new. Or so says THE ECONOMIST. In an article on the European take of the "Old World" idiom, the author says that only recently (yesterday? I don't know) have European musicians "begun to feel more confident of their own abilities, and to see jazz as more than an exclusively American language, one in which their own traditions and experiences can play a creative part."
I think he forgot to set his alarm clock on the research days!
The author points out Esbjorn Svensson, leader of a swedish piano trio, as representative of the American form in competent European hands. I've never heard Mr. Svensson but assume by the tone of the article that this is a very talented individual, albeit with a conservative approach. I'm interested in hearing him play, anyway.
I don't want to indicate that I think the article is fraudulent or invalid. It is probably pointedly relevant to the audience that reads the Books & Art section of THE ECONOMIST. I am just reminded by this piece of how diverse the global view is on improvised music. It's still a good thing, I think.
Posted by al on December 13, 2003 5:53 PM> I'm interested in hearing him play, anyway.
He's a decent Jarretty kind of pianist, nothing to get too excited about; I saw his group (usually referred to simply by the acronym EST) in Toronto a year or two ago when they were promoting their first North American release (A Strange Sense of Snow or whatever was the title, I forget). It was OK. Europe's answer to Brad Mehldau perhaps, though that would be selling Mehldau short. As one jazz critic who was with me at the concert remarked "It doesn't do all that much for me, but it's nice to come across a popular jazz act that actually IS jazz & doesn't sound absolutely terrible."
Posted by: Nate Dorward at December 14, 2003 7:47 AM"Strange Place For Snow" is the album title. "7 Days of Falling" continues that strain (which is fairly well-described in the article), but their previous albums (of which I have "From Gargarine's Point of View") are all-acoustic. I saw EST in concert once and was dissappointed by how closely the hewed to the CD and to song form. But the way the bassist integrates some electronic effects is cool.
There's quite a bit of this popular electro-jazz kind of stuff, from the most commercial (i.e. house music-derived) such as St. Germain or Marc Moulin, to more interesting stuff like Erik Truffaz and Nils Petter Molvaer.
Posted by: mke at December 15, 2003 9:03 AMthanks, guys.
Posted by: al at December 15, 2003 9:38 AMFWIW, I think that to call EST "just conventional" isn't quite right. Sure, it's not exploring the outer reaches of improvisation, but it is mixing in pop and piano trio jazz in an interesting, new (?) way.
Possibly fodder for another topic: can you be avant-garde with pop influences?
Posted by: mke at December 15, 2003 12:12 PM“can you be avant-garde with pop influences?”
Definitely, Sun Ra, Serge Gainsbourg, Hermeto Pascoal, Joe Meek, Moondog & Spike Jones spring to mind... & there are a slew of others.
Oddly, listening to the Adams/Pullen Quartet's "City Gates" brought EST to mind. More specifically, Pullen's more "song format" solos, the ones that build really progressively. There's one on "Samba For Today," iirc. Another good one is on "Kele Mou Bana", the funky track with singing on it.
EST also has these long-building piano solos, but Pullen's are far more interesting, less pristine.
Posted by: mke at December 15, 2003 4:47 PMOh, I wouldn't necessarily call EST (to judge by the little I saw) a conventional piano trio--sure, the bassist used some effects at the concert to fuzz up his instrument, for instance--but that Svensson was nonetheless a pretty conventional pianist.
It was an OK concert, anyway, though I found myself irritated by the drummer's constant use of stick-bundle brushes (I don't know the professional term for these suckers: they are mean to have a sound halfway between brushes & sticks, & I hate the sound).
I think I was confusing the album title with Peter Hoeg's novel Smilla's Sense of Snow.
Posted by: Nate Dorward at December 15, 2003 7:41 PM“can you be avant-garde with pop influences?”
Charlie Parker
Lester Bowie
What are Parker's pop influences?
Posted by: mke at December 16, 2003 11:35 AMInterestingly enough, this EST trio (which I've never heard), made The Observer's top ten CDs of the year (includes non-jazz/everything else), pretty sure that makes it their defacto jazz cd of the year. Also says similar things about them (it was read to me, I didn't read it, but sounds like much the same synopsis). Some guy at their label is sending out the same copy to a lot of international broadsheets, and they appear to be printing it.
Posted by: Nathaniel Catchpole at December 16, 2003 11:40 AM"Some guy at their label is sending out the same copy to a lot of international broadsheets, and they appear to be printing it."
Thing is, it's a fair, not hyperbolic description.
Posted by: mke at December 16, 2003 11:42 AMParker was an inveterate quoter of pop songs, often the "cheesier" the better -- e.g., "Hawaiian War Chant", "The Toy Trumpet".
No to mention the importance of the "Rhythm" changes to all the great bop musicians.
Posted by: Joe at December 16, 2003 12:38 PMMight be a fair description, it's still lazy printing it almost word for word (if that in fact is what they're doing - I don't have access to either paper).
Posted by: Nathaniel Catchpole at December 18, 2003 11:43 AMSure it's lazy, but any article summing up Euro jazz with EST at the same time as the new EST album is released is more of a couch potato than an athelete.
Posted by: mke at December 18, 2003 1:56 PM.................................................. © 2003 - 2006 bagatellen ..................................................