted on and added little to the music. They were too obvious an attempt to embrace current musical fashions and were largely superfluous. However Bowden and his colleagues can play and opened with a David Sanborn inspired funk number. They then segued three tunes together under the generic title “Beautiful Nasty” which involved some powerful riffing and some wailing alto from Bowden who also treated his horn electronically. On the evidence of this their album “Three To Get Ready” should be worth a listen. I’ve seen Markland and Bullock several times before as members of local trumpet hero Bryan Corbett’s quartet. Markland plays double bass in this context and I have to say I prefer him on the acoustic instrument. Bullock is a powerful drummer but subtlety is not always his forte. Strongly rock influenced he is nonetheless a capable player but inevitably suffered by comparison with Ostrom.   
After the gig Svensson, Berglund and Ostrom signed albums and programmes and chatted to fans in the foyer, again not something I’d seen them do before and another sign of the group’s professionalism. The glossy but highly readable and informative tour brochure retailed at £3.00 and represented good value for money. It was a refreshing change from the rip off merchandise so common today and shows that e.s.t. have a genuine regard for their fans.
Ticket prices were reasonable too and the only disappointment was that the hall was not sold out. Sometimes I despair of the city of Birmingham. Surely music of this quality should command a sell out in a city of this size. Last year the Ingrid Laubrock/Oriole double bill at the Glee Club attracted about 50 customers. Admittedly it was in the middle of the World Cup and it was stinking hot, but come on! These are great players. And don’t get me started on the city’s lack of support for the now defunct Birmingham branch of Ronnie Scotts. Surely this city should be capable of supporting a full time jazz club although I must admit the pricing policy at Ronnie’s didn’t exactly help the cause.
Misgivings over the audience size apart this was a great evening of music and at today’s prices represented excellent value for money. The future direction for e.s.t. will make for interesting listening but there is no doubt that they will continue to be a formidable live act. Make sure you catch them on the next tour and lets hope for a full house in Birmingham next time round.

For details of e.s.t. recordings go to the website of their record label ACT at http://www.actmusic.com

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