TORD GUSTAVSEN TRIO
”Changing Places” – ECM release 2003
TORD GUSTAVSEN | piano
HARALD JOHNSEN | acoustic bass
JARLE VESPESTAD | drums
ECM 1834 016 397-2
His debut ECM recording, “Changing Places”, the
first album as a leader by pianist Tord
Gustavsen, signals the arrival of a gifted jazz
pianist/composer and an important addition to the
label’s history-making pantheon of Scandinavian
improvisers. A pianist of unusual sensitivity and a
writer of beguiling tunes of deceptive simplicity,
several of which sound like standards-in-themaking, Gustavsen leads a trio that already has a
strong identity of its own. The group is creating
new music within time-honoured frameworks, in
classic piano trio format: as Gustavsen says, very
pertinently, “One does not have to invent a new
language to tell a new story.” Part of the trio’s
mission is to show that real creative imagination
can still be brought to bear on song forms with
telling effect, and that the reflective musical
character now considered a “Nordic” direction
can be reconciled with a strong jazz sense of
groove and roots.
Tord Gustavsen speaks of a “subtle funkiness”
and this quiet, explicitly melodic music implies
earthy dance pulses as the album’s atmospheric
orientation is drawn from sources including, but
not limited to, Scandinavian folk, Caribbean
rhythm, gospel music, hard bop and cool jazz.
It may be significant that much of Gustavsen’s
jazz experience to date has been with singers;
his approach is not characteristically “pianistic”,
technical display is at a premium, and he often
seems to caress a melody with a vocalist’s
expressive flexibility. Many listeners will have
already heard his trio backing singer Silje
Nergaard – either on her commercially successful
Emarcy albums “Port of Call” and “Art First Light”,
or at festivals throughout Europe and America.
The exposure has been important, and has
brought the trio into contact with soloists
including Pat Metheny and Georg Wadenius, but
the music on “Changing Places” plumbs deeper
aspects of the soul and psyche, as Gustavsen
explores what he has called the “dialectical
erotism of improvisation” in this programme of
self-penned tunes.
Born in Oslo in 1970 (coincidentally the year of
ECM’s first Norwegian recordings), Tord
Gustavsen grew up in the rural village of Hurdal,
where he began playing
piano at age four. He was
soon making up his own
songs and improvising;
classical studies followed.
Early performances were in
churches and other local
settings. At 19, Gustavsen
returned to the Norwegian
capital to study at its
university, and his interest in jazz intensified. In
this period he met singer Kristin Asbjørnsen with
whom he would subsequently work in duo and
quartet settings, variously exploring original
material and historic jazz including a fresh take
on the songs of Bessie Smith, and AfricanAmerican spirituals.
From 1993 he studied at the jazz department of
the Conservatory of Music in Trondheim, an
important address for a generation of
improvisers, and for the last six years he has
been based in Oslo once more. He currently
plays in diverse settings – in addition to his own
trio, a duo with singer Siri Gjære and the Silje
Nergaard Band there is the neo-New Orleans
group Nymark Collective, a duo with clarinettist
Simon Flem Devold and much more. His music
has also been heard underpinning poetic texts of
Paul Celan in “Basunstedet”, a suite for extended
chamber jazz ensemble, and accompanying
silent movies at Oslo’s National Institute of Film.
“Taken together, “Gustavsen says, “the bands
and projects represent my quest for a deepening
of my own playing, in a dual movement that goes
towards getting more and more intimate with the
history of jazz (at present, the earliest decades of
this history are in fact my main focus, although
contemporary jazz is really my main field) – while
never sacrificing the imperative of an individual
‘voice’ expressing itself in existential encounters
with the here-and-now situation in playing. This
dual task is extremely challenging. But it offers a
constant flow of possibilities for emotionalintellectual
fulfilment
in
grooves, phrasing, melodies
and timbre. And when the
music is really happening, I
feel privileged to be able to
contribute something.”
The
trio
features
an
intriguing rhythm section, if
the term has meaning in a
group where roles frequently overlap. On drums
is Jarle Vespestad, previously heard on several
discs with critically acclaimed Norwegian electroimprov band Supersilent. Vespestad’s playing
embraces many approaches. In Gustavsen’s
band he employs a minimalistic approach, and
very subtle inflections – often surprising, but
always apt. Although often associated with
experimental rock (with the bands Farmer’s
Market and Motorpsycho etc) and free
improvising, Vespestad has had plenty of
experience in straightahead jazz and, like the
leader, is fluent in the music’s history.
Similarly, Harald Johnsen,
bassist, has been a
bridging force in Norwegian
jazz, equally at home in
bebop, mainstream, or
avant-garde
contexts.
There are times when the
album’s title, “Changes
Places”, could refer to the
way in which the trio
operates. Gustavsen often leaves space for the
bassist to come to the fore, or backs him with
patient chording. Johnsen, then, is also a
significant solo voice in these songs.
The Gustavsen Trio follows up a number of
Norwegian performances with special European
release presentation concerts in Munich, Milan
and at Paris’s famed New Morning club in March.
Further dates will be announced in the near
future.
Booking / info:
 Tord Gustavsen – Sørligt. 10C – 0577 Oslo – NORWAY
 Tel.: (+47) 22689671 / (+47) 90793687
 e-mail: tord@tordg.no – web: www.tordg.no/trio